It doesn’t matter what the size and scale is, waterfalls always impress. It may the noise, the spray, the pull of the rushing water or the sheer scale of the waterfall, in the end waterfalls always impress. I realized looking through some photos that I have visited 4 different size waterfalls and in each case I loved the visit. Why? Is it the overall experience, the beauty, the context and the feeling of power?
Big or Small, Which do you prefer?
Let’s start small; I have posted a blog post on the smallest and closest waterfall earlier, you can see it here where I was discussing shutter speeds. It still has a lot of charm and makes this small park a lovely place to visit.
The same stream continues to a smaller fall maybe 50m downstream
It is clearly not the size of the river or the height of the fall that makes these waterfalls always impress.
Yorkshire, UK: The Dales
I visited Yorkshire and in the Dales came across 2 falls of significance. They are a big step up from those discussed above. The West Burton Falls. The Cauldron Falls, on Walden Beck, pictured here, were painted by Turner and are just a short walk from the village. Nearby there are the Cray Gill falls but I didn’t get to see them. Maybe next time.
Instead I drove a short distance to the Aysgarth falls. These are on the River Ure (W3W location) and have also been painted by Turner. They consist of three stepped waterfalls and are easily accessed by a footpath. They have featured in the cinema blockbuster movie Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.
Mortain, France
Mortain-Bocage is situated in Normandy, in the Manche department of France. There are 2 waterfalls in Mortain. I talked about my weekend in Normandy in this blog post. The larger falls are 25m tall and are impressive and the tallest in Northern France.
Quebec, Canada
Parc de la Chute‑Montmorency, the Montmorency Falls in Quebec are in a totally different league. They are located on the Montmorency river just before it joins the St Lawrence river. In the past there was a power station here. The most impressive aspect of these falls is tehri height. The falls are 83m, over 270 feet, and that is a significant 30m more that the famous Niagara Falls.
There are several things to see here besides the thundering falls, the suspension bridge, the panoramic staircase (which was closed when I went in April) and the Via Ferrata (opens in a new tab) which is only for adrenalin mad people. The panoramic photo I have here was taken from the cable car station at the lower car park. I don’t feel I missed much by not taking the car, it soon becomes expensive when you are not travelling alone and that cost is outweighed by the fact that the car park fee covers both car parks. The lower one by the station and the upper one by the Manoir Montmorency.
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