High Sweden Bridge

After an early church service, a potter through the town and a leisurely lunch we walked up to High Sweden Bridge, described in my Packhorse Bridge book as 'a fellwalker's favourite'.
Crossing the Scandale Beck its purpose is uncertain as the packhorse route did not cross the beck, so may have been built for stock movement.

Rated as a three-mile walk it was a hard slog up through the town and into the hills but compensated by stunning scenery, Highland cattle roaming bluebell woods, orange-tip butterflies and Herdwick sheep with their black lambs. We came down to Low Sweden Bridge (extra) which led us back to the main road close to our temporary home.

There are several more such bridges in Cumbria mentioned in the book, some we have already seen, but there are no immediate plans to see more on this short visit.