West from the English watershed

Day 7 - Brough to Kirkby Stephen Station (7 miles 11km)

 


The plan for Day 7 was to walk the 13 km from Brough to Kirkby Stephen railways station, in order to catch a train to Leeds at about half past ten on a Sunday morning. This meant leaving my hotel in Brough by about seven o'clock. I intended to walk along field paths and lanes but some use of the verges and pavements along the A685 was inevitable. 

In the event things did not work out as planned. I'd intended to reach the village of Kaber using a bridleway that is shown crossing the River Belah at NY 807121 (marked by the blue circle).

I'd expected that there would be stepping stones but I could see no way across the river and had to change my route which involved a lot more road walking than planned.

In June 2013 I returned to walk the section between Brough and Kirkby Stephen using a slightly revised route and involving very little road walking. The route description starts with a few photographs I took at Brough on my March 2012 walk, and then continues with the June 2013 walk.

For completeness the March 2012 photographs are included at the end of the page.

 

The day's walk started at the clock on the main street of Brough...

....passing this cascade on Swindale Beck.

The way ahead is under the A66 bridge...

....and along the A685 for about a kilometre....

...until a field path stile gives access to the hillside.

Looking back to Brough Castle.

There's no path visible but the way forward crosses the field to a stile and a path which runs downhill by the hedge....

....to reach a barn and another stile.

Beyond the path heads for Sowerby Park farm and then...

...after a less than obvious stile....

.....goes along the farm access lane into...

...the village of Brough Sowerby.

I took the lane that heads east out of the village and after climbing slightly drops down to Brough Sowerby Common. Notices along here forbid the grazing of horses and camping, which is a particular problem during the annual Appleby horse fair.

At the bottom of the hill, a farm lane leads off south towards Whitrigg and I followed this....

...as far as this waymarked gate.

This was the point where my March 2012 walked continued towards the river. (see end of this page)

There's no clear path but the way drops down the bank beyond the trees to reach...

....a waymarked gate.

After crossing the field the waymark directs you through this gate and....

....across a field by the river bank...

....to this rather dramatic river bank cliff in red sandstone.

 

Crossing over the old Belah Bridge...

.....the path climbs up ...

...past more rock formations...

...and across fields..

...towards the village of Kaber.

The way forwards doesn't go into the village but..

...takes the left fork along the lane...

...to the start of another track near this house.

Then it's across fields...

...and more fields..

...and a small bridge over a stream..

...to reach the village of Winton.

Winton is an interesting village which was clearly more important in the past.

After a coffee at the Bay Horse Inn...

....there's a short stretch along the lane..

...to reach another signposted but trackless path..

...across a sea of buttercups

...and more meadows...

...before reaching a farm at Whingill...

...where the way forward is along the farm lane.

With Wirkby Stephen in view, the walk was enlivened by a low flying RAF transport plane.

With the high hills to the south in view.....

..the lane drops down to...

...reach the road at Hartley Fold.

The road for Kirkby Stephen is taken at this slightly curious concealed junction and...

....after a short distance there is a broad bridleway.

...which leads down to a cricket ground.

Finally, Kirkby Stephen is reached at Frank's Bridge over the River Eden.

The rest of this section from Kirkby Stephen town to the railway station uses photographs taken in March 2012.

Kirkby Stephen Market Street - time to buy supplies!

The road to the station heads slightly up hill with rows of sandstone houses...

.....until the old Kirkby Stephen East station is reached. It's now the base for a group aiming to reopen a section of the old Barnard Castle to Penrith railway.

Immediately beyond a bridge a lane leads off uphill. Given that this is the way for pedestrians to the railway station it's surprising there is no obvious signpost.

At Halfpenny House a new footpath leads off to the right..

....uphill to the railway station...

....which can be seen perched high above.

Kirkby Stephen station (formerly Kirkby Stephen West) and the end of this day's walk. And yes, I made the train with about twenty minutes to spare.

 

The March 2012 walk that went wrong


The farm lane turned east and came up to a wooded area seen in the distance. A well concealed footbridge crossed a stream and went towards...

.....this waymarked gate pointing across meadows. All appeared to be going well and I was on time to catch my train.

But on reaching the far side of the meadows, at roughly NY807 121, it was immediately obvious that there was no way across the River Belah. The map shows the path crossing the river but there's no bridge or stepping stones. 

The satellite photos on Google maps show no way across the river, although the path can clearly be seen on the far bank of the river. Not wishing to get wet feet paddling through the river I decided to try to reach the main road. After wasting time trying to find a way across the fields and onto a path that goes to the main road, I found that another stream blocked my way. 

My rather convoluted tracks can be seen on the map from '5-track' to '8-track'. As a result of this I'd now wasted well over half an hour and had less than two hours to reach Kirkby Stephen station, about 9 km away. I decided that it was going to have to be a route march along the main road after all.

So it was a case of retreating back across the footbridge and heading back along the farm lane until I reached this gate, where a footpath led over fields to the bridge over the River Belah.

Initially, the path runs along a terrace above the river flood plain before dropping down .......

.....to a waymarked gate and then across fields...

...and above the river bank.

The path heads for a stile in a wall opposite a rocky outcrop called Belah Scar. One feature of this part of the Eden valley is the red sandstone and bright red soil, especially obvious in mole hills.

The old Belah road bridge has been replaced by a modern bridge but the path crosses the river on the old bridge..

....before joining the main road near Kaber. Needless to say I stopped taking photographs at this point. The verges are wide and easy to walk along and I was able to make good progress...

....to reach the outskirts of Kirkby Stephen with an hour before my train.

Kirkby Stephen main street with the parish church.