England-Scotland Day 14 (Part 2) – Doing the Aira Force Walk in Ullswater, Lake District England

16 April 2010

Aira Force is the name of a nice waterfall located near the middle part of the western bank of Ullswater, Lake District. 

We bought an information leaflet from a visitor centre that will guide us on the 1 mile circular walk to the waterfall and back. Based on the information on the leaflet, the walk would take about an hour. With the leaflet in hand, we walked to the back of the car park and onto a footpath that is signposted.

The footpath led us through a gate in a wall and then over a small bridge. So far so good.

Stream at the start of Aira Force Circular Walk.

Then, according to the guide, the path splits into two.

OPTION 1 – a more gradual route with views from the top of the Force Take the left fork for an easier, more gradual climb straight to the top of the force, bypassing the view from the bottom of the waterfall and, therefore, the 105 steps up to the top [Note: these are worth doing if you are up to it - see OPTION 2]. This path is still fairly steep in places. Follow it until you drop down onto the bridge spanning the waterfall from which you get a fantastic view looking straight down the fall. After the bridge follow the path straight on, rising up and skirting the tree line to give you superb views over the lake in both directions. The path soon drops down some steps and over a bridge before heading through a gap in a fence. Turn left here and walk straight along to meet back up with the path you originally came in on. This takes you back to the car park. OPTION2 – a slightly more strenuous route with great views from the top and bottom of the force Take the right fork which heads straight on and through a narrow gap in a fence. Cross the bridge and follow the path up some steps. In a few metres the path splits – take the left path and be careful – it is wide but has a steep drop off to the left. You will soon reach a bridge spanning the Aira Beck at the bottom of the waterfall – the classic postcard view straight up the fall to your right. You now have to walk up the 105 steps to the top of the fall. When the steps end, continue straight on towards the falls and drop down on to the bridge spanning the top of Aira Force. After the bridge follow the path straight on, rising up and skirting the tree line to give you superb views over the lake in both directions. The path soon drops down some steps and over a bridge before heading through a gap in a fence. Turn left here and walk straight along to meet back up with the path you originally came in on. This takes you back to the car park

We chose to go Option 2. Then somewhere along the way, we got lost or went to follow a different trail. We continued on, although I can hear some giggling and snickering behind my back. “Dad is bringing us on the wrong way”. So I put away the leaflet and let instinct guide us instead. The “wrong” trail that we took finally brought us to the waterfall about 10 minutes later.

We arrived at the right side (looking upstream) of the waterfall and crossed over a stone bridge. A path leads down from here but we saw a family coming down a trail that leads to the upper part of the waterfall.

At the stone bridge spanning the waterfall.

Aira Force waterfall viewed from the stone bridge.

We met a family coming down a trail by the waterfall. They sounded like German but spoke English. I asked them if there was anything interesting up from the trail they were coming from. They told us there is a nice stream with a waterfall up there.

Thanks to the information from the friendly folks, we went up the trail where the family had come down from and was soon rewarded.

Nice walk along the trail leading upstream from the Aira Force upper stone bridge.

Another waterfall upstream. This must be the one the other family was referring to.

Interesting patterns formed by roots of a tree.

Nice place for a picnic, which we did.

We sat by the rocks and ate some snacks that we brought along. We tried to spot birds using the new binoculars we bought from the Whinlatter Visitor Center.

Bird watching.

Enjoying the sun.

Snack time.

Testing the waters... cold.

I tried shooting some long exposure photographs of the moving water by resting my Nikon D90 on the rocks.

Here are some of the photos.

A fellow tourist with a more advanced model of Nikon came by. Although he spoke only a little English,  I explained what I was doing and he tried the same settings on his camera. I hope his shots turned out well. 

After enjoying the picnic and photo-shoot, we back-tracked to the bridge at the waterfall and followed the trail downstream.

We came to a long flight of steps (this must be the 105 steps mentioned in Option 2 of the leaflet but now we were coming from the reversed direction).

105 steps down to a stone bridge spanning the Aira Force waterfall.

So down the steps we went, onto another stone bridge.

From the bridge, we can viewed Aira Force waterfall from below and see the arch bridge at the top of the falls.

View from the lower stone bridge …arched upper stone bridge.

Lower stone bridge.

From here, it was an easy walk on the trail running parallel to the stream back to the car park.

English Robin with orange chest.

A little robin just wanted its photo taken. It followed me as I walked and stood still on the ground even as I approached to capture a close-up shot without using a telephoto lens.

Close-up shot of a friendly english robin, on the Aira Force Circular Walk.

All in all, we spent about slightly over two hours on the walk. We took an extra hour to explore the upper part of the stream beyond the standard one hour circular route as described in the information leaflet. It was well worth it.

A recommended activity for visitors to Ullswater or Lake District in England.