New Year’s Day, like Boxing Day, is one of those days where it’s compulsory to get out for a walk – even if you don’t usually like a walk. Consequently, on these days all well known local walks tend to be mobbed, an effect only exacerbated by the lovely weather we had over Christmas and into January. I drove through Reeth at 9.30am on Boxing Day and the village green was chock full of parked cars – no thank you!
On days like this, we tend to go not for a show stopper walk, but for somewhere which we think might escape the holiday crowds. Historically, we’ve found the countryside bordering the A66 in County Durham to be a very safe bet for a nice quiet walk: our excursions to Barningham, Greta Bridge and Ravensworth having soundly proved this theory.
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In the summer, Sam had run a longer route from our Cicerone guide to County Durham, which started in Bowes and took in sections of the Pennine Way and God’s Bridge. He was particularly taken with God’s Bridge, a natural stone crossing over the River Greta, and we’d planned for quite a while to return here together. The only sticking point was that the photo Sam had originally sent me while he was running was a rather spooky shot of the bridge in the fog – with a group of cows lurking in the background.
As I am not a cow fan (swap ‘not a fan’ for ‘absolutely terrified’), it’s taken a while for Sam to convince me to go. He seized his chance on New Year’s Day, reasoning that he’d done the run in summer and the cows were likely to have been moved on for winter. He also found a shorter route on the OS maps app which we could do in a few hours, rather than being out all day in the freezing cold. How could I say no?
The downside of the shorter route was that it started from a lay-by at the side of the A66. A short walk of less than a minute along the edge of the dual carriageway was more than enough to put me off ever starting a walk from there again! Dropping down the verge leads to the Pennine Way, which we followed across the rather bleak fields and moors on a circular loop of around 5km.
I’d worn my trail running shoes in the hope that the freezing temperatures would have frozen the mud and bog: unfortunately this was only partially successful, with the bigger, boggier patches which were too wide to easily jump over being particularly tenacious in remaining wet. The upside was the water only soaked through around my toes, rather than my entire foot…
It might not be the most awe-inspiring section of the Pennine Way, but we didn’t see another soul (or any cows), so it ticked all of the boxes for what we were after. After both being busy in the morning (Sam out for a run up Ivy Scar, me out for a ride in Swaledale), we just wanted a nice shorter leg stretch to take the dogs out and spend a bit of time together. And that’s exactly what we got (as well as wet feet). Plus, we managed to catch a glimpse of Bowes Castle in the distance, so there are a few bits to look out for.
It’s worth noting that on the way back, we turned right immediately after crossing the wall near the A66 and tramped through the long grass at the bottom of the bank until we were level with the lay-by, rather than climbing the bank to walk along the edge of the A66. This was infinitely preferable to the outward leg and I’d strongly suggest it to anyone considering this walk.
Dog friendly rating: 2.5/5. We only came across one field with sheep in on this walk, but multiple fields are crossed and you should expect the possibility of sheep or cows in any of them. On the moor we were able to let Coal have a run off lead, but this is limited to outside the ground nesting bird breeding season. The section to reach the start of the walk was nerve wracking with a dog – but, the river is accessible near the start for water loving pups to have a splash. There is one stile on the route, which is a stone step stile and should be manageable for most dogs.
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