Over the Underground: Leck Beck and Easegill Kirk

Yes, this is still Lancashire. A long wedge of countryside squeezed between Cumbria and North Yorkshire, with the highest ground in the county along the borders, reaching 2,251ft (686m) on Crag Hill. But it hardly feels like Lancashire: the landscape, with its limestone gorges, scars and pot-holes, is what you expect of the Yorkshire Dales.

The crucial thing about limestone is that it dissolves in water far more readily than other rocks. It can produce gentle beauty, as around Silverdale, or it can yield high drama, as it does here. First, however, there's a lengthy preamble, following Leck Beck from green pastures to open moors, where you're as likely to see hen harriers as other walkers.

The drama begins with the gorge of Easegill Kirk. You can enter both its upper and lower reaches, though a vertical rock step blocks the direct connection between the two. The lower section of the gorge is particularly impressive, with leaning rock walls punctured by several cave entrances.

Most of these are gloomy passages, which many people will find uninviting if not actually repellent, though you can see evidence of digging undertaken by cavers to enlarge the entrances. At the back, just to the right of the rock step, is another cave, which you can safely look into. Some extra light enters from a slot high on the left.

It's back into the open on the wide moors above Easegill Kirk. Initially there are only faint sheep tracks to follow, but you soon pick up an old wall and then an improving path. But the drama's not over, as the level moor is pockmarked with holes, from shallow pits to gaping shafts. Fortunately all the dangerous ones are fenced off. The most blatant is Rumbling Hole. It gets its name from the constant sound - actually more of a tapping - of water striking stones at the bottom, 360ft (110m) down. Short Drop Cave is less spectacular, with a narrow entrance where the stream can normally be heard not far below.

Lost John's Cave, near the road, is the most important to cavers because of the extent of its underground passages. Further down, where the road runs in a slight valley, there's a small entrance right by the road, normally covered and bridged by scaffolding poles from where cavers start their descent.

Even if you normally hate road walking, the finish of this walk should win you over. The grass verges are kind to your feet and you'll often go the whole way without meeting a single car. Wide views stretch over Morecambe Bay and the Lake District at first, but as you lose height the perspective changes and increasingly it's a Lune Valley view.

Where to eat and drink

There are no facilities at Leck. You can get tea, coffee and soft drinks at Cowan Bridge but for meals and alcohol go straight across the A65 and 2 miles (3.2km) down a narrow twisting lane to the Highwayman at Nether Burrow, on the A683. There's plenty of room indoors and out.

While you're there

Kirkby Lonsdale, just up the A65, is an old stone-built market town full of nooks and crannies. It has been widely used for film and TV locations. It's best known for its church, parts of which are Norman, and for Ruskin's View, just beyond the churchyard. Just outside the town is Devil's Bridge, an elegant medieval structure, below which are limestone outcrops and deep pools in the Lune.

What to look for

Large-scale features like caves and gorges are one result of limestone wearing away in water, but it also produces distinctive features on a smaller scale. Many outcrops are marked by runnels and flutings, and level surfaces often form expanses of limestone pavement. These may appear flat from a distance, but the action of rain water often produces deep cracks.