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 !

They don't make 'em like that anymore...

The winter of 1962/3 was the coldest since 1740. In those pre-Dr. Beeching days the railway ran up Teesdale as far as Middleton-in-Teesdale. From there the road to High Force was blocked, and to see the frozen waterfall involved a five mile walk - and back again ! The snow was so high that in places it was possible to walk straight over the tops of walls ! Much of the river was frozen from bank to bank. From just after Christmas until early March, England was under a blanket of snow and ice. What a winter !

What water shortage ?

Besides the delights of the views, this is a great area for budding geologists ! Finding out how the landscape came to be the way it is, is fascinating, although it does in fact give you the capability to "bore for England". So I will resist the temptation to air what knowledge I have - there is plenty of information elsewhere, if you really want to know ! So there !

Up and down...

What a playground this is ! I only hope my legs will last out !

All sorts...

We get a lot of weather in our islands, most of it rolling in from the Atlantic, and rather damp ! The mists swirling around in upland areas do however make for good photo opportunities. Wall to wall sunshine is fine, but life isn't like that, and neither is the weather. Variety, so they say, is the spice of life !

Friends reunited...

A good walk will live in the memory forever ! You can take the same path, or try a new route - there is always a new way to discover, no matter how well you think you know your hills. Later, you can relive your walk with the help of your Ordnance Survey map - and a few photographs, of course. The hills are true friends !