Ingleton Waterfalls Trail

The trail was laid out by the Ingleton Scenery Company in 1885, cutting paths and building bridges through two gorges so that Victorian visitors arriving by the new railway could walk them; it charged admission from the start and still does, which makes it one of the oldest continuously operating paid footpaths in Britain. The route runs about seven kilometres up the Twiss, over farmland at the top and down the Doe, passing roughly a dozen named falls including Thornton Force, where the water drops about fourteen metres over a limestone lip onto slate hundreds of millions of years older, an unconformity that is a standard teaching example in British geology. Pecca Falls is a staircase of five drops. The gorges hold ancient woodland with strong spring flowers.

What you actually see

• Thornton Force - a fourteen-metre fall over a famous geological unconformity.
• Pecca Falls - a staircase of five drops in the Twiss gorge.
• The Victorian engineering - paths and bridges cut through the gorges in 1885.
• The two-river circuit - up the Twiss and down the Doe in one loop.

When to go

April to October; the falls are strongest after rain and thin in dry spells. Spring flowers in the gorges are excellent in May, and autumn colour in October. The trail closes in ice and after storms.

Honest expectations

Entry is charged, which surprises people used to free access land, and card payment at the gate is the only option at some times. The route has many steps, is slippery in wet weather, and is not suitable for pushchairs or wheelchairs. Allow three to four hours rather than two.

Nearby

White Scar Cave and Ribblehead lie northeast; Ingleborough rises above the trail.