Catrigg Force, Stainforth Force, Scaleber Force, Jubilee and Victoria Caves, and the Hoffmann Kiln at Langcliffe 14/01/18

Settle and Stainforth
Catrigg Force, Stainforth Force and Scaleber Force
Jubilee and Victoria Caves
The Hoffmann Kiln

First of all, I didn't oversleep this weekend, so me and the boy had our early start for our walk around Stainforth. Now I did plan a 6 hour circular walk around Settle and Stainforth, but I was a little worried as me and the boy are not the fastest walkers, and even with a 10am start, 6 hours was pushing it for daylight, especially as we are not experienced walkers and wanted to take pictures and have a few rest stops along the way. So I decided on Saturday night to shorten the walk, but still stop and see Scaleber Force and the Hoffmann Kiln at Langcliffe on our way through to Stainforth where we would begin our walk.

After filling the flasks and packing the sandwiches, off we went, stopping at Subway for breakfast before hitting the M6 on the familiar journey we had done the weekend before. As we turned off the A59, you could tell straight away that the weather was different from last weekend. It was misty and warmer than it had been. I had been keeping my eye on the weather forecast for Settle for a few days, and I knew it hadn't rained and was confident it would be solid under foot, and thankfully I was right. We arrived at our first stop at 10:30am

Scaleber Force

As I said, I had planned to start a circular walk at Scaleber Force, but I wasn't confident we would have gotten back to the car in daylight, and after driving up those inclined roads, I realised we would have been in complete darkness had we taken too long sightseeing. After following a man on a quad who was feeding the sheep along the road, we pulled up literally on top of Scaleber Force.

As you get out of the car, the noise of the falling water is instantly recognisable, and loud. We made our way over the wall and straight away you are greeted by a fantastic sight.



Water from Stockdale Beck flows under Scaleber Bridge, before falling 40ft down the Limestone cliff and becoming Scaleber Beck, through Scaleber Woods. You follow the path down to the Beck, turning a full 180 degrees, along the footpath, before coming to the waters edge.



I would love to return in the spring, and see the waterfall in the full colour of blooming wild flowers.
Anyway, back up the path to the car, and off we go through the back lanes of Settle, which again remind me of Postman Pat, onto our second stop of the day.

The Hoffmann Kiln at Langcliffe

I love old industry, I am fascinated by it, which is why I had earmarked the Hoffmann Kiln on todays list. Built in 1873 it operated for almost 60 years, burning limestone blocks to create lime, or burnt lime to sell to local industry.







 The Kiln employed local people, who worked in pretty horrendous conditions to load the limestone blocks in to the Kiln, and shovel out the burnt lime into waiting rail trucks. The process of filling and emptying the Kiln was done completely by hand. The Kiln closed down in 1931, it did reopen for a short period a few years later, but was then closed for good.

An extra little fact that I read about, the Kiln at Langcliffe had an enormous chimney, 68m high, it was due to be dismantled in 1951, a steeple jack was brought in, and journalists invited to witness the occasion. Unfortunately, the chimney collapsed of its own accord, the day before it was supposed to be demolished, and nobody witnessed it.

Anyway, sorry for the history lesson, but as I said, I do love old industry. After walking around and having an explore of the site, we jumped back in the car and headed off to Stainforth.


Stainforth Force

We parked on the carpark just off the main road, took advantage of the public toilets and booted up. I decided that as we were coming back this way I would leave my backpack in the car, and off we set up the road. As we crossed and followed the lane down towards the River Ribble, we passed a group of tree surgeons, removing high branches overhanging the road. We were beckoned past and we continued on until we reached the bridge over the river. As with Scaleber Force, you could hear the falling water, quite a while before you saw it. Passing through the gate on to the river bank we walked towards the noise. I had read that in summer Stainforth Force gets very busy with people having BBQ's and swimming in the river, jumping into the pool below the falls, but today we were alone except for a handful of people.






The falls are very imposing, they are wide and fairly fast flowing, a lot faster than Scaleber Force, the shape of the landscape allows you to get right on the waters edge, which is perfect for photographs. In Autumn, when the water is less powerful, and the falls less imposing, you can often see Salmon, jumping up the cascades to get to Ribbledale to spawn. Another reason for a return trip to complete the circular walk I had planned.



A quick picture of Stainforth Bridge, an old packhorse bridge built in 1675, that we crossed to get to the path that leads down to the waterfalls. We walk back up and over the bridge and make our way back to the car, again passing the tree surgeons who have been quite busy, as the pile of branches and logs is much bigger than when we passed 20 minutes earlier.

Back at the car, we eat our sandwiches and I put my back pack on, I weighed it on Saturday night, and it was 7kgs, before I added 2 litres of water, it feels heavy, but not uncomfortable. Off we go through Stainforth, and pick up the Pennine Bridleway up the hill towards Catrigg Force. Again, I realise just how unfit I am, as I feel myself heat up, and breathe heavy as we walk up the fairly steep incline that leads to the gate for the third and final waterfall of our day.

Catrigg Force

 We pass through the gate and head down the footpath and are met by a small, narrow Beck. In confusion I look up the Beck for a waterfall, before looking left and seeing the water disappear and fairly sizeable drop into the copse below. 



The path down to copse is well trod in, and a staircase is formed into the path using slabs of Limestone. This spot was favoured by composer Edward Elgar, and I can see why. It is an enclosed copse with 22m of falling water and a lovely slow moving body of water, before it falls over the next fall. The lower fall is much harder to see, and with slippy ground underfoot, we didn't even attempt it today.





We set back off up the path to rejoin the Pennine Bridleway, and carry on towards Winskill Stones, the path is clear, and well marked, we pass 2 men on off road motorbikes coming the opposite way, flicking mud in the air as they pass us, they certainly have a very good playground to ride. We reach the tarmac path that will take us past the Winskill Stones, and eventually we reach the road, where people are parked up enjoying the view. We cross the road, and head into the field that takes us to the Jubilee caves and Brent Scar, its not long before we are climbing the ladder stile in front of the first caves. We see that there is a group of people already at the cave, so we carry on down the track and pick up the path around the front of Brent Scar. The path is busy with people coming the opposite way, much busier than we have experienced all day, and after weaving in and out of other walkers we reach the furthest point of our walk.

Victoria Cave

 As at Jubilee Cave, there was a group of people sat in the entrance eating a picnic, so we take a minute, have a drink and take in the surroundings and the view.



Its not long before the group set off on their way, and me and the boy can go and explore the cave. Its a big cave, but the deeper area's are fenced of to preserve it. You can tell its vast, and with a few tell tale signs you know it goes a lot deeper than you can see, but being sensible, we don't climb the fence and see just how deep.







Its at this point my phone battery dies, which is annoying as its showing 30%, and will literally only work for 60 seconds when I turn it back on. Anyway I realise its been 2 hours since we started our ascent up to the cave, and we needed to start making our way back down, and we do so, not before the boy had a quick look in the smaller cave.



On our way back down we stop at the now deserted first cave we came to.

Jubilee cave

We only stop for a few minutes, but thats plenty of time for the boy to disappear into the biggest cave, and reappear out of another hole further round the rocky outcrop. 





As the boy had satisfied his exploration for the day, we followed the same route back down into Stainforth and back to the car. I wish I had looked into the revised route a bit closer on Saturday night, as we could have walked a different route back to Stainforth, which would have taken us across the stepping stones over the river before reaching the car, but that can be saved for another day. Im 100% sure I will be revisiting this area again in the future, as there is so much to see, its impossible to cram it all into 6 or 7 hours.

Our walk from Stainforth to Stainforth Force, Catrigg Force, the Jubilee Cave, Victoria Cave and back to Stainforth was 6.14 miles, and it took us 3 hours 45 minutes, but with a lot of time exploring the separate points of interest, we were probably walking for less than 3 hours.


I will be returning in the summer to do the circular walk, and the Yorkshire Dales are fast becoming one of my favourite places.

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