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.