If you go down to Parlington Woods today you’re sure of several big surprises
1. Walk down the car park and proceed ahead along a boardwalk onto the road, following signs for the nature reserve. Follow the trackbed of the old railway to and across the viaduct.
Easy walking on the disused railway line. Image: Paul Kirkwood 2. Just after the lime kilns pass under a bridge then turn immediately left, up and over a stile then right along a path briefly running parallel to the trackbed. Stay on the path as it descends to cross a packhorse bridge below.
Alternative: You can return via the bridleway over the moor. This avoids repeating part of your outgoing route and provides a contrast to it and good, airy views but is slightly longer, involves a little ascent and means you miss the full side-on view of the viaduct. Take your pick.
Start/finish: Smardale, grid ref NY 734083, postcode CA17 4HF.
Distance/time: 8 km/3 hours.
Accessibility: Very easy route finding and firm paths and tracks. The trackbed is ideal for wheelchair users making for an excellent out and back walk to the viewpoint above the packhorse bridge or beyond towards Brownber. Bikes are prohibited. The area is popular so avoid peak times if you like to walk on your own.
Maps: OS Explorer OL 19 Howgill Fells & Upper Eden Valley, OS Landranger 91 Appleby- in-Westmorland.
Parking: Free car park at Smardale Gill nature reserve. Includes displays about the area in a railway wagon with excellent cakes for sale at just £2 per pack. Approach Smardale via the turn off the A685 south of Kirkby Stephen station. Sat navs may route you via Smardale Mill where the roads are very narrow, steep and with few passing places.
Map link: bit.ly/Smardalewalk.
Legacy of lime
The main attraction of this route, a disused railway viaduct, is hidden from Yorkshire walkers three times over. Firstly, it’s not technically in the county (but is in the Yorkshire Dales national park so qualifies for this magazine). Secondly, it’s not connected by a footpath marked on the OS map by a green dotted line for a public right of way so doesn’t stand out. And thirdly, it’s located deep in a wooded valley and you only spot it when you’re a few yards away. The concealment is all the more extraordinary given the scale of the viaduct. It’s 168 metres long, spans the valley in 14 arches and towers 27 metres above the modest Scandal Beck. The viaduct was constructed in 1861 to take coke from County Durham to the iron and steel furnaces of Barrow and west Cumbria. Grade II listed and once the highest railway in England, the line closed in 1962 when the steelworks shut down but was saved from demolition by the Northern Viaducts Trust in 1989.
Nearby limekilns were built in around 1860 to produce lime for use initially in the construction of the viaduct then for steelmaking in Barrow and Darlington. A picturesque packhorse bridge was built in the 15th century to cross the beck. To the left of it you can see the remains of a sandstone quarry which was used in the construction of the viaduct.
Smardale, near Kirkby Stephen, lies within the Westmorland Dales that were incorporated into the Yorkshire Dales national park in 2016.
The Black Bull, Kirkby Stephen. Traditional family friendly pub with rooms, located on Market Street. Two-course midweek dinners at £13.99. Evening menu includes burgers, steaks, Hunter’s chicken, and mushroom and tarragon chicken. Sunday roasts at around £14.
Costa Coffee, Kirkby Stephen. Small cafe in a national chain, housed in a former Midland bank. Open daily, 8am to 5pm. Excellent for breakfasts or a pack-up for the walk. Also serves toasties, paninis, sandwiches, pastries, snacks and sweets.
