Four Rivers

Spent the last week walking in the lovely surroundings of the mid Tees valley. Barnard Castle is a super base for a holiday: it has good walking straight from the town as well as further afield, good shops, friendly locals and as well as a proper castle an excellent museum, the Bowes Museum.

Here's a selection of photos from our walks:

The River Greta at Brignall Banks.

A tricky walk, this, and our first day out. The paths were a popular route in the 19th and early 20th century, and the valley a popular beauty spot. But two wet summers have encouraged many small land-slips, and the paths manage to be both steep and muddy. Worse though was the public footpath which crosses a side river with no bridge or stepping stones. We chose to retrace our steps and detoured via side roads to our starting point rather than get wet feet.

The River Tees near Mickleton.

This gives a hint of the landscape beyond: wild, open, speckled with white buildings of the Raby Estate. A rare place, one of my favourites. Memories of plant-hunting trips out from Newcastle University.

The River Tees at Abbey Bridge.

This is further downstream, but a very different character. The abbey is Eggleston Abbey, an atmospheric ruin.

The River Wear at Durham.

We went to Durham to see what turned out to be an excellent exhibition 'Unpopular Culture' curated by Grayson Perry. It was at the Durham Light Infantry museum, which seemed slightly incongrous, but it is in a 1960s modernist building in landscaped grounds, which was ideal for a selection of mainly paintings and photographs from the middle years of the 20th century. The military part of the museum was very good too, very thought-provoking. We also had to have a visit to the fabulous cathedral, which just amazes every time.

The River Swale at Richmond.

We visited Richmond on the way back south. It has a castle, rather more spectacular than Barnard's ; a river, ditto; and a picturesque town square. Still prefer Barney though!

So we had a great week with great weather for late December. Already planning next year's trip... might be Middleton-in-Teesdale... we did want to go back to Grassington and hope for better weather... and then there's the North York Moors again...