River starts to curve around mountain (3)
I believe the answer is:
cam
'river' is the definition.
(river in Cambridge, England)
'starts to curve around mountain' is the wordplay.
'starts to' suggests taking the first letters.
The initial letters of 'curve around mountain' is 'CAM'.
(Other definitions for cam that I've seen before include "Projection on rotating shaft imparting motion" , "River; shaft projection" , "Runner" , "East Anglian river" , "English river" .)