Ritson's Force

The walk in

From the Wasdale Head Inn, follow the track behind the buildings and pick up the path upstream beside Mosedale Beck, crossing (or pausing on) the lovely old packhorse bridge just behind the inn — one of the most photographed spots in Wasdale. The falls are perhaps half a mile upstream, an easy 10–15 minutes on a beckside path that's grassy, stony and slippery in patches. It's the perfect short walk for an evening at the inn, a rest-day wander, or the gentle finish to a big fell day — and in a valley where almost every walk means serious climbing, that makes it quietly precious.

Wild swimming

There are small, clear plunge pools below the drops, and hardy folk do take a quick dip. Treat it as a dip, not a swim: the pools are small and shallow in places, cold all year even in high summer — get in slowly and expect the gasp of cold-water shock — and the rock around the falls is wet, mossy and genuinely slippery. After rain the beck rises quickly and the little gorge becomes a place to look at, not get into. Never jump or dive — depths here are shallow and shifting. Keep it short, keep it careful.

When to go

After rain is when Ritson's Force earns its name — in a dry spell it's a trickle over mossy steps. It works at any time of day, but evening is special: the light goes golden on Great Gable, the valley empties, and the walk back ends at one of the most storied pubs in mountain Britain. If you're touring waterfalls, be honest with your expectations — this one is about setting and story, not scale.

The setting

Wasdale Head is the grandest dead-end in England: the deepest lake (Wast Water), the highest mountain (Scafell Pike), and a tiny green ringed by some of the oldest drystone walls in the country, cleared stone by stone from the valley floor. Mosedale itself — the side valley the beck drains — is a quiet, austere bowl beneath Pillar and Kirk Fell, and the falls sit right at its mouth. This is also the birthplace of British climbing, and the inn's bars are effectively a small museum of it.

The name & its story

The falls are named for Will Ritson (1808–1890), farmer, huntsman, guide and the celebrated landlord of what became the Wasdale Head Inn — a raconteur so committed to the tall tale that he's remembered as the original "World's Biggest Liar." His classic: Wasdale turnips grew so big that folk carved them out and used them as sheds. The title outlived him — the World's Biggest Liar competition is still held every November at the Bridge Inn, Santon Bridge, down the valley, in his memory, and the inn's Ritson's Bar keeps his name behind the pumps. He's buried in the churchyard at Wasdale Head, near tiny St Olaf's — itself one of the smallest churches in England. "Force," as ever in Lakeland, is the Old Norse fors — a waterfall.

Family, dogs & accessibility

A lovely short outing for families — flat-ish, short, with the bridge, the beck and the falls as staging posts — but keep children close at the water's edge and on the wet rock around the drops. Not pushchair or wheelchair terrain: the path is rough, rooty and stony. Dogs on leads throughout — the route crosses working sheep farmland at the busiest farming corner of the valley. Facilities (food, drink, toilets for customers) are at the inn; there's nothing at the falls.

The fells above

The falls sit under the full Wasdale skyline: Scafell Pike and Great Gable dominating the dalehead, with Kirk Fell, Pillar and Yewbarrow walling Mosedale itself. For the full horseshoe above the falls, see our walked extended Mosedale horseshoe route. More gentle falls country is covered in the Lake District waterfalls guide.

Getting there & parking

Without a car: The nearest stations as the crow flies are Drigg (16 km away) and Ravenglass (16 km away). The bus map has every stop we hold.

Wasdale Head is reached by the long single-track road up Wasdale from Gosforth or Santon Bridge (allow more time than the map suggests, and use the passing places properly). Park in the walkers' parking at Wasdale Head near the inn and the village green — it fills early on fine weekends, as it serves Scafell Pike. There is no bus to Wasdale Head. The falls are then the short stroll described above — which makes this the easiest reward-per-step walk in the whole valley.