Ingleton Waterfalls Trail
The Ingleton Waterfalls Trail in the Yorkshire Dales near Settle is the finest waterfall walk in England, a circular route of approximately eight kilometres through two limestone gorges that visits a succession of waterfalls of varying character and scale in a landscape of exceptional geological and scenic interest. The trail was created in 1885 by a local landowner who recognised the commercial potential of the gorge waterfalls and has been maintained ever since as one of the most popular paid-entry walking experiences in the Yorkshire Dales.
The trail visits seven principal waterfalls in the gorges of the Rivers Twiss and Doe, from the gentle Pecca Falls and the dramatic Thornton Force where the river plunges over the Great Unconformity, a geological boundary between 500-million-year-old Silurian slates below and much younger Carboniferous limestone above, to the spectacular Beezley Falls and the concluding Snow Falls in the return gorge. The variety of waterfall types, from plunge falls to cascade series to falls set in enclosed gorges, creates a walking experience of sustained scenic variety.
The geological interest of Ingleton Waterfalls Trail is exceptional, the Great Unconformity at Thornton Force exposing a gap of approximately 250 million years in the rock record visible at a single geological boundary that can be touched and crossed in a single step. This boundary, where young limestone beds lie directly on very ancient Silurian rocks, is one of the most instructive examples of an unconformity available at any accessible site in Britain.