15 guides
Henrhyd Falls: The Waterfall Behind Batman on the Edge of the Brecon Beacons
Henrhyd Falls drops twenty-seven metres in South Wales and gained brief fame when the Dark Knight Rises filmed behind the curtain of water. The path down is managed by the National Trust, and the viewing platform sits where spray reaches in wet weather.
Scale Force: The Lake District's Tallest Waterfall Requires Commitment
Scale Force drops fifty-two metres in Buttermere valley, making it the highest waterfall in the Lake District. The path from Crummock Water is clear enough, but the final approach involves scrambling over wet rock to see it properly.
Kilt Rock Waterfall: Where the Geology Is More Famous Than the Drop
Mealt Falls on Skye's Trotternish coast drops ninety metres directly into the sea below Kilt Rock's columnar basalt. The viewpoint has a car park and safety fence, and the waterfall's flow depends entirely on recent rainfall.
Linhope Spout: The Cheviot Waterfall Requiring a Farm Track and Permission
Linhope Spout drops eighteen metres in a narrow cleft near Alnham in Northumberland. The path crosses farmland, the spout runs strongest after rain, and the sandstone gorge stays shaded most of the day.
Gaping Gill: Yorkshire's 100m Underground Waterfall
A stream drops 100 metres into a cave chamber in the Yorkshire Dales. Twice a year, caving clubs winch visitors down. Not one for the faint-hearted.
Hull Pot: Yorkshire's 18-Metre-Deep Limestone Skylight
A 91-metre limestone chasm in the Dales where a beck vanishes in summer and becomes a waterfall in winter. Here's what's actually happening.
Malham Cove's Missing Waterfall: When the River Took a Different Route
The curved limestone cliff looks built for a waterfall, and in exceptional floods it gets one. But Malham Beck sinks nearby, the Aire rises from springs to the south, and dye tracing shows the plumbing is more complicated than the textbooks claimed.
Ingleton Waterfalls Trail: Victorian Tourism Charged Entry and Still Does
The Ingleton Waterfalls Trail links Thornton Force, Pecca Falls and several smaller drops across seven kilometres of woodland path. The route opened as a paying attraction in the 1880s, and the Ingleton Scenery Company still owns the access rights.
Eas a' Chual Aluinn: Britain's Highest Waterfall and the Walk That Proves It
Eas a' Chual Aluinn in Sutherland drops two hundred metres, making it Britain's tallest waterfall by a comfortable margin. Getting there requires either a ten-mile walk or a boat across Loch Glencoul, and the view depends entirely on whether it's been raining.
High Force: When the Pennine River Drops Twenty-One Metres in One Go
High Force on the River Tees is one of England's most-visited waterfalls, dropping over dolerite rock that cooled slowly enough to form columns. The car park is close, the path is short, and the volume after rain is worth the entrance fee.
Sgwd yr Eira: When You Can Walk Behind the Waterfall Without Getting Soaked
Sgwd yr Eira on the Hepste drops fifteen metres over a lip that has receded far enough to create a walkable path behind the curtain. The name translates as 'Fall of Snow', and the rock shelf stays mostly dry.
Aira Force: The Lakeland Waterfall with Handrails and a Car Park
Aira Force drops twenty metres through woodland near Ullswater, and the National Trust has built enough paths and bridges to make it accessible in any weather. Wordsworth wrote about it, and the Victorians added the infrastructure.
Lodore Falls: When Southey Wrote Onomatopoeia and Keswick Added a Hotel
Lodore Falls drops thirty metres through woodland into Derwentwater, and Robert Southey's 1820 poem listed every sound it made. The Lodore Hotel opened shortly after, and the waterfall's flow depends entirely on whether Watendlath Beck is in spate.
Skelwith Force: Where Tourist Coaches Stop for Five Minutes and Leave
Skelwith Force drops six metres on the River Brathay between Elterwater and Coniston Water, making it more of a rapid than a proper fall. The car park is large, the path is flat, and the visit is brief.
Hardraw Force: When the Highest Single-Drop Waterfall in England Sits Behind a Pub
Hardraw Force drops thirty metres in one unbroken fall near Hawes, making it England's tallest above-ground waterfall. Access requires paying at the Green Dragon Inn, and the amphitheatre behind it has hosted brass bands since Victorian times.