Hell Gill ~ Hard Walk

Distance Covered:  5 miles Time to Complete Walk: 2.5 hours

Suitable for dog walking: No - sheep on the moor part of the walk

A great walk next to the Settle to Carlisle railway, climbing for amazing views from the moors. Then towards Hell Gill which is a waterfall and gorge. The waterfall isnt able to be seen on the route, unless your with canyoneers with ropes and harnesses! Then down to walk near the railway and a quiet B road back to the start.

General Safety Tips: Parking is limited to the roadside get there early. The start of the walk is steep and some nettles were overgrown at the top - wear trousers. Take plenty of fluids if a hot day as you are exposed on the moors. Take care on walking on the B road.

The Hell Gill Walk

Getting There

From Middlesbrough head onto the A66 to Darlington. Join the M1 southbound to Scotch Corner which is junction 53. Leave the M1 to join the A66 towards Brough. Turn left to follow the A685 to Kirkby Stephen. In Kirkby Stephen turn left onto the B6259. Follow this road until you drive under a railway bridge and the railway joins parallel to the road on your right. Look for an entrance to a forest path and free roadside parking is opposite the entrance on your right.

Maps of the Hell Gill walk

The Walk

From the roadside parking, head through the entrance to a forest opposite.

Follow the forest path.

Cross a bridge over a ford.

There is an abandoned chapel through a gate to your right for a small 

diversion.

Back on the main track head towards the farm buildings but before you reach them head on the left path at a fork through a gate.

When you come to another gate head left through the small gate to the left of the main gate.

Follow the path through the field, although faint you can still make it out.

You are heading for the white building called Shaws higher up in the distance. Head through the field to a gate.

Go through the gate and join the path from the right.

Keep right on the path when it forks and follow it as it bends to a gate.

Head through another gate with Shaws visible ahead.

Head up and pass the building.

Go through a gate to the back of the building.

Head to the left and look for a path near a signpost which climbs up to the moor above. Dont forget to look back for amazing views.

Keep climbing heading to a gate in the wall up ahead.

Go through the gate and find the easiest route over some nettles onto the path ahead. Turn left on the path to a gate.

Follow this clear path for about 1 and a half miles going over some fords. Brilliant views are all around to reward you for the climb.

Eventually the path joins another from the left. Follow this path which ends up at Hell Gill bridge.

You can hear the water below which is Hell Gill waterfall. The wall is high so you may be able to get glimpse. However when finished, head through the gate and then turn left and through another gate down to the farm on the track ahead.

Pass the farmhouse and go over a bridge.

Keep on the track as it heads to a railway bridge. The Settle to Carlisle railway runs on this line.

Head through a gate and down to the road. Turn left and follow the road keeping to the verge, taking care until you come to your car back at the roadside parking.

Aisgill & Hell Gill

Aisgill is the southernmost of the hamlets that comprise the parish of Mallerstang in the English county of Cumbria. It is on the B6259 road, at the head of Mallerstang dale, just before the boundary between Cumbria and North Yorkshire.

Hellgill Force, the biggest waterfall on the River Eden, Cumbria.

The highest waterfall on the River Eden, Hellgill Force, with a drop of about 9.75 metres (according to recent measurements) is just to the north, at grid reference SD779966. The river itself rises (at first as Red Gill beck, later becoming Hell Gill beck) below Hugh Seat in the peat bogs above here. It finally becomes the river Eden after merging with the Ais Gill beck, which flows down from Wild Boar Fell.

Aisgill is at both a county and a natural geographical boundary. It is at the watershed (sometimes called "the watershed of England") from which the Eden flows north towards the Irish Sea via the Solway Firth, while the River Ure flows south towards Wensleydale, and eventually into the North Sea.

Swarth Fell frames the western side of the head of Mallerstang dale, and from Aisgill there is a view along the steep, narrow valley, with Mallerstang Edge and High Seat framing the eastern side. But the view at Aisgill is dominated by the great table-top bulk of Wild Boar Fell, to the south-west.

The Settle-Carlisle Railway reaches its highest point at "Aisgill Summit" 356 m (1,168 ft); and there is a small viaduct where the line crosses Ais Gill beck. There have been three notable rail accidents nearby: the Hawes Junction rail crash in 1910, one in 1913 and most recently in 1995.