Deep in one of the Lake District’s more remote valleys lies a hidden gorge waterfall, with crystal clear water and an atmosphere like no other. It’s the kind of place you come expecting to spend a few hours, but linger far longer under its spell.
It’s not the easiest place to reach, but those willing to put in the effort will find a hidden paradise. As with all wild places, please treat it as such and leave nothing behind.
Here’s everything you need to know about finding the Longsleddale gorge waterfall.
Keep them wild
Please remember to take all rubbish with you and keep these places wild and pristine - as with anywhere in the outdoors. It’s important to leave them exactly as you found them so they will remain beautiful for generations to come.
Litter tends to breed litter, so if you do spot any and are able to pick it up and dispose of it outside the national park, it will go a long way to keeping the area clean.
Longsleddale Waterfall safety
Longsleddale is one of the Lake District’s more remote valleys and as such sees far less foot traffic. The walk to reach the falls does require a bit of scrambling and a small amount of walking through water.
In good conditions (ie the flow of the river is low) it’s not difficult for a confident walker, but if you did have an issue, you are less likely to meet someone coming up the trail - in fact there is no trail for the last 0.3 miles of the walk. Go carefully on any wet rocks and if in doubt, it’s usually better to get your boots wet walking in the water than to try and stay dry by scrambling along slippery edges (the river rarely goes above knee level in good conditions and is more commonly ankle height).
This walk is best saved for after a period of low rainfall, so that the water levels in the river are low and easy to walk through. The pool will still be deep so you can still swim!
The walk to the River Sprint gorge waterfall
The stats
Distance: 1.3 miles (2.4km) each way
Elevation gain: 110m
Difficulty: Moderate
Summary: The first part of the walk is on a gravel path and easy. The second part is off track and requires some scrambling and walking in shallow water - if the water is deep and the current strong, abort and save the walk for another time.
It’s not that it’s a hard scramble, especially if you’ve done any of the proper scrambles or gyhll scrambling in the Lake District, but if you usually stick to maintained paths, it may seem more challenging.
Starting the trail
From the parking area in Longsleddale (full details below) the walk heads up the wide stony path. The views are spectacular right from the off, with high fells and picturesque dry stone walls. The trail takes you very gradually uphill before it begins to undulate.
It’s never steep and the path later smooths out, so it’s easier to walk on. It’s a leisurely stroll allowing you to soak up all the quintessential Lake District scenery.
After just over a mile - 1.8km to be exact - you need to look for the gate on the left (co-ordinates 54.4594378, -2.8048051). It’s the first proper gate you’ll see and when you pass through it, you will be walking on a trodden down grassy path.
Along the river
From the gate, it’s just 0.3 miles (500m) to the waterfall. To get to the waterfall, you’ll need to walk in the river for a short period; we chose to stick almost exclusively to the right side of the river for this trail, as it seemed to be the easiest route. It’s only at the very end, that you’ll need to cross to the left to climb up into the gorge.
You’ll start by walking parallel to the river at first and will need to look out for the trodden down path that runs through a patch of the hillside where trees are being replanted. The path takes you along the riverbank and although it will then start to head uphill, it’s still easy enough.
The next section is when you will have to make your own route. We’ll tell you how we did it, but as there’s no set path, everyone will likely take a slightly different route.
After the regeneration area, look out for a trodden path leading down to the river. It’s at a point where you can see a tree in the river (as shown in the photo below) which is by a large boulder in the water. The co-ordinates for this area are 54.4612697, -2.8072533 (these may not be exact, but should be close enough).
A few metres before the tree, you will see a slightly trodden down path heading down the grassy bank towards the water. It looks quite steep, but it’s actually not too bad.
When you reach the water it’s time to get in. Though you could aim for dry boots throughout this section if water levels are low, it requires much more rock hopping and scrambling than simply walking through the river.
For this reason we usually find there is less chance of slipping by succumbing to wet boots! The riverbed is stony, but it wasn’t particularly slippery, though requires care.
We walked to the left of the giant boulder and then crossed immediately right, onto the stony river bank. We stuck with the stony river bank until we picked up the grassy path on the same side of the river.
This path is narrow and could be slippery when wet, but it was thankfully dry for us. After walking along the grassy path we headed back onto the stony river bank, from here you are just 80m from the gorge pool.
The scramble
After a few steps of stony river bank you’ll have to cross some water which has small rocks to use as stepping stones. These rocks are unstable, so test them first. It’s very shallow here, so you wouldn’t fall into a deep pool or anything, but nonetheless you don’t want to slip.
You then scramble to the right of a large boulder, which has some good footholds (although it feels more awkward on the return as you have some forwards momentum).
There are a few rocky slabs to climb up which are easy enough and then you’ll come to a small pool. You could actually take a dip here as it was deep and very pretty! It’s at this point where you can’t continue along this side of the river anymore.
If you look to the left (western) bank, you’ll see a rocky slab and a trodden path heading uphill. This is where you need to go.
Just before the pool, the water is shallow along the edge, so we just walked through the water to cross to the other side of the river. There are rocks you could use instead, but they can be slippery.
The last few metres are a scramble up the river bank. The rock slab has good footholds, but take care if it’s wet. You then traverse a narrow grassy path to the right for a few steps.
From here you’ll climb over a couple of large boulders and you’ll see the tall gorge walls. There is a nice flat stony area here and all the scrambling is now over. There are some rocks to walk over to reach the pool, but it’s easy.
The Longsleddale Gorge Waterfall
As soon as you round the corner you can see the gorge and pool (co-ordinates 54.4620471, -2.8076160). The waterfall appears small from here. You need to get into the water and up close before you can really get a feel for it. However, the gorge and pool are absolutely stunning.
The water is crystal clear and the walls are huge, which gives it a feeling of complete seclusion. Photos don’t do it justice. It’s one of those places where you have to feel the atmosphere for yourself. It’s incredible.
When you get into the pool, you’ll see the waterfall is actually really big and cascades through two chockstones! It’s totally wild and staring up at it from below is an experience I won’t forget.
Wild swimming at the Longsleddale Waterfall
Getting into the pool is easy, as though there are small stones underfoot, they aren’t slippery and the water starts off shallow. It deepens as you get closer to the falls.
It’s big enough for a proper swim and during times of low flow - which is when you should visit - there is barely any current until you get right up close to the waterfall.
The gorge walls tower over you from here, it’s completely captivating. It was hard to capture photos of the waterfall and chockstones as we didn’t have our GoPro with us, so expect it to be much more epic in real life!
We visited on a hot day after a hot week and the water was warm. At other times it will of course feel pretty cold!
If you do swim up to the waterfall you’ll see a rope tied to the gorge wall. I believe this belongs to a private gorge scrambling company and shouldn’t be used, especially without gorge scrambling gear.
Exiting the gorge
You need to retrace your steps at first, crossing back to the other side of the river and then heading for the grassy path. As you head along the narrow grassy path, before you get to that tree close to where you first got into the water, you will see a very steep grassy path heading uphill. Footholds have been worn into it.
You can use this route to exit if you want to cut off a bit of the walking in water section. It is steep and shouldn’t be attempted if the grass is wet.
Joe skipped up this bit, but personally I had to use my hands! Once you’re getting towards the top you will see a flat path branch off to the right. This is your path and it’s easy from here.
Follow this for a few minutes and you’ll be back on the original path you came in on - back towards the gate and the stony path. If you don’t like the look of the steep path route, just go back through the water.
Getting to the trailhead
For parking, please refer to Longsleddale’s Community Website which states:
“Please keep off the verges and use the passing places. All the wider parts of the road are passing places, not to be used for parking: cars may be parked at the community hall or beside the track at Sadgill. Please be patient, the valley is a working environment, and be prepared to reverse your car, in particular for farm vehicles with trailers.”
The co-ordinates for the start of the walk are 54.4440285, -2.7978551 (or you can find it on Google Maps by clicking here). Parking in the area is extremely limited and if any roads or paths are blocked cars will be towed.
The road through Longsleddale is a single track windy road, with limited passing places. Please drive slowly and carefully and be prepared that if you meet oncoming traffic you may have to backtrack quite a way to pass.
For this reason even though the valley is not that popular, we don’t recommend visiting in the middle of the day on weekends or in the school holidays. If you can, visit early or later in the day to make your drive a lot less stressful.
Longsleddale is roughly 10 miles (30 minutes) from Kendal, 19 miles (45 minutes) from Ambleside and 44 miles (1 hour) from Keswick.
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