Rydal Beck & Scandale Beck
Last Friday, the day after the very wet Birks Bridge walk, the weather was glorious, but there was still plenty of water around for today's wander - a fairly easy and mostly low-level half-day walk; a great "intro" walk to tease you into higher wanders.
The lower falls at Rydal must be one of the most visited, and photographed, falls in the Lake District and our walk starts there and then leaves most people behind by heading north alongside Rydal Beck to High Fall and then further still to Buckstones Jump. Today we definitely needed slightly higher concentration levels than normal on this walk - everywhere was very wet and very slippy... so we took our time!!
High Fall includes a terrific section where the water makes its' way around a 'chock stone' at the top of the fall (see main pic), while a little further up the best view of another little fall is from under the bridge that we're about to cross, necessitating a little muddy scramble to get down to it. We kept going further up to Buckstones Jump, a series of pools and falls and, today especially, a great place to stop for a late lunch and to gaze at the beauty of the fells around us (being in the centre spot of the popular Fairfield Horseshoe walk) - see pic below.
Refreshed we headed over to Low Sweden Bridge that crosses Scandale Beck at the lower end of Rydal Park. There's an option to go to High Sweden Bridge first, to see more falls there, but the consensus was, based on the fading light and where cars were parked, that we'd save that for another day. Scandale Beck sits in a smaller valley than Rydal Beck and so catches less water, but the falls are still beautiful, if more gentle.
This walk is a great mid-week walk (to avoid the crowds at the start, and to find relatively local parking if not coming via bus, which is actually a great option for this one) and a good winter walk option for the shorter days.
Andy
The lower falls at Rydal must be one of the most visited, and photographed, falls in the Lake District and our walk starts there and then leaves most people behind by heading north alongside Rydal Beck to High Fall and then further still to Buckstones Jump. Today we definitely needed slightly higher concentration levels than normal on this walk - everywhere was very wet and very slippy... so we took our time!!
High Fall includes a terrific section where the water makes its' way around a 'chock stone' at the top of the fall (see main pic), while a little further up the best view of another little fall is from under the bridge that we're about to cross, necessitating a little muddy scramble to get down to it. We kept going further up to Buckstones Jump, a series of pools and falls and, today especially, a great place to stop for a late lunch and to gaze at the beauty of the fells around us (being in the centre spot of the popular Fairfield Horseshoe walk) - see pic below.
Refreshed we headed over to Low Sweden Bridge that crosses Scandale Beck at the lower end of Rydal Park. There's an option to go to High Sweden Bridge first, to see more falls there, but the consensus was, based on the fading light and where cars were parked, that we'd save that for another day. Scandale Beck sits in a smaller valley than Rydal Beck and so catches less water, but the falls are still beautiful, if more gentle.
This walk is a great mid-week walk (to avoid the crowds at the start, and to find relatively local parking if not coming via bus, which is actually a great option for this one) and a good winter walk option for the shorter days.
Andy