Another dimension...

Walk the Dales... Fly the Dales...! All you need is a small aeroplane, a glorious day, and off you go ! Start from an old World War Two bomber station - Goosepool they called it, and which then was home to Canadian airmen and their Halifax and Lancaster bombers. As a young boy I remember waiting at the hospital gates, near where I lived, for their generous donations of chewing gum, as they waited to meet their sweetheart nurses ! I digress. Anyway, ready for takeoff. Climb over the River Tees at Middleton One Row, then a quick look at Darlington. In 1825 an engine on the first public steam railway in the world, the Stockton & Darlington, was racing along at the unbelievable speed of 15 miles per hour, just below where we are flying. Turn towards the west, over the green fields and tidy villages north of the valley of the Tees and head towards Middleton -in-Teesdale. Spot the crags of the Whin Sill - an injection of molten magma into the existing sandstone and limestone rocks 295 million years ago ! Then you see it ! Majestic High Force. You won't see better in all England ! A steep banking turn over the huge quarry above High Force, and round to see the waterfall from the front, and far below. What a view ! Then off south over the high moorland - they are burning off the heather to provide the fresh growth that the grouse, sheep, and wildlife so love. Over Stainmore you can see the bed of the old railway line - the summit was at 1370 feet ! Also the Roman marching camp. How they must have cursed the weather ! Lead mines and relics of the industry abound. Lines of holes in the ground - bell pits, where earlier miners followed the vein. Soon you see Fremington Edge and the villages and hamlets of Swaledale all the way down to Richmond - the real Richmond, not that upstart pretender in the South ! Circle Richmond Castle - so well positioned that no-one seems to have had the nerve to attack it ! The ultimate deterrent. Then, gentle farmland and attractive villages on the outskirts of Darlington. Before you know it you are landing smoothly on the main runway of Durham Tees Valley Airport. Believe me ! It will take some time for the thrill of this wonderful journey to fade !