Smardale Gill

Distance: 9 miles
Ascent: 200m... if that...
Weather: rain on and off, occasional blue sky and sunshine.
Buzzards, heron, goldfinches,  long-tailed tits, red squirrel, nuthatch (probably), pixie goblet lichen

It was raining very heavily as we set off, the lanes running with water and the ground very muddy. The streams and rivers were full and fast running. The path crossed a few pillow mounds (in italics) and across grass fields with sheep to Smardale Bridge which is on the C2C path. We weren't on it for long, turning off almost straight away along Smardale Gill a very pretty valley above Scandal Beck. We saw buzzards and a red squirrel on a dry stone wall. The rain eased off and eventually stopped,  blue skies appearing and a view brief patches of sunshine.

We carried on beyond the viaduct into the nature reserve, where we did some bird watching, frustratingly lacking in binoculars or zoom camera. Here we saw a couple of trains crossing the Smardale Viaduct which is on the Settle to Carlisle line. At the end of the reserve,  we turned back towards the viaduct (taking a detour down into the treed valley, but didn't see anything very interesting down here) and then met some other walkers who soon turned back, surprisingly, seeing as they were about three minutes away from seeing a view of the very impressive Smardale Gill viaduct. It was quite windy as we crossed, then carried on along the dismantled railway line, passing lime kilns and interesting fungi, back into Newbiggin-on-Lune and afternoon tea at the garden centre.

After lunch we waited a short time for the heavy rain shower to pass, then followed the path and bridleway to Ravenstonedale.