The Balder is an
English river that
rises on the eastern slope of Stainmore Common in the
Pennine Chain and flows eastwards for about 13 miles (21 km) to the
River Tees at
Cotherstone.
The River Balder is in
County Durham. The head of the valley is a bleak moorland, with hills around it exceeding 500 m (1640 ft).
The River Balder enters Balderhead Reservoir about 7 km from the source, at around 330 m (1080 ft). It spills into two more
reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
s further down
Baldersdale: Blackton Reservoir and Hury Reservoir.
The scenery becomes gentler as it descends past Baldersdale
Youth Hostel. The distinctive flat peak of
Goldsborough to the south is passed before the valley begins to open out as the river enters Blackton Reservoir at around 280 m (920 ft).
The course of the valley carries on at a virtually exactly east direction as the River Balder enters Hury Reservoir at about 260 m (850 ft), passing the village of
Hury which lies to the north.
The river now begins to twist and turn and is crossed by the Balder Railway Viaduct, which was used by the
Barnard Castle
Barnard Castle (, ) is a market town on the north bank of the River Tees, in County Durham, Northern England. The town is named after and built around a medieval castle ruin. The town's Bowes Museum's has an 18th-century Silver Swan automato ...
to
Middleton-in-Teesdale
Middleton-in-Teesdale is a market town in County Durham, in England. It is situated on the north side of Teesdale between Eggleston and Newbiggin, a few miles to the north-west of Barnard Castle. The settlement is surrounded by the North Pennin ...
railway line before it was closed.
It finally joins the
River Tees at
Cotherstone, at a height of about 160 m (520 ft).
See also
*
Baldersdale
*
Rivers of the United Kingdom
For details of rivers of the United Kingdom, see
* List of rivers of England
* List of rivers of Scotland
* List of rivers of Wales
* Northern Ireland: see List of rivers of Ireland and Rivers of Ireland
* Longest rivers of the United Kingdom
Ov ...
External links
{{authority control
Balder
Baldr (also Balder, Baldur) is a god in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, Baldr (Old Norse: ) is a son of the god Odin and the goddess Frigg, and has numerous brothers, such as Thor and Váli. In wider Germanic mythology, the god was kno ...