Thanks to the support of the public as well as Railway Heritage Trust, Benny Walker Charitable Trust, The Headley Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation and Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s Sustainable Development Fund, in 2023 Eden Viaducts completed the first phase of restoration of Smardale Gill Viaduct. The deck of the viaduct was completely waterproofed and the surface repaired.

The second phase of the restoration is set to start in the summer of 2024. This is the full restoration of the stonework of the viaduct – including the piers that keep it standing. Without this work Smardale Gill Viaduct will continue to disintegrate. Smardale Gill Viaduct still remains at risk.

The viaduct is an iconic piece of Victorian engineering standing 90 ft tall with 14 arches. The viaduct took two years to build by hand with only a team of navvies carrying out its construction- 24 months of hard dedicated work lifting and pointing the stone. The Historic England selection guide for transport structures 2017 stated that 33 viaducts in England were Listed Grade II* and 4 were Listed Grade I. The viaduct therefore belongs among the top 8.3% of Listed Buildings in the country and is one of only 37 viaducts Listed II* or above.

Everyone who enters the Challenge will be sent 'A Walk A Mile for Smardale Gill Viaduct' t-shirt.