Croft to Piercebridge

We slept very well and had a lovely breakfast, including both eggs Benedict and croissants, on the basis of the fact we were not expecting to have an opportunity to get lunch. Paying for our overnight accommodation was slightly complicated because they seemed to have two rooms booked, one in my name and one in Richard's, then they tried to charge us for our evening meal on top of the dinner, bed and breakfast rate. However the receptionist was very helpful and all was sorted out efficiently. It was spitting with rain as we left the Croft Hotel, and it rained again when we were on the outskirts of Darlington, but by sheltering under trees we were able to avoid putting on our waterproofs and the weather improved as the day proceeded. It was a relatively short walk (though the waitress at breakfast thought otherwise!) but extremely enjoyable.

We took the alternative route of the Teesdale Way to the south of the river from Croft to Blackwell, largely because we were already in Croft, but it was a pleasant walk (and, from the map, it looks nicer than the other route to the north of the river). This meant that we stayed in Yorkshire for a while. We started by photographing Croft Church which is close to the Croft Hotel and whose claim to fame is that Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson) lived in the rectory next door as a young man, because his father (also Charles) was rector. As we walked through the tiny village, we walked past first “Carroll Place” then “Lewis Place”! Just out of the village we passed an old pack horse bridge and Clow Beck House, which appears to be a rather nice cross between a hotel and a B&B; I wondered why we had stayed at the Croft Hotel rather than here, but on researching afterwards, I think it might have had something to do with price!

We climbed and followed the edge of a little ridge, with the river below us to our right, sometimes close-by and sometimes further away. At Stapleton Grange the path became a minor road, which we followed to the attractive village of Stapleton. We turned right onto a busier road, then right again on a roundabout onto the A66 towards the centre of Darlington. We stopped to don protection from the Sun, then we stopped again to shelter from the rain! We crossed the river into Blackwell and the rain became a little more serious; we sheltered under some trees and it soon stopped. It was dry and sunny for the rest of the day. We turned left onto a residential road through Blackwell, then down a rather gloomy track which brought us to the banks of the river and to open countryside. We were only a couple of miles from the centre of Darlington, and there were houses visible to our right, but the walking was lovely.

After following the river for about a mile we reached a weir and left the river to emerge in the Broken Scar Picnic Area. We stopped for a snack, watching children playing in the playground, then walked along the A67 for a short distance, passed a modern water treatment works on the right-hand side of the road and the old Darlington Corporation Waterworks on the left. We took a footpath towards Low Coniscliffe, and walked through the village. We returned to the river bank and passed underneath the A1(M). Between here and High Coniscliffe, the river does a couple of meanders and we followed them. We weren’t always close to the river, but we cut down to it from time to time and at the apex of the meander opposite Mansfield Scar we sat down on the gravel by the river to eat some snacks in lieu of lunch. It was a delightfully peaceful place and I had a paddle in the river.

Before reaching High Coniscliffe we looped around again, now walking on a path around arable crops, sometimes a bit overgrown. There were good views across the fields to High Coniscliffe Church and when we eventually climbed up to the A67 in High Coniscliffe, we realised that this is because the Church is indeed at the highest point in the area. We walked along the pavement through the village, grateful that we were not desperate for refreshments at the Duke of Wellington, because it is now a private house not a pub!

From High Coniscliffe to Piercebridge is only about a mile and it was a pleasant enough walk along the north bank of the river. We emerged by the bridge in Piercebridge and the George Hotel, where we were staying tonight, is just across the bridge on the south bank. As we had expected, given it was a summer Saturday, a wedding party was standing outside the hotel, having photographs taken. We meanwhile pottered around the village for a while, stopping for tea and cakes (to make up for the rather meagre lunch) at the lovely Piercebridge Organic Farmshop and Café. We then visited the remains of the Piercebridge Roman Fort before returning to the George Hotel.

However the grandfather clock story is not what we will remember the George for…We were shown to a pleasant enough room in an annex at the far end of the hotel – well away from the wedding festivities so I was happy. I decided to have a shower. I ran and ran the hot water, but hot it wasn’t. I called Richard, who ran and ran the hot water, but hot it didn’t become. I rang reception, and someone came to have another go, but it was no good, of hot water there was none. They went off to investigate; Richard went out to investigate the (not very exciting) remains of the Roman Bridge. (Piercebridge grew up where Dere Street crossed the River Tees, hence the various Roman remains in the village). After a while a member of staff came to say that they were moving us to another room and after Richard returned, we packed up our stuff and headed off to a different room. As we relocated, they mentioned that they thought they had the hot water in the annex working, and we discovered that the room they had moved us to, in the main part of the hotel, was actually a staff room because it was near to a noisy extractor fan. No; I wasn’t sleeping there, so we decided to take our chances and move back to our old room. Still no hot water, but we knew they would have to get it fixed for the sake of everyone in the annex, and by this time we had negotiated a free evening meal to compensate and there was a plumber on site.

When we went down to dinner (still no hot water) we were first offered a table in the bar, but I wanted somewhere a bit quieter, so we went to the restaurant where there was just one other couple and a good view of the river and the wedding party’s antics on the lawn below us. We watched the children in the party dancing and turning cartwheels, then all of them being photographed in fancy dress in the ballroom next door to the restaurant; we escaped before the disco got going properly. All most entertaining and we had a nice three-course meal and wine at no cost to us – and when we got back to our room there was hot water! You certainly couldn’t fault the hotel staff’s efforts to keep us happy, and all on top of hosting a wedding.

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