Meldon Viaduct

Meldon Viaduct is a 165-metre former railway bridge over the West Okement valley near Okehampton. Today it forms part of the Granite Way walking and cycling route, and the height puts Meldon Dam and reservoir into the view. If you’re already visiting the reservoir or following the route, make the crossing: the landscape is the payoff, but looking along the ironwork is part of the fun too.

The London and South Western Railway built the first span in 1874 to carry its line across this steep valley toward Lydford. Riveted wrought-iron lattice piers and Warren-girder trusses lift it as much as 45 metres above the valley floor. When the railway needed two tracks, a second bridge was added beside the original and braced to it, so the crossing is really a pair of structures. Regular trains beyond Meldon stopped in 1968, but quarry trains kept using the viaduct until the rails were lifted in 1990. The Granite Way took over in 1996, giving this piece of railway engineering a second life.

A 4.5-mile moderate circuit starts near Meldon Reservoir and returns along the Granite Way; paths also branch toward the reservoir and high moors. From the viaduct, turn southwest for the dam and water. For a photo, keep the trestles or the valley beneath them in frame so the span’s height comes through. The surrounding routes mix paths with open moorland, so the full circuit is a bigger walk than a quick look at the bridge. Choose your approach with that in mind.