Just downstream from Cow Green reservoir but before reaching Cauldron Snout is Birkdale Footbridge. It was built in 1966 shortly before the reservoir and replaced an earlier bridge which itself was a replacement for a (possibly) late 19th century bridge. The footbridge is part of the Pennine Way which comes down past Maize Beck, a tributary of the Tees which joins below Cauldron Snout. Birkdale Farm is hereabouts and there is a path up to the reservoir itself. The bridge is overshadowed by the dam and to the south lie the bare moors of the Pennine Fells and further west stand the higher peaks of the North Pennines.