| Although officially only just on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, the area around Ingleton boasts some of the finest limestone scenery in the region. Situated on the western flank of Ingleborough, one of the area's famous "Three Peaks", Ingleton makes an excellent base for walking, climbing and caving.
Nearby attractions include the famous Waterfalls Walk which offers some of the most spectacular waterfall and woodland scenery in the north of England. The walk is 4.5 miles through ancient oak woodland and magnificent Dales scenery via a series of spectacular waterfalls and geological features.
White Scar Caves, now the largest show cave in the dales and one of the biggest in the country is beautifully lit, with gushing streams and waterfalls, exotic cave formations, and a huge ice-age cavern adorned with thousands of stalactites. For the serious caver, the limestone hills around Ingleton contain some of the most extensive and challenging potholing in the country.
Popular walks and rambles include the ascent of two out of three of the area's famous Three Peaks – Penygent, Ingleborough and Whernside. Also well worth a visit are the limestone pavements above White Scar and Twistleton Scar, the latter providing excellent views of Ingleborough from across the valley of Chapel-le-Dale.
Just 10 minutes out of Ingleton is the Settle to Carlisle railway line which takes you on a journey through the magnificent Yorkshire Dales, over the 24 arches of the Ribblehead Viaduct before plunging in to the longest tunnel on the line at Blea Moor. Emerging onto the side of Dentdale, the line leaves the Dales at Garsdale and makes it way through the gentle, lush rolling hills of the Eden Valley, with rural villages and market towns before arriving at the great border city of Carlisle.
In Ingleton village itself there are several cafes, pubs and guest houses. There is also a very pleasant outdoor swimming pool (which is open during the summer months only).
Ingleton makes an excellent base not only for exploring the northern Dales (including more the remote valleys such as Dentdale), but also the Lake District and Sedbergh and the Howgill Fells to the north and north west. |