Three Shires Head
Near Flash, Axe Edge Moor, Peak District · on River Dane
Waterfall pool
Best for casual swimmers
A chain of clear, peat-stained pools and small gritstone waterfalls on the young River Dane, right where three counties meet under an old packhorse bridge on open moorland. The water stays cold all year and the setting is wild and remote, reached only on foot.
Panniers Pool is the one directly under the bridge; there is a larger fall about fifty metres downstream, and a quieter, deeper pool just upstream that fewer people find. Reckon on half an hour on foot whichever way you come, with no facilities and no phone signal at the end of it. Shallow and uneven underfoot, so it is a paddle and a plunge rather than a swim, and the Dane comes up fast after rain.
- The water
- Shallow rocky pools below small waterfalls, wade-in over boulders
- Walk in
- 35 min walk (2.0 km)
- Parking
- Free
- Without a car
- Not realistically, you need a car
- Facilities
- Nothing on site