Ritson's Force is one of those magical places that makes you instantly grateful to be alive! The turquoise water is crystal clear and flows into a series of picture perfect swimming holes, it’s the stuff dreams are made of. Unbelievably, despite it being located in Wasdale Head (the start of the trail to Scafell Pike and one of the busiest places in the Lake District) it hides in plain sight and remains something of an unknown.
The day we visited, we’d actually been planning a trip to Tongue Pot in Eskdale. When we arrived there, the car park was so busy that we just turned around and left. We drove over to Wasdale to take a dip in Wastwater lake, which we thought could handle the August crowds.
Instead we stumbled upon Ritson’s Force and spent a dreamy afternoon in perfect serenity, swimming in the electric blue water without another soul in sight. It immediately became one of our favourite waterfalls in the Lake District.
Keep it wild
We share places we love on this blog because we think spending time in nature brings so much happiness. However, even though I know 99.9% of people reading this post would never litter, and I hate to preach, I feel the need to state right at the top of this post that this area is pristine. Please keep it that way.
Please take all rubbish out with you and if you see any (and you’re able to), pick it up. Litter tends to breed litter, so it goes a long way to keeping areas clean.
There are toilet facilities at the Wasdale Head Inn, right beside the the trailhead. You can use them if you buy a drink, and the view from the terrace is sublime, so it’s a no brainer really!
The walk to Ritson's Force
The stats
Distance: 600m each way
Elevation gain: 50m
Difficulty: Easy
The walk to Ritson's Force doesn’t require negotiating any tricky terrain. It’s mainly along a grassy track and then there is a very short descent (a minute) on a dirt path, which is rougher, but by no means difficult.
Starting the trail at Wasdale Head Inn
The walk begins opposite the main entrance to the bar at Wasdale Head Inn, beside the picnic benches at the water’s edge.
You follow the gravel path through the gate and you’ll almost immediately see an old stone bridge.
Cross the bridge and begin heading right, along the grassy path. The views are absolutely stunning and you’ll spend the short walk marvelling at some of England’s highest mountains.
It would be a picturesque stroll, even if it weren’t leading to some of the most beautiful swimming spots in the country.
Continuing to the falls
After 200m, you’ll pass through a kissing gate and continue following the path gently uphill. After a further 150m, the ground does get a bit boggy, and we were visiting during an extended dry spell!
You can navigate around most of it, but in wetter times, you will probably want shoes you don’t mind getting muddy.
The path flattens and heads through the bracken and you’ll come to a gate after 150m (500m into the walk).
There’s a sign here for Ritson’s Force and you’ll pass through the gate, and you’re now less than 60m from the start of the pools. This section of dirt track is downhill and a bit rocky, but not difficult.
From here you can then explore up and downstream, with some fabulous pools in both directions.
Arriving at Ritson's Force
We’ve spent a large part of the last 18 years travelling around the world and I can honestly say that the water colour at Ritson’s Force is up there with the best I’ve seen.
It’s the most beautiful shade of turquoise and crystal clear. A truly magical sight.
When it comes to swimming, the majority of the pools are quite small, so they’re plunge pools rather than places to have a proper swim.
I’d recommend having a dip at Ritson’s Force and then head down the road to Wastwater lake for a long swim which gives you the best of both worlds.
The waterfall has a number of drops and smaller cascades, as it makes its way down through the forest. There is a trail that takes you downhill to a number of shallow pools.
The path is narrow and rocky in places, but it only takes a few minutes to get all the way down.
The Ritson's Force swimming holes
The walking path leads you directly to a small swimming hole and then you can explore both up and downstream.
Heading downstream first (along the narrow trail mentioned above) you’ll come to the biggest of the cascades, which is a fabulous sight.
The water in this pool is particularly shallow, but it’s good for lazing around in. Accessing the pool is also easy, you just need to walk over a couple of rocks (grippy when dry).
You’ll find smooth stones inside all of the pools, and whilst they aren’t slippery, they can be a bit uncomfortable underfoot. We did have a laugh though, as it felt exactly the same as the reflexology walk we paid to do in Byron Bay!
From here you can continue a minute further on, to two more pools. They are smaller but deeper. The third pool was my favourite.
It was small, but still in the sunshine when the others had fallen into shadow, so the water was especially striking.
This pool was above chest height too, so though you couldn’t swim, you could have a deep plunge. Accessing both pools two and three is easy and just involves climbing over a couple of rocks.
The track between them is stony and easy, unless you’re barefoot!
The cave pool
Once you’ve checked out the pools downstream, it’s time to head back to the point where you first came to the river. The next pool is best saved for last because it’s the biggest wow of them all.
You need to walk for a minute upstream, along the obvious path. There’s some debris at the moment in the form of a few logs across the trail, but it’s easy to navigate.
You’ll then arrive at a few rocks you need to climb over and that’s when you’ll see it. The cave waterfall.
I had already been blown away by all the other pools at this point, but the cave pool is in a league of its own. It’s the biggest and deepest of them all, so you can even swim a few strokes.
It’s absolutely stunning, with the waterfall dropping into the most exquisite blue water and an overhang to the left which makes it feel totally wild and secluded. It’s a dream.
Although we’ve visited many wild swimming spots in the Lakes, this one is hard to beat. I could wax lyrical about it all day long, but as this is already a long post about a very short walk, I’ll leave it here!
Please enjoy and please keep it pristine!
Getting to Ritson’s Force
The walk to Ritson’s Force begins by Wasdale Head Inn, unless you’re staying there you can’t use the car park, but a huge free car park is located just 0.2 miles down the road, postcode: CA20 1EX
Wasdale is located just over an hour and a half from Ambleside, 1 hour 20 from Keswick and 1 hour 45 minutes from Kendal.
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