Coast to Coast UK - Tebay to Kirkby Stephen

If I had to describe the scenery of the Lake District in one word, it would be ‘dramatic’. To do the same for the Westmorland Dales, it would be ‘genteel’. The hills here are green and rolling, covered with fields edged with dry stone walls, full of either cattle, sheep, or wildflowers. I love most of all, the wildflower meadows, many of which we walked through this morning.

We were already at a disadvantage today as we had a 3-mile hike to rejoin the Coast to Coast path at Orton, from our accommodation at Tebay. This would make the distance for the day 15 miles (24km), our longest to date, although only fractionally more than Ennerdale Bridge to Seatoller on our second day. Wallsy tried very hard to get a car to take us to the start in Orton this morning, but they simply weren’t responding to his calls – the only one who did, couldn’t make the trip at the time we needed, so we just had to walk the extra miles. It was a pretty walk on a fairly busy section of road, but we stepped it out and made it to Orton in just under an hour.

We have been a week on the track now, and have found our rhythm, so, if the conditions are right, we can average a steady 2 miles per hour. The walk to Orton was in dappled sunshine and a light breeze, our wet weather gear stowed confidently in our packs. By the time we had wandered through the village, checking out the entries in the scarecrow competition as we went, and finally rejoined the Coast to Coast path just near the Gamelands Stone Circle, it was time for first lunch. We made ourselves at home on one of the neolithic stones, the only limestone slab in the arrangement, and had our morning tea.

We then crossed a stile and entered public footpaths across farmer’s fields, an arrangement we have become used to, but today they were much easier to follow and while there were some churned up muddy bits on the tracks, there were no bogs threatening to suck us in up to our kneecaps. These were the wildflower meadows, golden in the sunshine, the surrounding fields of black and white cows and white sheep, all adding to the rural idyll.

We eventually turned out of the fields onto a narrow lane where we soon heard a vehicle coming up behind us. I headed for a gateway I could see a few paces away to allow it to pass, and Wallsy wasn’t far behind, but instead of overtaking us it stopped. It was our helpful farmer from yesterday, Dave! He was pleased to see us and wanted to know if we had managed the last section of yesterday’s hike. He gave us some more information about the area, and we chatted like old friends. I noted that he was quite dressed up today (yesterday’s working attire had been topped with an old overcoat pulled together with a wool bale staple), and he said he was going visiting at a farm just up the road; one that he used to manage.

We let him go on his way and continued our walk, eventually passing the farm he had mentioned and being greeted with a hearty wave from Dave and his farmer-friend. The laneway opened out onto Orton Fell, a vast area of limestone hills covered with grasses billowing in the gentle wind, and low-growing heather. This is a protected area with ground nesting birds common, so dogs must be kept on leads at all times. Meadow pipits would startle and fly up from the ground as we passed. We reached Sunbiggin Tarn in time for second lunch at 12:30 and while we rested and ate on a conveniently located rock, watched in horror as two young boys, destroyed a section of the stone wall that surrounded the tarn, hurling the rocks onto the ground and ripping the moss off, tossing it into the air, with an adult watching on. They eventually left and we were able to enjoy the peace and solitude of the tarn.

We moved on, climbing steadily across the moor, turning often to admire the views we were leaving behind, as we approached the top of the moorland. Now we were led down until we were once again walking on rights of way across farmer’s fields. Here we had to dodge some wet areas in paddocks but were soon on a very steep descent towards Smardale Bridge, with magnificent views of the Smardale Valley opening out before us. At the Bridge, a footbridge that crosses a disused railway, we stopped and rested on a stile enjoying a quick snack, as it was by now, 3 o’clock. We estimated we would reach Kirkby Stephen, our home for the next two nights, by approximately 5. It was here that Wallsy came up with a new proposal.

The disused railway bed below us would take us in the direction of Kirkby Stephen; it would be a flat walk and we would cross the Smardale Gill Viaduct. He had me at ‘viaduct’ and I agreed that we would take this alternate route towards KS, so crossing the stile, we took a path down to the rail trail and we set off. The first thing we found was the intact remains of a limestone kiln, used in the building of the viaduct and later contributing to the British steel industry. This, and the views down the sheer sides of the valley to the gill below, were impressive. The thing I found most impressive was the viaduct however, we walked across and then passed onto a track on the other side of the gully to view this magnificent structure which straddles Scandal Beck, standing 27m high with 14 arches and spanning a total length of 170m. It blew my mind to see this impressive piece of 1860’s engineering up close.

Finally, Wallsy dragged me away, both glad we had taken the detour, but now we needed to find our way to Kirkby Stephen. The section of the walk that was on the railway was straightforward, passing under another, less impressive, and not very visible viaduct, on the Settle and Carlisle Line, and into sections of the old railway that have now been developed into nature reserves, abounding in butterflies, flowers and birds. The walk continued well, until the track through the nature reserve became more overgrown. Here we decided to walk on the track beside the old railway line instead, however we quickly came to an impassable area of deep water and black mud, the sides lined with stinging nettles and blackberries. We turned back and took what proved to be a very lengthy detour around country roads, to eventually arrive at our B&B in Kirkby Stephen with 10 minutes to spare for our check in time of 4-6 pm.

Our host was welcoming and quickly gave us instructions for removing our boots, made us a pot of tea and then told us if we wanted an evening meal, we needed to book something ‘now’! Apparently at this time of year the ‘Travellers’ come to the area for the annual horse fairs and many businesses close due to the trouble they often encounter with the influx. Although the nearest fair at Appleby isn’t until next week, much of Kirkby Stephen is already closed, so there are limited places to get a meal. Our host Elaine had done the research however and identified a choice of three places where she said, if we mentioned we were staying at Bollam Cottage we would be able to get a table. We phoned ahead to the Black Bull at Nateby, where indeed they would give us dinner, but we had to be there by 6:45. It was now 6 and it was almost a mile away.

We gulped our cups of tea, donned our runners and set out for yet another walk. The stats showed we had already walked 17 miles (27km) for the day (that detour had indeed proved to be quite lengthy), so what was a couple more, even if our feet and legs were protesting loudly!