Wonderful waterfalls & magnificent moorlands

I'm a scrupulous planner and, since buying our first 'van in 2022, our trips have tended to be planned with military precision and packed agendas, often staying on a single site and heading out each day to destinations that I'd have thought long and hard about.

But, having found our feet a little more with 'van travel, we were keen to try a different tack and adopt a slower travel philosophy, allowing for meanders, detours and spontaneity. Around the time of this break, the weather forecasters were predicting a September heatwave, and we knew we would have to be mindful of the temperatures as we have two small, double-coated dogs. And so we set off northbound, with only our first destination mapped out, hoping to find some unexpected treasures along the way.

Our first stop was the Ingleton Waterfalls Trail, which I'd been keen to visit for a while. The trail, on private land, opened in 1885 after public interest in the area's spectacular scenery was sparked by a series of newspaper articles. And, as we joined the long queue of traffic to enter the car park, it was clear that public interest is still very much in evidence today.

The trail began on a sun-dappled, wooded glen with the babbling waters of the River Twiss running alongside. As it was so busy, it did feel like being on a conveyor belt of visitors, and I struggled to appreciate the setting early on, but thankfully, it thinned out as we made our way around. There are six waterfalls on the trail, the best known of which is Thornton Force, where a glistening white veil of water plummets 14 metres into a pool of coppery water beneath.

The terrain levelled out at the top of the trail, and the expansive limestone scenery around Ingleborough came into view. The second half of the walk followed the River Doe downstream, and we were treated to another three glorious waterfalls as we descended. To finish, we crossed Ingleton village to return to the car park, from which it was a short drive to our base for the next two nights, Lundholme Farm Certificated Location (CL).

A few years back, we'd enjoyed a trip on the Settle to Carlisle railway and, of course, one of the highlights had been crossing Ribblehead Viaduct. As we were staying so close to it, the following day, we decided to go and view it from a different vantage point