Ingleton Waterfalls

A 4½ mile trail, via a series of spectacular waterfalls, through ancient woodland and beautiful Yorkshire Dales scenery. There are a lot of ups and downs but the trail is easy to follow. Some people say `the best in the UK` others not quite so enthusiastic. However, everyone says its worth doing - and it is!

I took numerous photos, but unfortunately I am not always sure as to which waterfall is which but most have the right name I am sure. So here is my record of a stunning walk.

River Twiss

Money Tree - full of coins from hundreds of walkers

Cliff side path

Pecca Falls

Thornton Force

Thornton Force

River Twiss at Twistleton Scar End - I believe and also the following three images.

River Twiss at Twistleton Scar End

River Twiss at Twistleton Scar End

Quarry on Waterfalls Walk

Beezley Falls

Triple Spout

Rival Falls

Rival Falls

From here we walked back into Ingleton and collapsed into the Village Kitchen cafe! A drink and something to eat and some energy returned. A great day and well worth doing.

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Ribblehead Viaduct - a magnificent Victorian achievement

The Ribblehead Viaduct, an iconic symbol of Victorian engineering and perseverance, is the largest and most impressive of the viaducts on the Settle to Carlisle railway line. Its majestic arches stretch across the rugged landscape of Batty Moss in Ribblehead, North Yorkshire, and serve as a testament to the ambitious vision and skill of the engineers and labourers who brought the railway line to life. - so the blurb goes! And yes, it is magnificent.

Although the day was rather dull, I managed some images to record my visit.

The viaduct was designed by John Sydney Crossley, chief engineer of the Midland Railway, who was responsible for the design and construction of all major structures along the line. The viaduct was necessitated by the challenging terrain of the route. Construction began in late 1869. It necessitated a large workforce, up to 2,300 men, most of whom lived in shanty towns set up near its base. Over 100 men lost their lives during its construction. The Settle to Carlisle line was the last main railway in Britain to be constructed primarily with manual labour.

By the end of 1874, the last stone of the structure had been laid; on 1 May 1876, the Settle–Carlisle line was opened for passenger services. During the 1980s, British Rail proposed closing the line. In 1989, after lobbying by the public against closure, it was announced that the line would be retained. Since the 1980s, the viaduct has had multiple repairs and restorations and the lines relaid as a single track. The land underneath and around the viaduct is a scheduled ancient monument; the remains of the construction camp and navvy settlements (Batty Wife Hole, Sebastopol, and Belgravia) are located there.

Large Thyme on the path near the viaduct

Having taken some images and stared in wonder at this Grade2 listed building, we continued on our way to Wensleydale Creamery which is situated in Hawes. We had been here before but it was really interesting to see how this famouse cheese evolved and is made. We followed this with lunch and a walk to the town of Haws before heading back to base in Ingleton.

View from the car park at the creamery.

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Kirby Lonsdale

With promise of a wet day, we thought ` let`s visit a town` - so just down the road from Ingleton is Kirby Lonsdale and that is where we headed. Despite the forecast, we did not get very wet and were able to wander around and look at a few interesting things. We also had a great dinner in a restaurant in the high street.

While the rolling hills around Kirkby Lonsdale provide picturesque views, the town itself is quite magnificent. Its Georgian market square is extremely elegant, while its stone buildings have changed little in almost 300 years. Unfortunately I didn`t take many images in the town centre amongst all the traffic!

Kirkby Lonsdale has been an important settlement since the Neolithic era with the remains of Celtic towns being unearthed close by. It was also inhabited by the Romans, with a milestone and the remains of a road being found close to the River Lune in 1836.

It is believed that the road was part of a route that run along the side of the Lune and connected forts at Over Burrow and Low Burrow Bridge.

A much loved sight to the south of the town is Devil’s Bridge. Believed to have been built in either the 12th or the 13th century, this arched structure crosses the River Lune and is one of the few surviving bridges of its type in England. It has been made a Scheduled Ancient Monument by English Heritage and is a popular meeting place for bikers.

So where did its name come from? At the apex of the bridge, there’s a deep impression in the stone – often referred to as the devil’s handprint. The folk tale surrounding the handprint tells of an old woman who lived on the banks of the Lune with a few animals. One night her cow strayed across the river and would not be tempted back, no matter how much she coaxed and implored. The devil appeared to her, offering to build a bridge in exchange for the soul of the first body to cross it. The devil constructed the bridge with his own hands, leaving a print in the wet stone. The next day the woman met the devil at the bridge and agreed to fulfil her part of the bargain. She took a bun from her bag and threw it across the bridge, whereupon her small dog raced across to retrieve it. The devil, in a fit of rage at being outwitted, howled in anger and vanished in a cloud of brimstone.

Another structure of historical interest in the town is the Church of St Mary on Queen’s Square. This Grade I listed building dates back to the years shortly after the Norman conquest of 1066 and has superb stained-glass windows (not that my pictures were worth keeping!) and a Perpendicular tower that was added during the 18th century. Odd place for the clock I thought.

The monument on the right of the above image, was erected in memory of five maids killed when fire tore through a local inn. The blaze took hold at the Rose and Crown in Kirkby Lonsdale, in the early hours of 6 December 1820. The victims, who had been sleeping in the attic, were aged 17 to 31. Agnes Nicholson, Hannah Armstrong, Bella Cornthwaite and Agnes Waller all worked at the inn, while their friend, Alice Clarke, had been visiting after previously working there in the same role.

One of the north aisles three magnificent Norman columns, similar to ones in Durham Cathedral, with a diamond pattern on the stone. These represent an era of extensive church building and rebuilding, in contrast to the remaining less ornate columns. The first pillar has a carving of ‘The Green Man’, with foliage emerging from the mouth. (Below)

‘The Green Man’

Perhaps more famous than the church itself though, is the sight you receive when looking out of its yard over the Lune to the west. It has been named Ruskin’s View after the Victorian art critic and Philanthropist John Ruskin who described it as one of the best views over the countryside in England. However I don`t think I was in the right place, as access was denied at one point due to subsidence. However, it was very picturesque.

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Ingleton - the start of our Yorkshire holiday

Although we had visited many of the places around this area before, it was `many moons` ago - 12 years to be precise! So we were looking forward to this holiday, although the thought of the journey was a bit daunting. As it turned out, the journey was not as bad as anticipated and the A14 - M6 route was easy to follow.

Arriving in Ingleton, we soon found our cottage and made ourselves at home. The weather had threatened us, but the week overall did not turn out too bad, enabling us to see most of what we had planned.

One of the things which first struck me was - rivers. Ingleton has the River Doe and the River Twiss meetinng to form the source of the River Greta, which passes under the viaduct and is itself a tributary of the River Lune!

Ingleton rivers

The story of the local railway is some what bizarre. It has two station! 

It was originally planned in 1846 to form part of a main line route from London to Scotland, but fell victim to rivalry between railway companies. Completion was delayed until 1861, and it was only ever a rural branch line, serving the village of Ingleton and towns of Kirkby Lonsdale and Sedbergh. It closed to passengers in 1954 and was dismantled in 1967.

All that remains of the railway in the village is the landmark Ingleton Viaduct. A viaduct of 11 arches each 57 feet (17 m) wide, 800 feet (240 m) long with a maximum height of 80 feet (24 m) crossing the valley of the River Greta. The foundations of this had been laid in 1849 by the NWR, but it was left to the L&CR to build it from late 1858 to 18 May 1860. It was built with white sandstone from a Bentham quarry. The two Ingleton stations were at either end of the viaduct. Strange!

The area is very much a tourist area with caves and peaks and various trails to walk. so a beautiful place to be. Ingleton itself was small and pretty - I loved it (and the coffee shop - the Village Kitchen)

Arthur Conan Doyle was a regular visitor to the area apparently and was married locally, as his mother lived at nearby Masongill from 1882 to 1917.

Our car parked outside our cottage

The viaduct, looking at it from the main road into the vilage

Saint Mary's Church Ingleton - not the most attractive

The Church we see today dates only from 1886 but it is possible that there has been a place of worship on the site since the 12th century as the font dates back to Norman times – around 1150. The oldest remaining part of the present Church is the tower of 15th century perpendicular style.

In 1743 the Church was substantially rebuilt when the nave was replaced by an unattractive construction that was referred to as a “barn with mill windows”.

The Ingleton Parish Registers record that almost 450 people were buried inside the Church. Evidence of these burials emerged when over 300 skulls were discovered when the foundations for the present Church were excavated in the 1800s. Many of the memorial floor tablets from inside the old Church were preserved and now lie in parts of the churchyard.

On 18th May 1886 the foundation stone for the new Church was laid. It can be seen outside the Church underneath the East Window. Designed by Cornelius Sherlock of Liverpool and built by John Hewitson, a local builder, the Church is constructed from blue limestone from Skerwith quarry.

We happened to be near the viaduct when a parade of vintage tractors came along the road near us.

Another view over the village with a bridge over river and viaduct in top left corner. Whether you want to walk, cave, rock climb or just look, this is a magical area.

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Flowers in the landscape - with Gill Moon

This session with Gill was to two locations - both coastal - one to Aldeburgh and the other to Shingle Street. These are two beaches which have a variety of flowers on the beach area and amongs the boats and other paraphernalia. Obviosly, most of the images feature boats, but the flowers are quite spectacular in unexpected places. Hers are a few of my offerings!

These first three show the flowers in the landscape and amongs the general objrcts of the area  ..... generally boats ....

.... but not always!

These two images above show flowers in general patches around the beach.

Other large clumps of flowers are around the sheds and posts etc

All of the above images were taken at Aldeburgh, and those below are from Shingle Street. These lower ones focus on individual flowers.

Bee Orchid. Not too common but a beautiful flower 

Vipers Bugloss and the same below.

Vipers Bugloss 

It was very interesting focusing on the flowers on the beaches because it is not generally an area associated with them.

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