Whitewater Dash
| Whitewater Dash | |
| Cumberland | |
|---|---|
 Whitewater Dash | |
| River: | Dash Beck |
| Type: | cascade |
| NY273312 | |
| Co-ordinates: | 54°40’25"N, 3°7’53"W |
Whitewater Dash is a spectacular waterfall on the Dash Beck in the Cumberland Lake District, east of Bassenthwaite. It is reckoned one of the finest waterfalls in Lakeland.
The fall, sometimes called ‘Dash Falls’, is found in the narrow dale between Little Calva to the east and Bakestall, a subsidiary fell of mighty Skiddaw, to the west. It is just below the head of the valley Dash Beck, which begins on the felltop in Candleseaves Bog. The water gathered from the bog into a new river here tumbles in a long series of cascades down the precipitous sides of the fells towards the comparatively lower ground beneath, in which lies Bassenthwaite Lake.
The dramatic course of the beck turns the water into a white ribbon and Wainwright called it the finest succession of falls in Lakeland. Nevertheless, the remote location leaves the fall relatively unvisited and unspoiled.
A private road leads up the valley to Dash Farm, and a track branches off this and goes all the way up the valley, past Dash Falls to Skiddaw House, a former shepherd's hut now used as a youth hostel.
