Stenkrith Park, Cumbria, Autumn
The River Eden has carved out some wonderful geology.
If you’re a frequent visitor of my website (hello!) you’ll have read me writing about the River Eden’s geology specifically around Mallerstang and Wetheral.
The River Eden begins life high up in the Mallerstang valley—now part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park—where it has carved an impressive gorge known as Hell Gill, before dropping 25 ft as a waterfall called Hellgill Force. The river turns north, carving its way out of Mallerstang into the wider Vale of Eden.
Just before the river reaches the small Cumbrian town of Kirkby Stephen, it drops through a partially collapsed cave system in Stenkrith Park called “The Devil’s Grinding Mill” (also known as “The Devil’s Mustard Mill” and “Coop Kernan Hole”). The scenery here is absolutely fascinating.
We took the opportunity for a more gentle walk, starting at Stenkrith Park and following the Northern Viaduct trail to take in the sights of both Pod Gill Viaduct and Merrygill Viaduct. We then circled back into Kirkby Stephen before rejoining the River Eden for some more river photography of the incredible limestone formations.
All photos shot on a Fujifilm X-T2 with a Fujinon 18-55mm f/2.8-4.0 lens using a customised Classic Chrome film profile.
This is “The Devil’s Grinding Mill”, where the River Eden drops into a collapsed cave system. The Millennium Bridge crosses above the gorge for fantastic views.
From the bridge we followed the North Viaduct trail east. The trail follows the old South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway, which was setup in the 1850s to transport coke (the fuel kind) to Barrow-in-Furness’ iron furnaces. The railway was dismantled in the 1970s.
We saw plenty of people walking the Northern Viaduct trail, especially with their dogs.
If you’re in Cumbria, there will be sheep. I managed to surprise this Swaledale.
Just south of Coop Kernan Hole the River Eden begins widening out again through a series of beautifully sculpted limestone formations.
There was some lovely light filtering through.
Autumn’s quickly on its way.
The red colouration in the water is due to the river carrying peat from the fells above Mallerstang.
My lovely Lisabet found a sizeable hole in the one of the rocks, and I couldn’t resist a photo!
Lisabet hopping rocks to get a closer shot of some of the falls.
This is the bottom of Coop Kernan’s Hole, only really accessible when there’s no much water in the river.
A little bit of sun managed to break through the canopy, picking out some of the features of this fascinating gorge and its structures.