Orton to Kirkby Stephen
Stage 7 of 16 (Westmorland limestone country) is the Coast to Coast's quiet "between the parks" day - a 12¾-mile (20¼ km) crossing from the conservation village of Orton, across open access moorland, to the Eden Valley market town of Kirkby Stephen. Leaving Orton you climb gently east onto Tarn Moor, skirting reed-fringed Sunbiggin Tarn, an SSSI marl lake alive with teal, wigeon and breeding waders, then pad south-east over Ravenstonedale Moor past the Romano-British settlement remains at Severals and the fortified Iron Age limestone scar of Castle Folds. The walk's centrepiece is Smardale Gill: a stone packhorse bridge over Scandal Beck and Sir Thomas Bouch's elegant 1861 viaduct, now in a butterfly-rich nature reserve. A final pull over Smardale Fell opens views to the Howgills and Mallerstang before the long descent into Kirkby Stephen. With 1,276 ft (389 m) of ascent and pathless, often boggy moorland in the middle, it is moderate walking where the real test is navigation rather than steepness, especially in mist. The Coast to Coast Path was designated a fully waymarked National Trail in 2026.

Orton to Kirkby Stephen