Kirkby Stephen

Kirkby Stephen is a small market town in the upper Eden Valley, ringed by the fells of the Pennines, Mallerstang and the Howgills. It lies on the A685 between Tebay and Brough, and for many people it is a stop on Wainwright's Coast to Coast walk, the last town before the long climb over the Pennine watershed.

Its parish church of St Stephen is large and handsome, and inside is the Loki Stone, an early medieval carving thought to show the Norse god bound and chained, a rare survival from the Viking age. The market square, with its cloisters at the church gate, still holds a market on Mondays.

Above the town to the east, Nine Standards Rigg is topped by a row of tall, ancient stone cairns of uncertain origin, a strange and memorable summit reached by the Coast to Coast path. Closer to town, Stenkrith Park has a dramatic stretch of the young Eden carving through rock, and the valley of Mallerstang to the south is one of the most beautiful in the north. Spring and early summer are the best times to walk here, when the curlews and lapwings are on the moors, and the dales are quiet even in the summer holidays.

The Settle to Carlisle railway calls at Kirkby Stephen station, but it is south of the town and a good walk uphill. Nine Standards Rigg is boggy and confusing in mist. The town is quiet, with a few pubs and shops.