Stream Stock Ghyll

Greater watershed River Rothay → Lake Windermere → ... Irish Sea?

Height Looks to be about 18m/59ft

Form A pair of segmented drops

Volume Medium

General location Ambleside, Lake District, England

Specific location A short walk from downtown Ambleside

Trail access I think there are signs? From the main information centre in Ambleside town it's basically a matter of going uphill towards Stock Ghyll whilst bypassing private property, until one gets to the small town park that is home to the falls and more or less nothing else. Inside the park, the trails do have steps, but it's a very short walk. Best to ask at the information centre (signposted and with the universal italic i logo) since I don't remember at all.

 

Stock Ghyll creates one of the easier to access waterfalls in the Lake District as it cascades down from the alpine pastureland above Ambleside into the Windermere catchment. A 5-10 minute walk from the town is sufficient to bring one to the falls, though not having been there with a vehicle I don't know whether this situation is made more inconvenient due to parking. From the photos I've seen, the character of the falls varies dramatically depending on season—when the trees are in leaf the falls seem to become much more intimate but may practically disappear in periods of low water in spite of the ghyll's sizeable catchment area.

 

These photos are taken one day apart and show how quickly the rivers in the Lake DIstrict can rise and fall. The high water photos were taken on a rainy day following a memorable bus ride from Keswick in which waterfalls adorned every hillside; the rain had let up an hour or so previously so this is probably close to peak volume. The low water photos are from the next day, which was sunny. The sun prevented me from photographing much earlier than sundown, but a visit in the early morning should shield one from the worst of it.

 

The multitude of viewpoints gives a wide variety of options for photography and viewing, though often the best views are just slightly out of reach due to the fences and steepness of the valley walls. Nevertheless, one could easily spend a few hours photographing here if the conditions are right.