Nauthusagil Ravine

The way to the waterfall is the riverbed itself. The route crosses the stream and works up the canyon over stones that shift underfoot, past a line of small waterfalls. The last of them is climbed with the help of a fixed chain, and the main fall stands just beyond it. Getting wet is not a risk here but a certainty: one visitor in waterproof boots went into the river anyway, and some people walk it barefoot. The hill above the gorge gives the wider view, over the waterfall on one side and the country around it on the other. The wind up there is strong and the ground runs close to the edge. The site sits off the main run of stops, and the gorge is often empty.

• Footwear: Waterproof boots with a proper grip sole. The stones in the river are slippery and the water is unavoidable.
• Winter: Ice forms on the stones in the riverbed. One visitor in February slipped and fell during the crossing.
• Children: The wading and the scrambling are not for small children.
• Road: The last stretch to the car park runs on an F road.
• No made path: Nothing is surfaced or stepped. Rock-hopping and a chain-assisted climb are part of the way in.

Access is by car, and the last stretch runs on an F road. There is a free car park at the site, and everything past it is on foot. Two ways lead in. One climbs the hill above the gorge; the other crosses the river and follows the streambed into the canyon. Both are hard going, and the canyon route means wading.

Better: summer, when the streambed is clear of ice and the water is the only obstacle.

Avoid: winter — in February there is ice on the stones in the river, and the crossing is where people fall.

The stream runs through the gorge all year, so the walk is wet whenever you come. The site is off the main routes and rarely crowded, so conditions underfoot matter more than the hour of the day.