From
Blackwell to Croft on Tees the Teesdale Way Path offers a route down either
bank, so I decide to take the opportunity to do a circuit going first
downstream along the right hand bank and returning upstream via the field paths
on the other side of the river.
Parking
in Blackwell where Leg III finished, the way leads onto the A66, and then downhill,
crossing over the road bridge and across the busy road to enable the minor road
to Stapleton to be followed at the roundabout.
After about half a mile along the tarmac pavement the pretty village is
reached, and although the Bridge Inn looks tempting it’s much too early in the
walk to succumb.
Going
left at the village green, up Strawgate Lane, soon reveals the first signpost
of the day that takes me left up the side of and then into a field. Here no
path is visible but the route is just across the field to regain Strawgate Lane
a bit further along. It’s not even a short cut so keeping to the lane would not
be a bad option.
The
lane, now just Strawgate, gains height quite quickly and soon reveals a
panoramic view across the Tees Valley to the east with the Cleveland Hills to
the south east. Beyond Stapleton Grange the lane becomes a farm track and then
a path, heading south-east along the ridge about fifty feet above the river.
Although the path is narrow it’s classed as a bridle-path which means it’s well
churned up by hooves and mountain bikes, making it a bit claggy for a while.
At
Monk End Wood the path turns right, away from the river and, after a while,
drops down to meet a track adjacent to a field (at this visit populated by
friendly but curious goats) which heads towards Clow Beck. The beck is crossed,
not by the old pack horse bridge but by a more modern construction, and the way
is then through the flood gates and the farm yard and past the Clow Beck Hotel
complex. This lane becomes South Parade and leads out between the Croft Hotel
and the church to the fine bridge over the river.
It’s
a rare fine late November day that has drawn me out and by now the sun has
warmed up the clear still air so I am able to enjoy a lunch stop halfway over
the bridge, gazing upstream. My reward is a glimpse of a kingfisher on a
riverbank tree bough, iridescent turquoise and red, which perches for a few
seconds before disappearing into the bushes in a swooping flash of blue.
On
the other side of the bridge the route takes the A167 back towards Darlington,
over the River Skerne, until a sign indicates the way right, up a farm access
road. As the farm is approached the way leaves the drive and goes diagonally
left across a field to a stile in the far corner. In this field the way hugs
the right hand hedge until it bends away, then crosses over to the far corner
where a stile leads into a pleasant wooded pathway.
The
path exits the small wood via a stile and cuts the corner of a field to access
a farm access road; a few steps to the left the way dives off right into some
scrubland. Soon another access road is crossed (this one to the sewage works)
and then the scrubland gives way to golf course (previously Stressholme but now
taken over by Blackwell). The path widens to a pleasant track between arched
trees then becomes a surfaced drive as the clubhouse and driving range are
approached, before reaching a T junction at Snipe Lane, which runs parallel to
the busy A66. Turning left brings me out at the Blackwell Grange roundabout, a
few shot steps from the car parked in Blackwell.
Having
no great expectations of this section it was a delight to walk, helped no doubt
by the weather, but there was more variation than in previous legs – a view
from a height along Strawbridge, some grandeur at Croft, and a rural rather
than riparian section returning to Blackwell – all in less than six miles / two
and a half hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment