A sunny day, clear and cold, had settled over Teesdale.
First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window
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The leaves of the beech trees along the River Greta shone a sharp acid green as they filtered the morning sunshine. We followed a field path up the noisy Greta from Greta Bridge, walking against the flow of the river that sparkled over its bed of rocky slabs in the narrow west-east dale it has carved for itself.
A brief climb to the lip of the dale – seas of yellow rape rolling away to pale purple moors on the northern skyline – and then we were dipping down into the wooded cleft where the ruin of St Mary’s Church lay in its walled graveyard. A wonderful peaceful spot to idle and wander among the old slanting gravestones, unsteadily lettered by local masons – ‘Christopher Thwaites Postmaster of Greata Bridge 1693’, ‘Julian & Jane Sutton Bless ye The Lord Praise Him & Magnifie Him’, and a low stone for a child, simply inscribed ‘EH 1699’.
The path wound on, increasingly narrow and crumbly, through Tebb Wood, a world of white, blue and green with bluebells and wild garlic, bugle and wood anemones. Neither of us could remember any riverside walk so bright with wild flowers – the dusky purple nodding bells of water avens, false oxlips with multiple primrose heads on cowslip-like stalks, bold pink campion, white stars of stitchwort, early purple orchids. Blackcaps burbled musically in the scrub hawthorns, and wrens chattered. The sun poured over everything like a warm bath for the senses, just edged enough with cold fingers of breeze to remind us that we were in the Durham dales in springtime.
Down by stone-built Brignall Mill we crossed the Greta, splodged through the muddy caterpillar tracks of a logging operation, and turned back along the south bank of the river. What a contrast! These north-facing slopes of the gorge were at least a month behind those facing south only just across the river, with bluebells not yet bloomed and celandines and delicate white wood sorrel still out in glory.
The path climbed to a precipitous ledge above the Greta, then turned south through the woods high over Gill Beck. At Gillbeck Bridge we took to a silent country lane and field paths through open uplands where young calves kicked and capered in the meadows. A stretch of road with far moorland views and then the homeward path through Mill Woods and by the water-sculpted churn holes of the Greta’s gorge.
Start & finish: Morritt Hotel, Greta Bridge, Co. Durham, DL12 9SE (OS ref NZ 085133)
Getting there: Greta Bridge is signposted off A66 between Scotch Corner (A1) and Bowes. Park near Morritt Hotel – please ask permission, and give hotel your custom!
Walk (9½ miles, moderate, OS Explorer OL30): Leaving Morritt Hotel, turn right along road. Just before bridge, right over wall (fingerpost) follow riverside path towards Brignall Mill. In 2 miles you pass opposite the confluence of Gill Beck (062113). In another ⅔ mile path rises to go through gate (051112; yellow arrow/YA); in 150m fork right over cattle grid and down to Brignall Mill (047112).
Follow YAs around mill and across footbridge; dogleg right and left along higher track; in 100m bear left down to path downstream beside River Greta. In ⅓ mile cross footbridge at Hening Scar (051111) and continue beside Greta. In another ⅓ mile on Bleak Scar, path climbs high above river. Near top it forks (057112); don’t go right uphill to gate, but keep ahead along fence and above river. In ¼ mile, at post with 2 YAs (061112), keep ahead (not left), to bend sharply right along gorge of Gill Beck. Continue for ½ mile, crossing 3 footbridges, to reach Gillbeck Bridge (062105).
Left up Cowclose Lane. In ¾ mile, at end of Primrose Gill Plantation, left (072101; ‘Byway’ fingerpost) along stony lane. Pass limekiln (073104); in 300m, left through gate (075106, blue arrow) up fields to Crook’s House (075115). Ahead down left side of barn; right across farmyard; along drive to Wilson House farm (083118). Ahead along road; in ½ mile, left (085125, fingerpost) over stile; right through Mill Wood. Over meadow to Greta Bridge; through gate and farmyard (087131) to road; left to Morritt Hotel.
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Conditions: For surefooted walkers – riverside paths are narrow, slippery and eroded in places
Lunch: Picnic
Accommodation: Morritt Hotel, Greta Bridge (01833-627232; themorritt.co.uk) – family-run, very friendly, helpful and well-kept
More Info: Durham walks/accommodation – thisisdurham.com
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