It was a cold windy and very wet night in late summer. The tents were up on the bank of the Tees, and the arguments started, too long to go to sleep and no real hope of out for a walk before sleep. We were a group from a youth project in Sunderland and the ‘camping’ trip was an experiment and treat. Tired and wet we all agreed to walk to over the hills to the Strathmore Arms to get warm if they would let us in, the only building open to us within three miles. We got in. A man with a guitar and a music machine played sixties songs. Our group seemed up for a dance and they had everyone in the place up too before long. There were only about six others in the place all much older people resting after a day’s work on farms. Old jack seemed especially nimble, no room to dance at all yet they glided between chairs and tables. We left some hours later and ready to sleep with nothing left to argue about. The sparkling morning sunshine gave us the most wonderfull experiences of both Low and High Force and a wander up Noon Hill back across Holwick Fell to the Arms below. Closed!

Middleton-in-Teesdale, Barnard castle, DL12 0NJ
01833 640 362

Google map: tinyurl.com/ydka9o4

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A watering hole on the edge of England's last wilderness, serving great meals of local produce and the best range of ales from their microbrewery. Miss it and have regrets for the rest of your life.

www.highforcehotel.com

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You're going to have a stiff hike to get here, and that's one of the wonders of the place. Climb up beside the foaming waterfall of Cauldron Snout, and then you're trekking across a flat, forbidding moorland plateau. Nothing prepares you for what comes next.

High Cup Nick is like an axe blow cloven into the moorland. The land falls away below you; the Eden valley stretches out towards the horizon, a patchwork of green fields. To the side, basalt crags tower, like the spires of a primitive cathedral. Climb down into the Nick and the wind suddenly stops; you're poised above the world.

Best to start near Middleton in Teesdale or at Cow Green car park

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