📲 Follow the Digital Route

Preview the full route on a digital map to on your phone or GPS device. This is highly recommended, as the moorland sections have no clear paths or way markers.

👉 Preview the route here
👉 Download the GPX route below

Rowton Beck Waterfall

The Walk

Start at Holwick Road Layby

Begin at the designated layby on Holwick Road (postcode DL12 0NH). From the layby, turn back along the lane in the direction you arrived from, heading slightly. After a short distance, look for the Pennine Way footpath on your right. This clearly waymarked route leads away from the road and across open land. The Pennine Way is easy to follow here.

Climb onto the Open Moorland

Follow the track gently uphill. The views begin to open up behind you over Middleton in Teesdale. The path becomes fainter as you climb higher, transitioning from farm lane to open moorland. This section is steady but rewarding as skylarks, curlews and the sound of the wind over heather create an immediate sense of calm and isolation. Navigation is essential here, follow your GPX or map closely as there are few obvious way markers.

 Crossing the Moor Towards Easter Beck

As the climb begins to level out, the moorland opens around you and you really feel the sense of space that makes Teesdale so special. The path becomes softer underfoot, just a faint line through the heather and grass, and you’ll cross a couple of small streams that wind their way off the hill. Keep heading in the same direction, towards the stone wall and big skies. Before long the ground dips gently and you’ll start to hear the sound of Easter Beck flowing below, even though you can’t see the waterfall yet.

Easter Beck Waterfall

As you approach Easter Beck, you’ll hear the waterfall before you see it. The beck runs just beyond a stone wall, and the waterfall is on the far side. There is no crossing point here, so remain on the path side of the wall and look across to view the waterfall as it drops gently through a narrow gully. It’s a peaceful spot, surrounded by upland grasses and bird song. Take a moment to enjoy the view from the wall before continuing as the path follows the line of the beck across the open moor.

Walking to Rowton Beck Waterfall

Continue across the open moor, following your GPX as the path curves gently towards Rowton Beck. The descent is gradual, with the landscape opening out ahead. As you approach the beck, the waterfall comes into view, a beautiful fan of water flowing over stepped rock ledges. It may be modest in size, but it’s surrounded by wild scenery that feels completely untouched. This is one of those places that reminds you why Teesdale is such a special landscape, it invites you to slow down and simply listen.

Waterfalls on This Walk

This circular walk is unique because it passes three little-known waterfalls tucked into remote moorland becks. These are not showy tourist falls they are peaceful, intimate and deeply connected to Teesdale’s upland landscape. Each one appears suddenly in the wild, offering a true sense of discovery.

Easter Beck Waterfall

Easter Beck is the first waterfall you will encounter on the route. It sits just beyond a stone wall and can be seen from the path as the beck drops gently into a hidden gully. You will hear it before you see it, a soft rush of water surrounded by grasses, mosses and upland birdlife. This is a peaceful spot that marks the moment you leave the wider moorland and begin to feel the presence of Teesdale’s secret becks.

Rowton Beck Waterfall

Rowton Beck Waterfall lies further out on the moor and has a wonderfully remote atmosphere. The waterfall flows over natural stone steps in the beck, creating a fan of white water that contrasts beautifully with the surrounding heather. With no signs of development or footbridges, it feels wild and untouched – a reminder that Teesdale still holds places where nature moves entirely at its own pace.

Eel Beck Waterfall

Eel Beck is the most secluded of the three waterfalls and perhaps the most atmospheric. Found at the highest point of the route before your descent begins, this waterfall flows into a rocky channel surrounded by heather and solitude. On a still day, you can hear nothing but water and wind. Standing here, looking across miles of open moor, you truly feel away from the modern world.

Holwick Scars – The Ancient Cliffs That Built Teesdale

Holwick Scars rise dramatically above the valley, forming one of the most striking natural landmarks in Teesdale. These cliffs weren’t carved by people or machinery they were forged by the Earth itself, nearly 300 million years ago.

Back when this part of Britain lay near the equator, molten rock surged up through layers of limestone beneath the surface. As the magma cooled, it formed a solid sheet of dark dolerite rock known as the Whin Sill. Over millions of years, glaciers and rivers stripped away the softer rock around it, leaving the hard volcanic rock exposed as towering cliffs. The straight lines and blocky shapes you can see in the cliff face are natural cooling cracks – like nature’s own stone architecture.

Holwick Scars are part of this same Whin Sill formation that also creates High Force and Cauldron Snout, meaning this walk is not just scenic it takes you through the geological backbone of Teesdale itself.

Today, the cliffs are a haven for wildlife. Peregrine falcons nest in the rock ledges, rare alpine plants grow in the cracks, and on a still day you can hear nothing but wind against stone – a reminder that this landscape has stood unchanged for millennia.

Standing beneath Holwick Scars is like stepping into deep time. You are not just walking in Teesdale  you are walking through ancient Earth history.

Although the Whin Sill is normally a dark volcanic rock, weathering and lichens give Holwick Scars a lighter, mottled appearance in places – a reminder that these cliffs have stood exposed to the elements for millions of years.