The River Dee is a river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 running through the extreme south east of Cumbria

Cumbria

Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...

, a part of the Craven

Craven

Craven is a local government district in North Yorkshire, England that came into being in 1974, centred on the market town of Skipton. In the changes to British local government of that year this district was formed as the merger of Skipton urban district, Settle Rural District and most of Skipton...

 region traditionally part of the West Riding of Yorkshire

West Riding of Yorkshire

The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of the three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county, County of York, West Riding , was based closely on the historic boundaries...

.

The river rises at Dent Head Farm on the Dales Way

Yorkshire Dales

The Yorkshire Dales is the name given to an upland area in Northern England.The area lies within the historic county boundaries of Yorkshire, though it spans the ceremonial counties of North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Cumbria...

, formed from several smaller stream

Stream

A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

s emanating from Blea Moor Moss, the River Dee makes its way northward past Stone House to Cowgill, where it turns left into Dentdale

Dent (Lonsdale)

Dent is a small village and civil parish in Cumbria, England, nestling in a narrow valley on the western slopes of the Pennines within the Yorkshire Dales National Park...

. In Dentdale, it picks up the waters of Deepdale Beck, travelling north from Whernside

Whernside

Whernside is a mountain in the Yorkshire Dales and is one of the Yorkshire Three Peaks, the other two being Ingleborough and Pen-y-ghent. It is the highest point in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire,Mickle Fell in southern Teesdale is the highest point within the boundaries of the historic...

 before passing Dent

Dent (Lonsdale)

Dent is a small village and civil parish in Cumbria, England, nestling in a narrow valley on the western slopes of the Pennines within the Yorkshire Dales National Park...

 and Gawthrop.

The river later passes Lenacre and Rash on its way to meeting the River Rawthey

River Rawthey

The River Rawthey is a river in Cumbria.The headwaters of the Rawthey are at Rawthey Gill Foot, where Rawthey Gill, whose own source is a confluence at Gill Head on East Baugh Fell, meets Haskhaw Gill....

at Catholes.
The old water mill at Rash Bridge is thought to have been an inspiration for the folk song 'The Jolly Miller of Dee'