Malham Cove, Yorkshire Dales

I drove about 5 miles to the village of Malham this morning. One of the main reasons that I chose to camp in this area was because I wanted to do this walk around Malham Cove. I was last here about 40 years ago when my youth group from church used to spend a week on a walking holiday in the Yorkshire Dales. This was my favourite walk. I can’t believe its taken me all these years to visit again!  

The circular walk is a popular route, about 5 miles. Starting from the village of Malham, the first stop is to Janet’s Foss - the waterfall in the first Extra photo. (Janet - or Jennet - is Queen of the Fairies and lives behind the waterfall.  Foss - Nordic word for waterfall.) 

There had been a lot of rain recently, so there was plenty of water, more than I remember. I ate half my picnic there and watched a crazy guy jump in for a swim. He said it was cold!  His little dog eventually got up the courage to join him, followed finally by the girlfriend. They provided some good lunchtime entertainment!

I continued on to Gordale Scar, an enormous gorge - second Extra photo (you can also see it in the distance in the first Extra). Again there was plenty of water from the recent rain. Believe it or not, you can scramble up a very steep path to the left of the waterfall - I’ve done it!  But not on a day like today when there’s so much water! I remember having to go on all fours to get to the top!  If you do that route the  walk continues from the top, but most wise people retrace their steps back and continue on another footpath.

Another mile or two brought me to the last and main part of this walk - Malham Cove itself. The cove is ‘a huge curving amphitheatre shaped cliff formation of limestone rock’. It’s 80 metres (260 feet) high and 300 metres (984 feet) wide.

Seeing the top of the cove involves walking across the limestone pavement - huge blocks of limestone deeply eroded. (The blocks are 'clints' and the crevasses are 'grykes'.) See third Extra photo. Always challenging, it was more treacherous than I remembered!  I was glad I brought my walking sticks with me!  The view from the top was incredible. I sat and enjoyed it for awhile. Those who are Harry Potter fans may recognise this as a scene in ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ movie where Harry and Hermione set up camp with a tent on top of the pavement. (There are now signs stating ‘no camping on the pavement’!)

There is usually no waterfall at the cove, but one suddenly appeared for one day only on Dec 6th, 2015. People in their 80s who had lived in the village their whole lives had never seen it.

Eventually I had to return back down to the village which is a little distance from the bottom of the cove. There were a LOT of steps down and I was still thankful I had my walking sticks. When I got to the bottom I watched some rock climbers scaling the wall of the cove. They looked like little ants!  

It was a great outing and I returned to my campsite happy and hungry.