Better half and I are ensconced in the wilds of West Yorkshire, doing a bit of walking. It is a footloose existence, we get up in the morning, look at a map and decide we'll go somewhere. Today it was Catrigg Force.
In the local lingo a "force" or sometimes "foss" is a waterfall. Rigg means a good sized hill. Nobody seems to know how cats got involved. Catrigg Force is a waterfall about a mile outside of Stainforth, which in turn is about three miles upstream from Settle.
The walk goes up a the hill by way of the "Cat Steps". These are of unclear antiquity, probably not - as the local legend claims - created by the Giant of Winskill.
After a bit of meandering, The Force is with you.
The first glimpse is not impressive. The stream is about three inches deep!
But when you go down a side path into a deep, cool wood it looks a bit more inspiring.
It drops 12 meters into a deep gorge. When we visited it there was not much water going over, as it had been dry, but it is said to be really something in a rainy season.
At the end of this walk over the sunny uplands, you really deserve a nice pint. The Craven Heifer in Stainforth looked just the ticket....but it was closed for repairs!
Craven as it happens is not an aspersion on the character of this cow, it is the name of the local district. The specific heifer mentioned lived in the early 1800's and was so majestic that she became known as "The Craven Heifer". Several pubs including this one were renamed in her honor.
Oh well, just a longer walk to the needed refreshments. Our trek homeward was along the River Ribble, and went past Stainforth Force, another waterfall. This is a salmon river and this looked like a substantial obstacle to upstream travel.
Back to our lodging with heavy legs. Two refreshments each (ale and G/T respectively) did much to restore them.
I love your dig reports but possibly these more. It's something I've always wanted to do. Go walk the English country side, maybe even trek along Hadrian's Wall.
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