We were up and breakfasted early again. The pattern most mornings is that Tricia is far more organised than I am, and then she is sat waiting ready to go long before I am… Today I was a bit better, and so we were away at 8:45am. First job was to walk back down to the Pennine Way, where we would walk along the Tees.

When we got there, we decided gators might be needed, as the path was overgrown and wet from the previous nights rain, so a little delay. Tricia of course had hers on immediately, I was struggling and cursing with mine… Still, once sorted we were on our way.

It turned out to be a beautiful morning for walking, warm, and after the first mile an excellent path to walk along. The scenery was fantastic, we went up over a hill, and on the other side you could see the Tees rushing alongside rocky hills. Marvellous. After 3.5 miles we came across ‘High Force’ where the Tees goes into a waterfall of about 70 feet. Fantastic… I could still be sat there now enjoying it :-).

We followed the river downstream another 1.5 miles to ‘Low Force’, another waterfall on a smaller scale. We then pushed on for Middleton-in-Tees. This was our lunch spot. A lovely little place, we had a light lunch, shopped for a few bits and then returned to the Pennine Way. We were now on our way to Baldersdale. We were due there for 4:30 to be picked up. Out of Middleton we had a straight climb of a mile or so.  the path wasn’t clear so we had to stop a few times to check our position. At one point we were on the wrong path, and had to correct by walking to a road to get back on the Pennine Way. It is a bit of a mixed bag… Some areas clearly signed, others bewilderingly vague. We marched on, and it was a march… We made our meeting point just after 4:30. About 14-15 miles done today.

And it didn’t rain on us today. Hoorah!

We were driven to Cotherstone. We are in the Fox and Hounds overnight. A small trip down the stairs to the bar tonight. Just as well, my legs are tired after today, so it was just about all I could mnage.