Try the Durham Dales…
IT’S HARD NOT to be bewitched by the green-white patchwork of the Yorkshire Dales, but as any visitor to Malhamdale in midsummer will attest, it’s an enchantment you have to share with a lot of other people.
So instead, follow the spine of the Pennines farther north, to the far side of the A66, and there you’ll discover the oft-overlooked Durham Dales.
They’ve never been part of a national park; instead they are absorbed within the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the second largest AONB in England and Wales at almost 770 square miles. The dales are also a UNESCO Global Geopark, celebrated for their diverse landscape of rocks, minerals, landforms and soils.
What does all this designation mean for the walker? Well, we think it means a rich, diverse and intriguing day out: a Yorkshire Dales carbon copy but minus the crowds.
Our favourite haunt is Weardale, the cradle of the River Wear, which runs for 15 gorgeous miles from Cowshill in the west to Wolsingham in the east, passing settlements like Stanhope and Killhope as it goes. (A word to the wise, ‘hopes’ around here are ‘ups’ – Stannup, Killup and so on.)
Stanhope and Wolsingham make great basecamps for exploring the area.
And there’s big stuff around here, too: Burnhope Seat tops out at 747m, while nearby Swinhope Moor is home to England’s only non-artificial ski slope. It may only see an average of 13 day’s snow a year, but it’s still our answer to Aspen…
WALK HERE: Download Stanhope Edges, Weardale, Wolsingham and Cauldron Snout at www.lfto.com/bonusroutes