The Ingleton Waterfalls Trail and Ingleborough

Tuesday 22nd April 2014

My walk on this day was actually supposed to have been easier than the previous two days, but it didn’t turn out like that. First thing in the morning I didn’t start a long walk but I passed through the village of Ingleton to the entrance of the Waterfalls Trail ready for when it opened at 9am so I could enjoy the trail all by myself. In 2009 I walked up the western half of the trail on my way to Whernside and was disappointed not to have completed the circuit so since I was now back in Ingleton I couldn’t resist delaying the start of my planned walk in order to revisit this amazing trail that passes so many wonderful waterfalls. But my first impression as I set off was that this was a lovely woodland trail, and the waterfalls are just a nice add-on, something for the tourists. I had an enjoyable walk beside the River Twiss through gorgeous natural woodland with an abundance of wild flowers on the ground. I love woodland flowers and this walk was satisfying my passion tremendously.

The spectacular narrow ravine of Swilla Glen gave me a hint of the delights that were to come before settling for the enthralling woodland valley walk until eventually the Pecca Falls came into sight with a whole series of small waterfalls falling steeply through a narrow gorge with trees towering over the ravine on either side. A little sunshine as I passed these small waterfalls accompanied me as I climbed steeply through the gorge, and added to my delight of this fantastic trail. My disappointment on emerging from the wooded ravine was tempered by my previous experience of this trail for I knew that just around the corner was the biggest waterfall: Thornton Force and I spent quite a while wandering around, taking many pictures and gazing at the splendour of the falls in its picturesque setting.

Eventually I managed to drag myself away with the knowledge that I had to be through the trail in less than two hours, so I climbed up to the track that crosses the foot of Twistleton Scar to walk across to Beezleys and the second half of the trail. This is the section that I had failed to do five years ago, and what I found was completely different to the River Twiss, as this ravine was typified by moss-covered rock and small leafless trees. It was a most astonishing sight with a much more rugged and brutal appearance than in the previous, plant-filled valley. The River Doe winds a tortuous course through deep, narrow ravines passing over the many small waterfalls of Beezley Falls and Snow Falls. A brilliantly engineered path wound an enthralling course beside the river that was an absolute delight, especially at one point where a bridge passes over the top of a very deep ravine that was so unnerving it had me calling for my Mother!

Further down I reached a large hollowed out bowl that seemed quite shocking as it was clearly man-made, a quarry, which was jarring and disappointed me as it felt like a sudden intrusion of man's work into the stunning natural brutality of the gorge. Evidence of quarrying increased as the valley broadened and brought me into the softer surroundings of woodland, but I felt that this quarrying had detracted from the walk. The appeal of the Waterfalls Trail for me is in the abundant naturalness of it all, and when the heavy hand of man interferes it ruins the effect, permanently in the case of the quarrying even though it is long since disused. The walk was also badly affected by my rushing, especially towards the end, as I wanted to catch a bus at 11am in Ingleton, so now I’ll have to do the whole walk again when I’m next in Ingleton (what a shame…).

I caught the bus to the picturesque village of Clapham where there is a nature trail beside a lake that I was particularly tempted to take, but in the end I took an interesting path through a tunnel, under the grounds of Ingleborough Hall and along Thwaite Lane. To my left were the impressive rocks of Robin Proctor’s Scar so when the opportunity came I took a path up to the foot of the scars and to their right up onto the broad hillside above. Dotted around the area were loads of large, grey, sandstone boulders sitting, sometimes quite precariously, on small, white limestone rocks. This is the famous Norber Erratics where glaciers have carried enormous boulders down the valley to sit on top of much younger limestone rock that is slowly weathered away to leave an astonishing collection of rocks sitting precariously on the side of the hill.

Above the erratics, at the top of the hill, is a limestone pavement, which was an awe-inspiring sight, and even more interesting was looking down the gaps between the limestone slabs at the tiny plants growing in the shelter. These would never usually be found so high up but sheltered from the scorching wind and sun they have successfully found a home for themselves. I joyfully bounced along the top of the pavement slowly making my way north across the top of the hill to a track that took me down into Crummack Dale where I crossed the valley to join Moughton Lane just as it started to rain. From there, I climbed through a scar-lined cove to the top where laid out before me was a vast area of limestone pavement, much larger than what I had seen above Norber. It was tragic that it was raining so I was unable to explore and really appreciate this amazing landscape, so instead I headed along the top of the Moughton Scars, in awe of my surroundings, gradually making my way to Sulber Gate. There is a stunning view across the limestone from this point and I couldn’t help but stand in awe gazing across the limestone.

With the weather beginning to improve I decided to tackle Ingleborough, so after crossing Long Scar I reached the spectacular narrowing ravine of Trow Gill where steep rock walls slowly closed in on both sides as I climbed the dry, echoing valley, scrambling up loose stones to the top. A short distance beyond the end of the valley is Gaping Gill, a big hole in the ground that the water in Fell Beck falls into a greater distance than in any waterfall in Britain. A heavily manufactured path led me from Gaping Gill all the way up to the top of Ingleborough, and as I climbed it started to rain again. Despite the rain and low cloud I managed to reach the summit with no problems, mainly because this wasn’t my first hill climb in bad weather. A compass bearing confirmed the correct direction I should take off the hill down the south-western slopes of Ingleborough and took me all the way back into Ingleton. This was a very varied day with sunshine and waterfalls in the morning, and rain and limestone pavements in the afternoon. It was really enjoyable even though it was very long and tiring.

Dentdale and Great Coum

Monday 21st April 2014

At the start of the day for this walk I left the town of Kirkby Stephen, where I had spent the night, and walked to the railway station, which is a mile and a half outside the town, and caught a train south to the second stop on the line, the isolated station of Dent. This station is situated high above and near the start of the valley of Dentdale, while the actual village of Dent is five miles away. Dentdale has been described as being the most beautiful valley in the Yorkshire Dales and yet it’s one of the least visited and least known. I’d never been there before and on this day I would get to see a lot of it as I walked to the village of Dent in glorious sunshine past stunning scenery, most notably beside the River Dee.

I started by descending steeply into the valley and immediately found an absolute gem in the limestone-lined riverbed of the River Dee below Lea Yeat Bridge. There is a fabulous little path beside the river that is edged with many woodland flowers in a setting of such exquisite beauty that I felt like I didn’t want to go any further. The solid rock riverbed had channels carved in it by the water where the slender river flowed swiftly through the stunning landscape that I thought was a majestic sight, but unfortunately it didn’t last very long as I made my way along the riverside path following the course of the Dales Way. The walk along the bottom of Dentdale was really enjoyable with a warm sun that shone on me as I passed numerous isolated houses. When I left the riverside and began passing through farmland the scenery became more varied until eventually I returned to the river where woodland flowers were once again in abundance.

Every field seemed to be covered in celandines, a carpet of small yellow, starry flowers set against a backdrop of bleak, smooth sided hills either side of the valley. It was only beside the river where more variety in the flowers was to be found with primroses the most prominent, but also some early bluebells. On moving across the valley to Deepdale Beck I found great masses of garlic smelling ramsons and a few wood anemones that added to my enjoyment of the walk, hearing the water rush over the rocks beside the river. When the village of Dent came within sight wild flowers began to appear in even more abundance, but unfortunately this was the point where I left the river and the Dales Way. Dent is a lovely village that didn’t seem too busy even on a Bank Holiday Monday, and after passing through I started to climb steeply up the hillside above the village beside Flinter Gill.

This is such a stunning gill that words cannot express my wonder and awe at the scenery. The stream has carved an amazing tree-lined shallow ravine that is filled with rock and ramsons creating a scene of mind-blowing beauty. The steepness of the terrain and the sheer wild exuberance of nature in the landscape simply took my breath away. At a couple of places a passage could be made onto the virtually dry riverbed and at a lower point the riverbed was solid rock with garlic-smelling ramsons covering the banks and dead trees littering the floor of the gill. Higher up a path crossed the stream at a point where the wild garlic seemed to have taken over so much that the only thing stopping their complete domination was the dry rock of the riverbed. It was just a pity that the ramson was not in flower yet. I contemplated climbing the gill on the dry riverbed but there was so much fallen wood in the gill it would have been very difficult to make my way up so I wisely decided to return to the track beside the stream and finished the climb on that, which led me all the way up to the open moor and a green lane.

There I had my lunch before setting off along the lane around the side of Great Coum. Soon after I set off I could see a line of cairns, similar to the Nine Standards Rigg that I had visited the day before, so I left the lane and made my way up the steep grassy hillside to a scattering of cairns known as the Megger Stones. These cairns were not as well-made or as well-maintained as those on Nine Standards Rigg so I continued to climb the hillside battling strong, cold winds all the way to the summit of Great Coum. This was a very tiring climb as the summit was a surprisingly long way away and when I got there I didn’t find anything particularly interesting to see and even though the south ridge was a little more interesting, after passing Gatty Pike I dropped down the long grassy eastern slope to Green Lane.
This lane eventually joins the road not far from Whernside, which I had originally planned on climbing (so that I’d climbed all of the Three Peaks on this holiday), but since I hadn’t planned on climbing Great Coum I decided to stay on the road for the six miles that led me all the way through Kingsdale to Ingleton.

By the time I got to Yordas I was fed up with walking along the road so I headed into a field beside the road in search of something more interesting. There wasn’t much on the ground to peak my curiosity, but I had a look nevertheless and soon I saw what seemed to be a small, long-dry waterfall. Above that I found a cave: Yordas Cave, so out came my torch as I tried to delve its depths. Unfortunately my torch wasn’t particularly powerful and the sound of water rushing somewhere in the dark depths deterred me from venturing too far into the cave before coming back out to try climbing the dry riverbed instead. This was great fun as I scrambled up the rocky bed until I eventually found the stream at the point where it disappears underground. It was fascinating to see the water pouring onto stones and disappearing but my exploration was cut short when I realised how late it was. I had wanted to explore on this holiday and find the hidden gems, but I hadn’t given myself enough time.

After returning to the road I continued walking down the valley and as I passed the crags of Keld Head Scar I couldn’t help wishing I had the time to explore them. Despite the long road walk at the end, this was a lovely day when I had a really enjoyable walk in sunny weather through Dentdale, an area with an abundance of gems, even if a lot of them were just woodland flowers. Flinter Gill was an amazing find that has got to be revisited as a place like that will keep on re-inventing itself with the passing seasons. Just a couple of weeks later I’m sure it is an even better sight when the white flowered ramsons are in bloom and fill the gill with millions of tiny stars. It was the highlight of the day, but unfortunately Great Coum was not worth the climb.

Great Shunner Fell and Nine Standards Rigg

Sunday 20th April 2014

On this walk I completely ignored everything that I had said in my previous post about what my goals and aims were for this holiday. I had said that I wanted to visit new places to find the hidden gems in places where the scenery is not as dramatic as in the Lake District. After a day spent looking at waterfalls in Wensleydale I abandoned my new-found philosophy and walked over two hills that I have been over before and didn’t go anywhere I hadn’t been before. I had realised this irony during my planning, but the alternatives, such as the Mallerstang Hills, were not as appealing as the walk that I had originally planned which was prompted by a desire to revisit Nine Standards Rigg. So, I followed the Pennine Way out of Hawes to the top of Great Shunner Fell (despite doing that previously in both 2004 and 2009), following the Pennine Way off the fell and into Swaledale until I reached Keld as I did in 2009, and then I followed the Coast to Coast route over Nine Standards Rigg (most of which was done in 2010). This walk hardly treads new ground, and yet I still saw some gems.

Knowing that this was going to be a long day I set off early from the village of Hawes over Wensleydale on the Pennine Way. In 2009 I stopped off at the Green Dragon Inn, not for a pint but to visit Hardraw Force and although this waterfall is definitely a gem, since I’ve seen it before and I had a lot of walking ahead of me I gave it a miss this time and climbed a green lane up towards Great Shunner Fell. It takes a long time to climb the broad gentle gradients of the southern ridge of this vast, grassy bulk of a hill but even though the surrounding scenery is not very inspiring, it felt good to be climbing a mountain again for the first time since September. As I climbed higher the weather closed in becoming very windy and misty, so I wrapped up warm and ploughed on all the way up to the top of the hill on a very good path of flagstones that ensured I had a dry passage over the top and down the other side where extensive bogs were easily crossed.

The views were never good despite early sunshine as extensive upland mist obscured the scenery meaning that the views down Swaledale were poor until I had almost reached the tiny hamlet of Thwaite. It was annoying to have to climb again out of Thwaite so soon after the long descent, but the path brought me to a gem that more than made for it, a wonderful terrace path perched high above beautiful Swaledale and below the crags of North Gang Scar. An interesting walk through the rock-strewn landscape led me to a delightful scene of primroses scattered all over the hillside, which was exactly the sort of hidden gem that I was supposed to be looking for on this holiday, and with an enthralling mix of rock and flower it keep me interested all the way into Keld. I ignored the sign to Kisdon Force, which I had followed in 2009 to find a tranquil, isolated waterfall, and just before reaching Keld turned down to the river beside Catrake Force.

This most delightful place is the spot where the Pennine Way and the Coast to Coast Walk cross each other, and there can be few better places anywhere in the country. In this divine valley location, a place literally made in heaven, I stopped to have my lunch on the other side of the River Swale from Catrake Force. This is the sort of place where you wouldn’t mind giving up on a walk just so you could spend the rest of the day there. Unfortunately I didn’t do that, so after managing to tear myself away I climbed past Catrake Force to East Stonesdale Farm where I left the Pennine Way and took the farmer's track to Stonesdale Road and joined the Coast to Coast Walk on an interesting little path above Cotterby Scar that brought me into the quiet little valley of Whitsun Dale where a small farm rules over the whole area.

Climbing out of the valley I followed a good track that slowly deteriorated as I passed grouse shooting butts until eventually I realised that I was actually moving away from Nine Standards Rigg. Just at that moment a large lake appeared before me that a quick look at a map revealed was Birkdale Tarn, confirming that I had indeed gone the wrong way. It’s funny how the realisation that you have gone wrong slowly begins to dawn upon you starting with a suspicion that something isn’t right until eventually you are faced with the stark fact that you have actually been following the wrong path. Unfortunately, it took me a long time to realise this, so I had to reverse my steps a long way until I eventually reached the path of the Coast to Coast and resume the trail beside Ney Gill.

By the time I reached the high point on the path between Whitsun Dale and Birk Dale I was tired and fed up with the dreary landscape. I didn’t want the effort of going over Nine Standards Rigg so considered following the route that I had taken in 2010, which is the recommended winter route around the hill via Jingling Pot. However, the reason I was doing this walk was because I’d failed to reach the summit of Nine Standards Rigg in 2010, so in the end I came off the path and headed up the vast virtually pathless hillside towards the top of Nine Standards Rigg. The contrast with Great Shunner Fell was striking as even though they are very similar hills the paths that go over them are completely different. Whereas Great Shunner Fell has an excellent flagstone path all the way over the top, Nine Standards Rigg has nothing on the ground to reduce the erosion of all those feet. Instead there are three routes for use at different times of the year and I was now taking the spring to early summer route that climbs the pathless southern slopes over increasingly wet and boggy ground until eventually I reached the top of the hill.

The sight of nine immaculately constructed cairns at the top of Nine Standards Rigg failed to wipe the memory of the bog-trot that led up to it, but they were nevertheless an impressive sight. I had actually reached the top in 2004, in excellent weather, so this was not my first time, but since then the cairns have been restored to their former glory with each one a different shape. All nine are masterpieces. Some are tall, some short, some wide, some thin, some pointed, some tiered, and one is even square-shaped. I had been gutted not to reach the summit in 2010 so I was really happy to be able to return this time and despite being very tired I came off the hill satisfied that I been back to the top of Nine Standards Rigg. The route off is fortunately very easy with a long descent that for the most part took me along a good track and down a road. This was a very long but satisfying walk and I felt great to be walking up a mountain again, I just wish there was a better path on the southern slopes of Nine Standards Rigg.

Aysgarth Falls and Mill Gill Force

Saturday 19th April 2014

After going to the Lake District many times last year I decided that this year I would go to places that I was less familiar with or that I had never been to before. Everywhere you turn in the Lake District it looks stunning, there are great sights and places wherever you go, from little streams to grand mountain scenes, which makes it very appealing and difficult to avoid. The rest of the country gets neglected simply because it can’t compete with the wonders of the Lake District, especially on a wider, grand scale where the only places that can possibly compete with it are the Highlands of Scotland or Snowdonia in Wales. However, if you narrow your focus there are small pockets that can outshine even the best that the Lake District has to offer and it was to look for these gems that I came to the Yorkshire Dales last Easter, where I am reliably informed it is easier to find these gems than elsewhere in the country.

I’ve only been to the Yorkshire Dales twice, first in 2004, and again in 2009 when I walked through the park on the Pennine Way. This time I wanted to spent more time there and try to find those hidden gems that while easy to find in the Lake District, are a little more elusive elsewhere. The wider view in the Yorkshire Dales is of vast upland moors and gently curved valleys with occasional thin lines of limestone, known as scars, on the sides of some of the valleys. Compared to the grand views in the Lake District and the Highlands of Scotland it’s not particularly inspiring, but if you look down instead of up there are some very special sights, and number one in the gems of the Yorkshire Dales are its waterfalls, and among its most popular are the Aysgarth Falls, which I’d never seen before.

Following a frustratingly long journey to get to the Yorkshire Dales (on four different trains and three different buses) I eventually arrived in the picturesque village of Aysgarth in Wensleydale. Finally I was able to start walking as I passed through many squeeze gates (typical of the Yorkshire Dales) and descended steeply to the River Ure where I found the High Force of Aysgarth Falls. There were loads of people nearby relaxing, picnicking, and enjoying the sight of the falls, which are not particularly high, but are stretched across a wide river in an idyllic woodland setting. I was actually more enamoured of the limestone steps besides the river bank that were fun to walk on and it wasn’t long before I returned to the road and headed towards the Middle Force, past the National Park Centre and into Freeholders' Wood, which was an absolute delight.

For me, the waterfalls were not as appealing as the woodland flowers that were growing in Freeholders' Wood, most notably dog’s mercury, primroses and wood anemones that had formed vast blankets of white flowers across the woodland floor. It was a pity that other flowers like bluebells were not yet in flower, but the wood anemones more than made up for the lack of anything else. Middle Force, seen from a high vantage point, didn’t seem to be able to compete with the glorious display of woodland flowers as I continued down river through fantastic carpets of wood anemones until I reached the Lower Force where a fun, little scramble gave me access onto the limestone slabs of the river bank. From there I had a great sight of the multiple falls of Lower Force, but I felt my view was hindered by the large number of people in the area so I soon climbed back up into the woodland.

Leaving the waterfalls and woodland behind I took a small circular walk around the farm of Hollins House before returning to Freeholders' Wood on a different path that gave me another opportunity to sample the delights of the gorgeous woodland flowers that bedeck this wonderful wood. Reluctantly I eventually left the wood and returning past High Force I climbed back up to the village of Aysgarth where I caught a bus to the village of Worton. My target now was another waterfall, this time on a small tributary river and not on the River Ure itself. I crossed Wensleydale and after passing through the west end of the village of Askrigg I took a path into Mill Gill, a delightful little tree-lined valley that was full of fragrant ramsons, also known as wild garlic. Despite not being in flower the garlic still produced a great display carpeting the whole valley and hiding traces of the old mills that used to be in the valley.

Eventually the path dropped down to the stream at the foot of Mill Gill Force, a much taller but considerably narrower waterfall than those found at Aysgarth. It is housed in a dark amphitheatre of high rock walls clothed in lesser celandines whose yellow flowers gave the scene some delightful colour. This was a spectacular sight, but my memory of the falls will be marred by what happened as I began to leave Mill Gill Force when I dropped one of my walking poles into the stream, and ended up getting rather wet and covered in mud trying to retrieve it. Sometimes I think poles are more trouble than they’re worth. I could see a sign to Whitfield Gill, further upstream, so I followed the path but it led nowhere except higher up the bank of the valley. After reaching a deep-end with no sight of, but within earshot of, the reputedly spectacular Whitfield Gill Force I came back down the path and after crossing the deep, craggy, narrow valley I climbed up the opposite bank and onto Low Straights Lane.

This led me steeply down the hill back into Askrigg and after crossing Wensleydale I reached Worton where I had a thirty minute wait for my fifth bus of the day. The weather had been fabulous for this walk with the patchy cloud while I had been at Aysgarth clearing to leave a gorgeously sunny end to the day, but I was disappointed with the second walk of the day, not just because of my mishap with my poles or my inability to see Whitfield Gill Force, but because there were not as many woodland flowers on this walk. All day I was disappointed there were not more woodland plants in flower, though what there was had put on such a glorious display so I should not have complained. Despite spending most of the day on a train or a bus I did manage to see some real gems of the Yorkshire Dales in Freeholders' Wood and Mill Gill.