View near Kirkby Stephen

As its been another lovely day today I took the afternoon off as have been working very hard and went looking for wild orchids. I did some research on the internet the night before and printed some information out. There are a couple of nature reserves belonging to the Cumbria Wildlife Trust near Kirkby Stephen which apparently have some. I didn't have time to visit them both and went to Smardale Gill which occupies a 6km/3.5 mile section of disused railway line which once ran from Tebay to Darlington. The little photo in the corner is of the railway viaduct taken at the reserve.

Alas today was not my lucky day and I only saw one common orchid and a few just in bud. I was hoping to see something I've not seen before like a Frog Orchid but I may have been a couple of weeks too early. Also I didn't explore all of the reserve as Bonnie was lagging behind quite a bit and was a bit hot.

However, whilst the orchid hunt was disappointing I was more than happy with the scenery and took lots of photos of the Howgills just off the M6 and lots more of the fells nr Kirkby Stephen.