Day 7 - Orton to Kirkby Stephen

Distance today 13.4 miles

Total distance so far 90.4 miles

After our night at The Old School House in Tebay and an early breakfast, we were dropped off at Orton to rejoin the trail for the next stage to Kirkby Steven.  We bought sandwiches from the very enterprising village shop and set off to rejoin the route which passes just outside the village.

Views to the Howgills (Yorkshire Dales national park but they are in Cumbria)

A Cow House (cow ‘uss in local dialect) of which there are many round here - where the cattle would to be kept indoors for winter.

Exploring a cow house

Lovely views and a rather lovely tree / barn combo 

It was a glorious day and easy walking across grassy fields filled with lambs.  At Sunbiggin Farm, the farmland came to an end and we walked onto moorland where we watched lapwing doing their spectacular aerial displays with their amazing squeaky-toy song. We also heard our first Cuckoo of this spring!!

Out across the moors

Lapwings

We eventually stopped for our picnic lunch looking across at the Smardale viaduct before climbing over the hill to descend down into Kirkby Stephen.

View from our lunch spot with the wonderful Smardale viaduct in the distance. It must have been amazing when steam trains ran along this line. Now it’s a cycle path!

The locals intrigued by strangers

Kirkby Stephen Church

Kirkby Stephen is a lovely little town nestled in the dales. It is almost half way along the coast to coast walk and has a station so is a natural stopping point for those only doing half the walk. We therefore said farewell to quite a few of the folk who started in St Bees on the same day as us - especially the Dutch volleyball team, the other Dutch couples and Ed the electrician! There aren’t so many of us going the whole way!