Snow still lying by the walls and shaken along the tops of the hills persuaded us to ‘wrap up warm’ to enjoy Jane Gs walk in Teesdale. Thursday 16th January saw 11 SOC members strike out from Middleton in Teesdale heading for Hudeshope north of the town into the remains of the Teesdale lead mining industry. Fields and woodland along Hudes Beck led us to Hudes Hope. Perhaps, as well as the lead, Hude was hoping for gold! The sky was blue, the scenery Teesdale’s winter best and the company ‘grand’!
Quite a convenient area of large mining remains gave us a beautifully sunny stop for coffee where discussions were had on what Hude was really hoping for, besides gold. A good pie for lunch, a warm comfy bed for the night, a thick seam of lead? Who knows? But there were some interesting thoughts going on!
The walk now continued onto the lowest, eastern slopes of Coldberry where, with it icy underfoot, we passed a building still looking as if it had some purpose as it had a ‘good’ roof. I was told the name but I can’t remember! Through a wall stile into the edges of the remaining snow, we had a fabulous view of Skears Hushes on the far side of the beck, and still blue sky! Lunch here, on the slope was enjoyed before we began the ‘descent’. This return leg found us scrambling through the thick brambles, fallen trees of Skears Soars’ muddy pools but with SOC’s renowned teamwork skills we made it to a path along the beck again. Reading through this, I’ve noticed all these wonderful names : Hushes, Hopes, Soars, Elphatory Allotments ( where we had coffee ). An intriguing Teesdale gazetteer.
We arrived back in Middleton but extended the walk south and east along the Tees before returning through a mosaic of fields into town again. It was a fabulous walk with so much variety; woodland, meadow, hills, archaeology, rivers, snow. What more could any SOC walk ask for? It even gave us blue sky! Very many thanks to Jane Greenwell for leading.
Glenys Rogers