Kirbro two

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Kirbro here.

31/3/24. I walked this route on Easter Sunday - a good day as frequent buses run between Kirkby Stephen and Brough as part of the Cumbria Easter (Vintage Commercial Vehicle) Rally - from Brough to Kirkby Stephen, and it's a delightful walk especially in spring sunshine. Brough has many useful facilities: two pubs, several cafes, toilets, accommodation and (normally) plenty of free on-street parking. Kirkby Stephen is even better served. Otherwise, there is only the pub at Winton directly on this route.

This is decidedly a walking route only, with many stiles (some high, others wobbly), narrow wall squeezes the width of a single leg, frequent muddy/boggy areas, and narrow foot bridges across many streams and becks. It requires the use of OS Explorer OL19, as waymarking is inconsistent at best. The route picks up Wainwright's "A Pennine Journey" (marked on the map) on the edges of the end settlements.

Setting off south from Brough village centre, just after navigating under the A66 and across its slip roads, the best way is to drop half right onto the old road (Photo 1) heading up into Church Brough, as KirBro 2 follows a RoW that appears to have been blocked by newly built houses, or co-opted as private access drives. Walk up past the green (turn right here for an early ice cream at Brough Castle Ice Cream Parlour), past a parking area beyond the houses and turn left through a well-hidden underpass beneath the A685 (Photo 2) - from this point we're on the "A Pennine Journey" route.
Head right and after a short stretch on the verge the route's uphill way takes a footpath signed half left. Take a look behind at Church Brough and the Pennines beyond (Photo 3) then aim south east for the wedge-shaped tops of a stand of four trees beyond the crest, and keep in this direction towards, and then round, the right of the farm buildings of Sowerby Park, after which we follow the lane up to Brough Sowerby. Turn left at the top and follow the road. At a waymarked right turn, take the track - when it bends left, go right through a gate, traversing the slope down to a ruined farm building.
Follow the River Belah, crossing a meadow towards a large Ash Tree when the river meanders away to the left, meeting the river as it returns a little further beyond. Walk through quiet and sheltered meadows, past the imposing Belah Scar across the water (photo 4). Rose Want (who grew up in Kirkby Stephen, studied geology at University and now works as an educator for the British Geological Survey) informs me that Belah Scar is a classic example of a Penrith Sandstone outcrop; this rock was formed before dinosaurs roamed the earth, and is a reminder that beneath today’s cool and soggy Cumbria lie the remnants of a hot, red and arid desert”.
Proceed to the old Belah Bridge. Cross it and immediately head back towards the Scar for a short way (Photo 5) before ascending a steep slope right, to a stile. Head south again, crossing fields towards Kaber. As we approach the western end of the village, the route uses a clearing through rushes towards a small water treatment plant, crossing Popping Beck on a railed footbridge (Photo 6), walking alongside and then crossing a smaller beck before coming out onto the road.
Turn right (then ignore Popping Lane on the right) and just before a house take a track on the left. Beyond the gate, follow the hedge on the right, go over a stile by a gate and then follow the hedge on the left. Proceed straight across the field to find a footbridge near a thicket. Cross it, then quickly go right over a stile. The way then heads to Winton, emerging onto the road at the village edge.

Take the road down into the village centre, go to the left of the green, past the Bay Horse (or stop!) and follow the road out. After the farm take a right through a wall gate, cross the field and emerge onto a farm track - head right briefly along it before going left through the wall back into fields. Here the route skirts the backs of gardens through several fields. Just after a gazebo and a shed right by the track, cross the last wall and then swing left down the field, joining a paved section, towards the left edge of a stand of trees. Cross yet another bridge (this time over Mill Beck) and head up over more fields.
The path to Kirkbank Lane is well waymarked, but the stiles are often in unexpected field corners - we just keep heading pretty much south west, leaving the fields by a stile with a considerable drop on the road side (Photo 7 does not do justice to how much further down it is onto the road). Turn right, then turn left on the A685. Just before the road crosses Eden Bridge, drop left off the road to cross another beck and follow a riverside path along the Eden. At high-water levels this path can be unpassable. (The alternative would be through Edensyde on the other, higher, side of the river and emerging onto Hartley Road through an old wood yard – go left across the bridge and meet the route as it rises from the riverside path).
Follow the road south for a short distance before dropping again to pick up the river and then run by the Cricket Pitch. Beyond the pitch the way leaves "A Pennine Way” and crosses the river at Frank's Bridge before rising to the centre of Kirkby Stephen - all three routes will suffice, but Stoneshot is probably the most appealing, winding up to finish at the market square.

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