Smardale Gill Nature Reserve - Viaduct walk

Date of visit - 18/09/2024

We had decided to do a double up on this day, with a visit to Cautley Spout, followed by Smardale Gill - unfortunately, due to there being no spaces available for the walk at Cautley Spout we divered to Smardale, to do the viaduct walk first.

We elected to park at the start of the boardwalk end of the walk, where there is a car park (what3words reference ///styled.flipper.windmills). There are no facilities at the car park, apart from some information boards, we had made sure we used the public toilets in Kirkby Stephen before starting our walk.

The walk is largely on even, compacted gravel, with one section of raised decking. There are a couple of small steps at the far end of the decking to negotiate, if you have wheels with you, or mobility issues in general. Little One loved the freedom of being let of his wrist strap here, and we felt largely comfortable to watch him go, obviously keeping a mindful eye on him.

It is strange, that while he is a 'runner' he does tend to run in straight lines, when they are dictated, like in the video before, where he is guided by the path and doesn't appear to want to veer off of it. Keeps the wife and granddaughter fit though, chasing him.

The textures of the deck section were of interest to him too, he appeared to notice the 'bounce' in the decking as he ran, as he stopped every now and again, almost as if to check.

We have been on a few of these old train track-bed walks before, and I always find them interesting, as I try to imagine how the area would have been once upon a time. Apparently the whole viaduct walk takes in the old station from this line, which is now a private residence. Little One is slightly less interested in the history, and more in how far he can run before we catch him.

Much of the track-bed is enclosed either side dense bushes and trees, which helped keep Little One on the straight and narrow, but occasionally there were clearings where the fields and countryside came into view. The line this track served was an industrial one, with coke being carried from South Durham to the Barrow and West Cumbria iron and steel furnaces - another largely day gone by industry for this area!

Little One was still happily jogging on, but as we were nearing the viaduct we felt it best to put him back onto his wrist strap. On the day of our visit there were workmen doing some maintenance repair work to the viaduct.

Clearly these guys know what they are doing, but dangling off the viaduct, by a rope, doesn't seem like my idea of work, or fun for that matter.

This is a good spot for just appreciating the land below you, just not on the end of a rope! 

You can't really see the size of the structure when you are walking across it, or the fact it has 14 arches. I have posted a royalty free image to show what it looks like from ground level, with thanks to ARG_Flickr. 

After crossing the viaduct we decided to walk on a bit further, with Little One again leading the way, once away from the viaduct itself. This part of the path slowly climbed uphill again until we reached what would have been lime kilns. These are now being looked after by Historic England in an attempt to maintain the site. It is another example of living history of a time gone by.

This was a nice spot to sit, on the nicely positioned bench and eat our packing up!

Thank you Mr. Taylforth for your creation.

If you elect to continue from here, then the path from the lime kilns onwards appeared to be more grass then gravel. Apparently there is an alternative way back, creating a loop, rather than a linear walk. The path starting from this end of the viaduct, which will take you through the meadows beneath the structure. However, having done what we set out to achieve, we headed back to the car, back along the track-bed.

Little one didn't have quite the same bounce on the return leg as going on the outward leg. With a round trip of around 4.5 miles we felt it best to pace him, as we hadn't brought the back carrier with us, and I didn't really fancy giving him a shoulder carry!

To his credit he kept going and even had time for a bit of backwards moonwalking when we reached the decked section just before the car park.

On a pleasant day, this was a lovely walk. It doesn't have a massive amount going on until your reach the viaduct, but it was pleasant enough and a good way to let our Little One let off some steam - just like the old trains that would have travelled this way before.