Chasing Waterfalls: The Ingleton Waterfalls Trail

Some days you go up a mountain. Other days you just chase waterfalls. The Ingleton Waterfalls Trail is a proper grown-up walk – about 4.5 miles of paths, bridges and stone steps that loop you up one river valley and back down another, past EIGHT named waterfalls. We were excited before we even got out of the car.

You start in Ingleton village and pay a small entrance fee at the little hut, which goes towards looking after the paths and the bridges (which is fair enough because there are loads of them and they all look incredibly old). The trail starts off through the wooded valley of the River Twiss, and almost immediately you're hearing rushing water through the trees.

The first waterfall is Pecca Falls, which is actually a series of stepped falls one after another, all tumbling over dark slabs of slate. The water was the colour of weak tea because of all the recent rain, frothing white as it came over the edge. There are little wooden viewing platforms on the side and we hung over the railings until Mum got nervous. Then it's up and up through the trees, with the river roaring below you, until you reach Thornton Force. THIS is the famous one, the one on all the postcards. It's not the biggest waterfall in the world but it's incredibly perfect – this clean white sheet of water dropping about 14 metres into a wide pool, with you standing right opposite it. You can actually walk behind it if the water level is right, which we did, and got absolutely soaked.

After Thornton Force the path climbs up out of the valley onto a really nice grassy bit with views over to Ingleborough, all flat-topped and impressive. Then you cross over and drop down into the second valley, the River Doe, and it's a totally different vibe – darker, narrower, with this incredible deep gorge cut through the rock. The waterfalls down this side feel more dramatic and a bit spookier. Beezley Falls, Triple Spout, Rival Falls, Snow Falls – the names just keep coming. You stop counting after a while.

Snow Falls was Hugo's favourite because the water comes through this skinny gap in the rock and explodes out into a white plume, like a fire hose. I liked Beezley because there's a viewing point right above it where you can see the water disappearing into a narrow slot below your feet. Felt like the world was about to swallow us. Dad had to grab the back of Hugo's coat at one point. Standard.

We finished back in Ingleton just in time for chips and a giant scone with jam at the café. Eight waterfalls in one day is a serious score. We even kept a tally on the back of the map. The whole trail is probably the best non-summit day we've ever done. Yorkshire just gets it right – ancient woodland, mad geology, and a chip shop at the end. Perfect.