Bowes Castle - Mill Force Waterfall - Huggill Force

Bowes Castle is just a short drive from Barnard Castle. I arrived early and was able to take some good photos despite the bad weather.

The castle stands on a former Roman Fort "Lavatrae" which commanded the approach to Stainmore Pass over the Pennines on the road from York to Carlisle. This is now the A66. At Stainmore Pass the local Brigante tribes made their last stand against the invading Romans.  The present keep of the castle was built at the end of the 12th century. In 1322 Bowes was besieged and captured by neighbouring Lords and the governor of the castle was expelled. By 1341 the castle was reported to be badly in need of repair and of little use. It was dismantled and stripped of much of its stone facing in the seventeenth century. While I took the photos I met a dog walker who told me that from Citron Seat (see Map) one has a great view of the castle. This is still on my To Do List for Teesdale.

The church is just across from the castle. Charles Dickens toured the local area and found inspiration in the village academy, which he immortalised as Dotheboys Hall in his novel Nicholas Nickleby. The graves of two of the people who inspired characters portrayed by the author can be seen in Bowes churchyard. William Shaw (1782-1850) was the headmaster of The Bowes Academy, and is said to have been the model for Wackford Squeers in Nicholas Nickleby – they share the same initials. And George Ashton Taylor, who died in 1822 aged 19, apparently inspired Dickens to create the character of Smike in the same novel.

From the castle there is a public footpath to the river Greta and Mill Force Waterfall is not very far up the river. Just when I had set up my camera at the waterfall it started to rain heavily and my hat came in handy as a rain cover for the camera. I later found out that there is a second waterfall further upstream which is just about visible in the middle of the pictures. It must have been the rain that prevented me from spotting it. So I will come back.

Afterwards I drove up the hillside opposite Bowes towards  Huggil Force Waterfall. I was able to park the car next to a cattle grid and I took a public footpath towards the waterfall. The waterfall is not easy to get too. It is hidden in a small steep ravine. After I managed to climb down to the waterfall and had setup my tripod and camera, a duck appeared in the small pond with her ducklings. I had a guilty conscience obviously having disturbed them. She struggled up the embankment and the ducklings had difficulties following her. She always waited until all ducklings were close again and than continued her path along the embankment. I only had my wide angle lens with the totally wrong settings and the photos are quite blurred. After I took the photos of the waterfall a Dipper (Wasseramsel) sat on the rocks next to the waterfall. Again I regreted not to have taken a zoom lens with me but I enjoyed watching the dipper for a couple of minutes anyway.

On the road back there is a small plantation with some really interesting looking trees. A few days later I went back there and took some photos. (last 5 photos).