THIS is a pleasant and easy linear walk that goes along Smardale nature reserve, visits the pretty villages of Soulby and Great Musgrave and passes Brough Castle, writes JOHN EDMONDSON. The walk offers a wide variety of interests. Do this walk on a Monday and ride on a 1991 Leyland Olympian bus; otherwise you will have to arrange your own return transport. The once a week 571 Cumbria Classic Coach service leaves Brough clock at 10.05am.

Start walking from Newbiggin-on-Lune Village Hall (grid reference NY 705 051, postcode CA17 4NS).

Information:

Distance: 10 miles

Time: 4.5 hours

Terrain: good footpaths, tracks and quiet roads over gently rolling countryside

Map: OS Explorer OL19

ROUTE

1 From the village hall walk to the A685. Cross with care via the central reservation on the right to the lane opposite. Keep left and follow the field-side footpath to a former railway bridge. Go over a stile on the right before the bridge, up the embankment and turn right onto what was once the South Durham and Lancashire Union railway and is now Smardale Gill National Nature Reserve. This is a popular place for lepidopterists (butterfly enthusiasts). After a mile and a half of easy walking the track crosses Scandal Beck via the dramatic 90-feet high Smardale Gill viaduct, which was built in 1861. A mile further on, the track goes under Smardale viaduct, which carries the Settle-Carlisle railway. The nature reserve ends near Smardale Hall. Turn left and walk down Beck Lane. Cross Scandal Beck via the footbridge or ford and turn immediately right onto a beck-side footpath. Cross Far Leases Lane and continue following the beck to Soulby Mill. Walk along a track to Belsey Gate Farm and turn right on the road into the pretty village of Soulby.

2 Turn left onto Appleby Road and after passing Bonnygate Farm, right onto a footpath signed Low Hall. Follow the hedge on the left to a gate in the corner of the field, go over two fence stiles then diagonally right across a field to a stile on the slope near trees. Cross the next field diagonally to the opposite corner over Washber Hill. Good views appear: the Nine Standards can just be picked out to the southeast. Descend to the right of Low Hall Farm. The footpath crosses a farm track through a double gate then goes down the side of a field to the right and by the side of a field (grazed by many cattle) to a roadside stile. Turn right and after 120 yards left through a gate. Here the path doubles back across the field for 150 yards to a fence then turns right alongside a fence, through a gate and descends to go under a bridge of the disused railway. Turn left, crossing two fence stiles, and walk alongside the railway embankment to a stile through a roadside hedge. Turn right then left along the B6295 road to Musgrave Bridge (musgrave means mouse wood). Cross the bridge and turn right to walk over Church Field alongside the River Eden to St Theobald’s Church, where the custom of rush bearing is held every first Saturday in July.

3 Turn left up the church path then right onto a path signed Hall Garth. Go through a gate on the left to a stile across the field to the left of houses. Go downhill and through a gate directly in front of Hall Garth Farm. Turn right, cross the bridge over Swindale Beck, then turn left through a metal gate, keeping beside the beck, to another metal gate, across a field to a mound, through a wooden gate and up to the right of the hill. A hedged lane then goes past Brough Castle and descends to a metal gate. Turn left and walk up the lane past the church to Church Brough parking area. The way to the castle is on the left. For Brough, turn right, then left, across the bridge over Augill Beck, along the pavement under the A66 flyover and into the village.

NB: Restrictions on space mean that this article provides a general summary of the route. It is advisable for anyone who plans to follow the walk to take a copy of the relevant Ordnance Survey map.