Overview

The Darlington Dash was an ultra-distance trail race organised by Quakers Running Club, starting in 1995 and running for a number of years. I believe that logistics of managing the route and organising the event in terms of permissions etc became too onerous and so the race was discontinued. Our aim is to revive the route, but not to hold an actual race but as a part of the Northern Counties DIY Challenge Series

Route Overview

The is an approximately 36-40 mile circuit, starting and finishing on the outskirts of Darlington. Based on a “map” on an old t-shirt, the route takes in the villages of Walworth Gate, High Coniscliffe, Piercebridge, Cleasby, Stapleton, Croft-on-Tees, Hurworth, Neasham, Middleton St. George, Sadberge, Brafferton and a jaunt out to Heighington. To quality as a completed Dash your route must take in all the listed villages, and also on the section between Neasham and Middleton St. George you must follow the Teesdale Way around to Low Dinsdale rather than short-cutting along the road.

Planning the Run

Based on the route outlined above, the start and finish point is pretty much up to the individual. Part of the appeal is having a route you can run straight from your front door, so it doesn’t make sense to drive a mile or two for the sake of it. Getting from town to the route is likely to add 4 or 5 miles onto an already 35 mile circuit.

I had a couple of concerns. There are some busy roads to cross – North Road, the A1, A66, A67 and A68 being the main ones. The A1 and A66 are easy to tick off as there are bridges or underpasses along the route where all main footpaths cross the road safely. North Road (near Brafferton), the A67 (just before Heighington) and A68 (between High Coniscliffe and Piercebridge) require careful crossing. 

The next consideration is that some of the footpaths go through farmyards and through fields. That’s fine during the day but I don’t want to encourage people to cross farms at night. This is less of an issue in Summer, but for Winter, you should stick to road sections once it gets dark in the afternoon.

Most of the route between Stapleton and Middleton One Row follows a logical path – the Teesdale Way. For the rest of the circuit there are plenty of different options available. I think some of the appeal or challenge will lie in picking the best paths and roads.

For non-Darlington residents, there are plenty of possible start/ finish points. Parking is possible in Heighington, Piercebridge, Croft, Hurworth, Neasham and Middleton St. George. Bear in mind these are residential villages so please park considerately. Another good option is to park near Amazon on the A66 bypass. This places you close to the route between Middleton St. George and Sadberge. 

The Inaugural Darlo Dash

This is a report of Claire and my first attempt at the full route.  

I woke up keen to get started, and after a couple of coffees, we were ready to go, at around 7:45am. The forecast couldn’t have been better – no rain, no wind and around 5 to 10 degrees throughout the day. One final luxury – having an event that starts and finishes at your own front door.

We set off at a nice steady pace, past West Park hospital, onto “new road” and stayed on the road as far as the junction for Low Walworth Farm. Just past the farm, we crossed a stile and headed along the footpath that ultimately brings you out at Walworth Castle. After a couple of fields, we turned left (before reaching Walworth), coming out on Staindrop Road. There was another footpath just over the road, so we crossed and into a field full of Belted Galloway cows, which emerges next to the farm at Ulnaby. So far, so good.

From here across the road there was another footpath through a field or two, which cuts out a section of road. We then rejoined a short stretch of road to Carlbury. We then had to cross the A67 and drop down into Piercebridge. There is a lovely little footpath that takes you past the Roman ruins there and over the river Tees for the first time. 

Once we were through the village we took the next footpath off to the left and headed eastwards to eventually follow the river. We went slightly wrong here – there was a promising footpath on an embankment alongside the river, but as we reached the woods ahead there was a sign warning that there was no footpath or right of way through the woods. We obviously weren’t the first to have made this error, judging by the amount of footprints climbing up the steep bank on our right. Back on track, this is a lovely, muddy section of farm tracks, with occasional views over the river. Just a couple of footpath junctions where you need to have your wits about you and make sure you follow the right one. After a few miles we turned right onto the lane that brought us out in Cleasby.

The Teesdale Way

A short road section finishes in Stapleton, and onto the Teesdale Way. Navigation-wise this makes things much easier as it is well signposted. It is a scenic and at times muddy few miles to Croft. Yet another crossing of the Tees, and a run along the lanes of Croft and Hurworth. The first turn-off wasn’t very obvious so we carried on along the road and turned along a lane to bring us out at Rockliffe Hall.

For a few miles you have a mix of roads and trails, through Hurworth and Neasham. We stopped at Neasham at a point overlooking the river for some food.

The Teesdale Way follows a section of road for another mile or so – mostly flat, decent running, before a sharp left turn off the road and a route northwards through fields and farmland to Low Dinsdale. This is a very scenic section with good views and nice runnable paths. We crossed paths with our friends Emily and Scott Beaumont along this section which was a pleasant surprise, especially as this is quite an off-the-beaten-track kind of place!

Low Dinsdale to Brafferton

Through Low Dinsdale and onto a gorgeous but muddy woodland trail through to Middleton One Row. It is a steep climb through the village and the first time that the legs were starting to feel tired. It’s an easy path to Middleton St. George and over the railway, but construction work meant a very muddy detour around the site. Our reward was a scenic run between a couple of reservoirs just after.

This was where my route planning got a bit stuck. and we ended up doing a mile and a bit firstly over the busy Yarm/ airport road and then along the road to Sadberge. The road wasn’t that busy but there is no footpath whatsoever so each time a car passed we had to jump out of the way and wait. I picked this road section as it was the only apparent way of crossing the A66 without going over the road itself – I have since found a much better option.

Then we had a steep climb into the very pretty village of Sadberge and a stop to adjust footwear. Once out of the village we were back onto paths and farmland, and this was so muddy it was almost comical. Catkill Lane promised so much and delivered so little apart from mud that trapped your shoes and threatened to pull them off into the bog. This made for very slow going and was a bit draining at this stage. Eventually the trails improved and we made our way to Brafferton.

Brafferton to Darlington

After a mile or so along Coatham Lane, we crossed a bridge over the A1 and were back onto farming territory. This is very much horse country, and the lanes were a churned up mud fest. Again, very slow going until we got into a field. I get the feeling that around here either the farmers are not keen on ramblers, or there simply aren’t many people using the footpaths round here, as they are in terrible condition. The worst bit came when, in order to cross a stile, we had to crawl on hands and knees through a hedge – and yes we were bang on the right of way. The next “interesting” thing was very unexpected – as soon as we got over the stile a very inquisitive and utterly mad alpaca bounded over to us. It basically danced around us the whole time we were in the field which was amusing at first but then a bit unnerving, and we were glad to be out of there!

Soon afterwards there was a bit more mud but we made it into Heighington just before it started to get dark. By now, legs and mind were pretty tired, so I had another gel for a quick hit of energy. We got our head torches out and seeing as it got dark pretty quickly.

The good thing was that once we passed Walworth Gate, it was an easy mile or two back home, so we got our heads down and hit a decent stride. And now here’s the annoying part, and why runners can be plain stupid… We hit exactly 39 miles a short-ish distance from home. So what do you do? Well instead of enjoying the fact that we had finished, we went further along the road and round the houses a bit to round the distance up to 40 miles. A completely pointless exercise that would interest absolutely no-one, but we still did it. And guess what – I bet you would as well. We are a weird bunch aren’t we?!

And so we got to the finish line, which also happened to be our front door. I think this was such a great moment. No sitting in wet smelly clothes steaming up the car for an hour. That was it. Open the door, get greeted by a couple of cats and get shot of the mucky clothes. Just perfect.

The Aftermath

It is a good, varied route with a lot of interesting places along the way. As it is a circular route, you are never all that far from home, and that is quite reassuring. This doesn’t always work in your favour though as there are times when you know you have say, 20 miles to go, instead of taking a different route and getting home much quicker. That becomes quite an interesting mental battle with yourself…

I think it would work really well as a relay, as there are plenty of optimal “handover” places. It is pretty easy to do without support – we carry everything we need but there are shops and cafes in most of the villages you cross. If you wanted to abandon ship en route, you also pass close to the train stations of Dinsdale and Heighington, so options to bail are there.

I have since revisited the section from Middleton St. George to the other side of the A66 and found a much better route – along the Green Lane, running northwards shortly before Green Bridge and using an underpass next to an abandoned farmhouse. I have also found a better route from Sadberge to Barmpton, avoiding the muddy section of Catkill Lane – use the footpath from Sadberge that heads towards Burdon Hall. I have tried 6 different routes between Brafferton and Heighington – none of which were perfect but there are still more options to try.

So there you go – challenge issued, over to you…