The Onny Trail, near Craven Arms, follows river and old railway exposures through an important Ordovician succession. Brachiopods, trilobites and other marine fossils accompany two very different geological contacts: Silurian strata above Ordovician rocks and, farther along the route, Ordovician grit above ancient Longmyndian basement. The historic five-area walk requires current access and safety checks. Silurian, Ordovician, Cuttings, Stream, and Disused Quarry, Rating: ♦♦♦
The northern rocks at Whitesands Bay expose steeply inclined Cambrian beds beside a broad sandy beach. Fossils are sparse, but careful observation of loose rock surfaces may reveal dark impressions of small brachiopod shells, giving a glimpse of the ancient sea in which these sediments formed. Cambrian, Cliffs and Foreshore, Rating: ♦
The weathered limestone slopes of Ben Suardal offer a glimpse of an ancient tropical sea. Look closely at the grey rock surfaces for silicified gastropod coils, standing out in the harder cherty material. These elusive fossils belong to the Ordovician part of the Durness succession, long before the Jurassic fossils better known from Skye’s shores. Ordovician, Inland Outcrop, Rating: ♦♦
