Lower Teesdale Way - Leg VIII: Eaglescliffe to Stockton – Wednesday 13 August 2014

Parking for free near the Tees Barrage at Stockton, it is a short walk to Thornaby station where £1.50 gets me a senior single, one stop to Eaglescliffe; from there following the A67 towards Stockton soon reveals a sign on the right to the Teesdale Way.

This leads between some back gardens and allotments before entering Quarry Wood and then Preston Park. Within the park a multitude of paths offer themselves but by keeping right and hugging the river I eventually emerge onto some tarmac and spot a TWP way-marker pointing back the way I came, but confirming I am still on the route.

The way forward is sign posted Ingleby Barwick and heads across towards the new “1825 Way”, but when it reaches it there is no indication of the way to go next. Turning left doesn’t seem promising, but turning right only uncovers a signpost pointing back that way too. My instinct is to the right and an underpass is promisingly signed to Stockton town centre, and through the underpass another sign incorporates a TWP way-marker (so that initial signpost looks tampered with).

The path follows the river along one of its a meanders, passing anglers before cutting inland to the back of some new flats and then entering the Bowesfield nature reserve. Choosing the middle of the three paths leads between a couple of meres, bordered by bulrushes and populated by swans and water fowl; more importantly it provides access to a convenient bench on which to sit and munch my snack.

An information board indicates the way to the riverbank and turning left accesses a narrow, winding and enclosed path, vaguely threatening until yet more anglers are spotted in the undergrowth. As Stockton is approached there are more things in the undergrowth that indicate the proximity of urban youth – bottles, cans, scorched earth – and after passing under the A66 and adjacent rail bridge the riverside path ends abruptly at the yard of SG Welding.

Walking up their access road reveals a sign confirming I am still on the route, sending me right along a road and depositing me in Stockton opposite the bingo hall. There is no further signpost, but crossing the road, turning left and then following the road as it bends to the right, brings me onto the riverside walk underneath the Millennium footbridge.

The concrete towpath continues alongside the river, under the Princess Diana road bridge and then under the Infinity footbridge, before reaching the Tees Barrage. Once there, the splendid Riverview Café provides welcome refreshment, including home-baked cakes, at very reasonable rates.

The six miles or so has taken just two and a half hours, and having expected industrial I was pleasantly surprised at the generally rural nature of most of the route.

Lower Teesdale Way - Leg VII: Middleton One Row to Eaglescliffe – Friday 20 June 2014

Parking again opposite The Devonport Hotel in Middleton One Row, I this time go left (downstream) along the green to locate the signed path. This heads diagonally down dissecting some gardens before emerging at the river bank. The riverside path continues between the river and meadows, at this time of year chest high in flora - red poppies and less unidentifiable species in yellow, pink, and spindly purple. Also rampant are the nettles, thistles and giant hogweed, the latter warranting notices that helpfully warn of the dire consequences of contact.

After half an hour, having crossed a metal footbridge and climbed a stile, the path becomes indistinct but re-asserts itself atop a dyke to the left. As this ends, a path at right angles to the river goes left up a grass track, soon enclosed by fences, to the road at Low Middleton Farm.

Turning right at the farm, a path leads through a field, becoming a cart track, passing through a gate and then rising up a grassy knoll (Fatten Hill). Here a signpost offers an alternative route to Yarm but the Teesdale Way continues on, through the Newsham Grange Farm and onto a minor road.

After about half a mile a signpost on the right shows the way, via a gate and diagonally downhill through a field back to the riverbank. The track here is rutted underfoot and thick with thistles but soon enters a wooded section, providing welcome shade and easier walking, but when the trees end the thigh deep vegetation returns making progress quite hard work, akin to wading through treacle.

It is a long trek, about four miles, along the river bank before civilisation returns at Aislaby Grange, after which the path becomes more travelled and so easier to speed along, keen to reach the watering holes of Yarm. But it is still a mile or two before the posh riparian properties come into view, followed by the impressive railway viaduct, passed under as the path climbs up to the town.

Just across the A67 is the Blue Bell Inn and, eight miles into the walk, a pint of Hobgoblin is in order, swiftly swallowed in the beer garden, conveniently placed right on the Teesdale Way.

Twenty minutes later I am back on the route, now a pleasant, well-trodden path along the river with open views across fields, which continues for about three miles until Eaglescliffe Golf Club intervenes and diverts the path inland at ninety degrees to deposit me, somewhat incongruously, into a modern housing estate.

Turning right and following the TWP signs, I reach the A67 and then zig-zag my way to Eaglescliffe station for a train back to Dinsdale (as the station at Middleton St George is called). It is only two stops, about six minutes, which is mildly insulting given the six hours it has taken to walk the twelve miles; and then I’ve another mile from Middleton St George to Middleton One Row to pick up the car.

Nevertheless it was a fine walk, but probably better done in spring or autumn when the vegetation would be less troublesome.