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.