Picture this: you’re strapped into a sturdy chair hovering above an open shaft which leads down into the UK’s biggest cave. At the press of a button you begin zooming down the narrow slot directly through the UK’s tallest waterfall and into the otherworldly cavern that is Gaping Gill. For two weeks a year, an experience ordinarily reserved for skilled cavers, is open to anyone. All you need to do is sit in the chair and enjoy the ride.

It takes around a minute to descend the 103m (340ft) to the bottom of the waterfall and it may just be the most exciting minute of your whole year! The Yorkshire Dales are well known for their caves, but there are none that compare to the majesty of Gaping Gill.

Here’s everything you need to know about winching down into Gaping Gill.

The Gaping Gill winch experience

Before you get winched - the walk

I’m going to start with what the experience on the day was like and then go into all the details about planning your day and how to make sure you get tickets etc.

There is no road access for Gaping Gill, so everyone’s day will start with the 2.6 mile (4.3km) walk to the mouth of Gaping Gill.

This walk is along the Ingleborough Estate Trail, which is a private track that costs £2.50 per person. Well, technically there is a public footpath route too, but it’s longer, so almost no one will take this route when you’re trying to get there as early as possible!

We’ll go into more details on the walk later in the guide, but it’s a good gravel path for roughly half the distance and then there are intermittent stony sections, with one notably rubbly section. Much of the way to Gaping Gill is a gradual uphill walk, there are a couple of tiny steep bits, but it’s generally gentle.

Arriving at Gaping Gill

You will see all the tents and winching machinery etc and will begin queueing along the fence just above the winch tents. A volunteer will come along and tell you roughly how long your wait will be based on your number in the queue.

The winch takes around one minute each way, so each person equates to a three minute wait (roughly, it is usually a bit less) although this time can be affected by weather etc.

The wait time we were given was accurate to within 30 minutes (it was 30 minutes longer than the estimate). You need to stay in the queue until you reach the winch tent, where you will pay your entry fee (£15/20) and be given a wristband.

From this point you are able to leave the area if your wait is really long and you’ll be told roughly when to come back. You have various options for other things to do nearby, which we’ll go into later in the post.

If you choose to wait around, there’s a large grassy area you can sit on beside the tents. A number board is located just by the entry to Gaping Gill, so you can periodically check how the queue is going.

Just before it’s your turn you will collect your helmet and make your way down a few steps to the winch platform. You’ll be given a quick briefing and then get strapped in.

It takes roughly a minute to get down to the bottom of the cavern, where you will be met by a volunteer who gives you a laminated sheet with some details about the cave.

What to expect on the winch itself

I was expecting the winch to be fun, but it was so much more exciting than I could have imagined. The beginning is actually quite fast and then it gets a bit slower as you enter the main chamber - or it felt slower anyway!

For the first bit you are descending a narrow shaft and you feel incredibly close to the walls - close enough that you feel your legs draw in subconsciously!

You can see every bit of moss and bracken attached to those dripping walls! It was exhilarating. As you descend you will get wet, as at one point you zoom through the waterfall - they try not to get you soaked, but you’ll definitely be damp and if water levels are high, you will be much wetter.

As long as you have warm clothes, this all adds to the sense of adventure.

You’ll then come out into the huge open chamber and have what felt like split seconds to take it all in before you reach the bottom. I honestly didn’t want it to end. It would have been worth the entry fee for the winch alone! Beats any theme park ride in my opinion : )

If you are worried about it, think of the winch as a sturdy metal chair, it’s perfectly comfy and you can sit normally. If you have a small bag you can put it on your lap, if it’s slightly bigger like our camera bag was, the volunteers kindly allow you to strap it to the bottom of the chair - it felt a bit dodgy to have all our camera gear dangly 103m above the largest cave in Britain, but they did a sterling job securing it.

If you have a bigger pack then you can leave it in the bag tent near the place where you pay your entry fee - it’s not so much a tent as a big bit of tarp which covers the bags.

Inside Gaping Gill

Once you’re inside the cave, after a quick briefing from a volunteer, you’re free to wander. The cavern is huge, with three separate waterfalls cascading into it. One is slender, but the other two were pumping on our visit, it was absolutely magnificent.

The cave has a fair bit of lighting, so despite the fact we forgot our head torches (don’t judge us, we got up at 4am and drove over from the Lake District for this experience!) we could see pretty well.

I occasionally used the light on my phone, but for the most part I didn’t need it. Having said that, I would recommend bringing a torch with you to illuminate darker parts of the cave better.

The terrain inside the cave is generally stony, with a few mounds you can climb up, which were damp and a touch slippery. If there has been substantial rain then water can flow inside the cave, we had one small stream, but nothing that caused any issues moving around.

A couple of days earlier the rain had been so torrential that the winch shut early as the cave got so wet - but given the time of year the winch takes place, I’d guess this isn’t common!

Although there is only one main chamber that non cavers can explore (those with gear and experience can delve into miles of tight passages and those are the people you’ll see emerging from the cave like mud monsters - we were wondering what we’d got ourselves into until we realised!), you can actually spend quite a while just taking in the atmosphere.

We were down there for two hours, although 30 minutes of this was waiting in the queue to get back up! Having said that, we’re the type of people that linger for ages at places, so I could easily see many people being happy with half this time, or even less.

The winch back up to the top is just as exciting as the descent, an otherworldly experience.

Things to know before visiting Gaping Gill

1. The winch only operates for two weeks a year

The winch is run for one week in May and one week in August. In May it’s run by the Bradford Pothole Club and in August by the Craven Pothole Club.

At time of writing, the May winch is cheaper than the August winch at £15 vs £20. You pay the £2.50 Ingleborough Estate Trail fee in addition to this. As I write this post in September, the dates for the next winch in May are already available, so you have quite a bit of notice to organise your trip.

The winch actually operated across eight days the year we visited, although there were two half days where it had closed early due to severe weather, which may be the reason they went for an extra day. The winch does operate in rain, but if it’s torrential it will likely close.

The brilliant thing about Craven Pothole Club (who operated the winch when we visited) and I am sure Bradford is the same, is the way they update social media. I started following their Facebook account and the updates they gave several times a day really helped us plan our trip.

By watching what time the tickets sold out the first few days, it allowed us to plan what time we needed to be there to make sure we didn’t miss out. It also meant we knew ahead of time when the winch would be closed due to weather.

I’ve actually never seen such brilliant updates for any event before and it really made the planning process so much easier. They even put up posts about lost property, which the fact that given everyone operating the winch is a volunteer, was above and beyond.

2. You can’t book in advance

At time of writing you cannot book tickets in advance, nor can you book them at the start of the trail. We did meet people who walked the whole 2.6 miles only to be disappointed when they got there.

We would have loved to book ahead and maybe in the future that will be possible, but for now you need to be at Gaping Gill in person to secure your time slot.

3. The queues can be massive

There are few things in life I’d queue hours for, but I was deadset on experiencing Gaping Gill at least once in my lifetime. Brace yourself. We queued for five hours…. and that doesn’t include queuing to get back up again, that was another 30 minutes! Unless they ever bring in advanced tickets, you will always have to queue, there is no way around it.

That’s because winching begins at 9am on a weekday and 8am on a weekend (with Craven, do check with Bradford if you’re going in May) so even if you arrive at 6am on a weekday, you will have a three hour wait anyway. We arrived at 7.40am and we were numbers 90 and 91 in the queue.

This equated to a five hour wait. We met people who arrived at 6am and were numbers 17 and 18 in the queue, their wait would have been around 3.5-4 hours.

Maybe arriving at 5.30am would make you first and have a max of a 3.5 hour wait, but you can see how if Gaping Gill remains as popular as it is today, you will always have a significant queue.

My advice would be to bring lots of things to make you more comfortable - plenty of warm gear, a blanket and food will make it much nicer. You could luck out with beautiful sunny weather (in which case you’ll want suncream and shade of some kind), but for us it was 14C and horribly windy.

We were utterly frozen after five hours and that doesn’t include the walk to get there, or going down into the cave, which is also cold! I think we got pretty unlucky given it was mid August, but I guess you can’t trust the weather in this part of the world : )

If I were to do it again, I would aim to be there before 6am and come armed with brekkie and a hot flask to make the time pass more comfortably.

4. Tickets sell out

It’s hard to be specific about when tickets sell out because it does vary day by day, and I imagine August (when we visited) is busier than May. The weather will also have an impact. What I can tell you is that I was tracking it all week and most days tickets was sold out between 9am and 10am.

In terms of the winch operating hours, that also varies. In August winching began at 8am on weekends and 9am on weekdays. The finish times varied day by day. I asked one of the cavers and they said they were winching into the evening on some days.

On others, severe rain closed the cave early. We were told by the staff at the Sawmill Cafe that on the final day of winching for the week it only operates for half a day, however, we went on the last day of the week and they operated a full day.

The best thing to do to be sure that you have the most accurate information is to follow the potholing club on Facebook. As mentioned the updates were excellent when we were planning our trip.

5. You’ll need to walk for 5.3 miles (8.6km)

You can’t drive to Gaping Gill, so everyone will have to do the 5.3 mile return walk. The elevation gain is 235m, and it is pretty much uphill all the way to the winch. The first 1.2 miles (2km) are on a really well maintained path, because this is the trail that takes you to Ingleborough Cave.

After the cave, the track is more rustic in parts. There are a couple of stiles and some stony terrain, particularly through and after Trow Gill. I wouldn’t say it was hard and only one tiny 100m section was a bit slippery, but when you’re trying to move fast, it is a bit tedious.

The good news is you couldn’t possibly get lost as it’s a very well defined path all the way. You’ll pass Ingleborough Cave, followed by Trow Gill 900m later, and not long after Trow Gill there will be a signpost pointing you over a stile towards Gaping Gill.

Unless you’re really lucky there will also be other walkers heading the same way.

The walk took us 45 minutes, but we were moving fast. We didn’t stop, didn’t take photos and just power walked, which wasn’t overly fun. I would say an hour would be more comfortable.

6. You can leave the queue and explore the nearby area

The nuance to the whole you can leave the queue thing, is that you don’t get your wrist band when you join the queue. You get your wrist band when you arrive at the tent and pay your entry fee. For us there was at least two hours between joining the queue and getting the wrist band.

This meant that though our queue was really long, we didn’t have a full five hours to leave and come back. Our original thought had been to head back to the start of the walk and grab lunch at the Sawmill Cafe, but we didn't actually have that long to go all the way back to the cafe, which necessitated doing the full 5.3 miles again (there and back).

We could have walked 1.4 miles (2.2km) back to Ingleborough Cave, which would have worked out a lot better time wise, but in the end we got chatting to our lovely neighbours in the queue and ended up staying with them instead.

That’s one of the lovely things about Gaping Gill - you meet lots of like minded people, because let’s face it, not everyone would queue for five hours to get winched into a cave!

Another alternative for the more energetic, would be to continue walking past Gaping Gill to the summit of Ingleborough Mountain. It was completely shrouded in cloud on our visit, but some people still did it. From Gaping Gill we think it would be an additional 2 miles (each way) to reach the top.

Essential info about Gaping Gill

Facilities available at Gaping Gill

The short answer is, very little! Unless it’s different in May, there are a coupe of portaloos, but that’s it. We’d recommend bringing food, drink, suncream and bug spray (we didn’t have midges, but were told they had been bad the day before, perhaps that’s one thing we can be grateful to the wind for!).

The closest place to get proper food is the Sawmill Cafe, but that’s located at the trailhead, so it’s a pretty long walk.

We stopped at the cafe afterwards and they had some pretty good sweet treats and very friendly staff. If they have the biscoff brownie, get it!

However, we hadn’t realised beforehand, as it was closed when we passed by, that you could get drinks and snacks from Ingleborough Cave. That’s a much closer walk at around 1.4 miles (2.2km) from Gaping Gill. They have fizzy drinks and water, as well as ice cream and chocolate bars. They also sell tea and instant coffee.

Where to park and how to get your trail tickets early

So there is technically parking on the Riverside lane just before the trailhead and it’s free with no time limit. We parked there and were surprised to see lots of people walking up from the national park car park, which is a five minute walk further away. There were no signs saying not to park where we did, so that would be my recommend assuming that doesn’t change in the future.

The Ingleborough Estate Trail tickets are sold at the Sawmill Cafe. It was open from 6.30am on our visit, but if you arrive before it opens, you can buy your ticket from the machine just by the trail entrance (it looks like a car park ticket machine).

If you want to visit Ingleborough Cave, these tickets can be bought at the cave itself (currently an adult ticket is £13).

What to bring to Gaping Gill

The area where you wait to enter the cave is very exposed, You’re out on the hills with no shelter whatsoever. Whether it’s sun, wind, or rain, you are going to feel it all. I had my down jacket with me which was a lifesaver, but due to the wind and cold temperatures I wished I’d had thermals on.

Check the forest carefully and bring layers. Remember that when you’re just sitting around you will get colder than you might imagine.

If it’s hot, there will be no shade, so you’d also want sun protection etc. We didn’t need bug spray, but we heard the day before there were a lot of midges.

You don’t need any special gear, the only thing you really need is a torch and waterproofs. I wore my waterproof jacket, but didn’t use waterproof trousers - though the club recommends that you do. Helmets are provided.

Transport to the trailhead

The walk to Gaping Gill begins in the small village of Clapham in the Yorkshire Dales. It’s roughly a 10 minute drive from Ingleton, 40 minutes from Skipton and 40 minutes from Kendal. The easiest way to get there is to drive as you’ll want to arrive very early and it’s a long day, so relying on public transport would be tiring.

If you do need to come by public transport you can get there by train. At the time of writing, there are trains from Leeds to Lancaster (that stop throughout the Yorkshire Dales) every two hours. However, we would recommend getting a hotel in Clapham the night before given that you need to arrive so early.

Minimum age requirement for Gaping Gill

When we visited the sign said the minimum age for winching into Gaping Gill is seven years old. However, it did mention it would be at the discretion of the volunteers and I did see one or two children that definitely looked younger than 7 (and they loved it!).

Incidentally, if you’re thinking about bringing your dog, they can’t come down into the cave and someone must be supervising them at all times in the queue.

Where to stay in Clapham - the start of the trail to Gaping Gill

Although the village of Clapham is small, there are a few hotels and b&b’s.

New Inn Hotel (7 minute walk from the trailhead)

Swallows Nest Bed and Breakfast (8 minute walk from the trailhead)

Wenning Bank holiday home (1.5 miles from the trailhead, which is about a 35 minute walk)

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