Malham Cove

Today's the day ............................ to geologise

'Where flinty clints are scraped bone-bare
A whale’s ribs glint in the sun'
                                                     Norman Nicholson

We've had such fun today - pretending that we were geologists again!

We've done a circular walk from Malham, where we're staying, which took in the spectacular Malham Cove.  We climbed up on to the limestone pavement above it and walked across to Goredale Scar.  Then we followed Goredale Beck to the waterfall at Janet's Foss and back into Malham.  It was only five miles or so - but it took in some real wonders of the geological world.

This is Malham Cove - a 230 ft high gently curving cliff of white limestone.  It formed along the line of a fault in the earth’s crust but has been eroded backwards by the action of water and ice over millions of years.  The area around was probably covered at least three times with huge glaciers which plucked rock from the face of the Cove and carried it away.  The water flows underground now emerging at the base of the cliffs.  Back then, the ground was permanently frozen and the glacial meltwater would have thundered over the top in a massive waterfall.

And it was easy to imagine it like that today ..................