W is for waterfalls
Bigger than Niagara, jet-engine loud.
WE CAN’T HELP but be transfixed by things much bigger and noisier than ourselves, and when they’re made from something that speaks to our very cells the spell is stronger still. Waterfalls, as noisy as a jet engine or as delicate as lace are a highlight of any walk in which they appear. Britain has the full spectrum – waterfalls you can walk behind, like the roaring curtain of Sgwyd yr Eira in the Brecon Beacons and the Batcave-harbouring 88ft Henrhyd Falls that featured in the Dark Knight Rises (nearby); waterfalls that are as likely to be going up as down when you visit (the wind-tortured Kinder Downfall in the Peak District); a waterfall three times taller than Niagara (658ft-drop Eas a’ Chual Aluinn in the far northwest of Scotland); waterfalls that plunge straight into the sea ( Mealt Falls on the Isle of Skye), waterfalls that deafen after a spate ( Aber Falls at the top edge of Snowdonia north of the Carneddau), and falls that fall 24 storeys in a single drop ( Pistyll Rhaeadr in the Berwyn mountains west of Oswestry); waterfalls created by the Victorians (220ft Canonteign in Dartmoor, formed by diverting a stream over a cliff); falls you can jump beside in ecstatic plunge ( Kisdon Force near Keld), and a magnificent waterfall you have to go underground to see. This last is Gaping Gill, 1300ft up Ingleborough (see right) – a cathedral-size cavern into which Fell Beck disappears, before plummeting 322ft to its floor. It’s a sight worth the wait and uncertainty that will be required to acquire it: two local caving clubs give first-come, first-served public access via a winched cage for two weeks each year. The ride down’s free. The fee to come back up, £15…