After a quick forage in Settle for a few groceries, we went walking, having passed these fine chaps on the way …
Malham Cove is apparently the most popular walk in the Yorkshire Dales and why not, when according to one story it is a giant hoof print made when the Norse god Odin was riding his horse Sleipnir! It has been attracting visitors for centuries, with painters such as JMW Turner promoting the area further. It’s a popular spot, but there was ample car parking and plenty of space for everyone. We took the footpath through the village and across the fields to Malham Cove, a huge limestone amphitheatre shaped cliff and sat on a rock and ate our sandwiches pondering the fact that this would once have been a huge waterfall. Today there is a small underground stream that emerges at its foot and becomes the Malham Beck. Above were climbers attempting ascent of the rock face.
We took the path to the left which became quite a long flight of rough steps to the top of the cliff. We could look down and see the path snaking back to the village.
The top of the cove is a large area of deeply eroded limestone pavement, where slightly acid rainwater has gradually dissolved the rock along faults and cracks.
Clints are the blocks of limestone that constitute the paving and grykes are the fissures that separate them where a varIety of plants thrive as the sheep can’t get them!
It was best to take care the gaps were quite big enough to trap a foot. If it looks familiar, it was the spot that Harry and Hermione camped out in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows.
From here we followed others, across the top …
… then down to Gordale, then left, alongside the stream, into another amphitheatre of cliffs either side towards a waterfall at the head of the scar.
Looking outwards, the narrowing of the scar is almost more obvious.
The final leg of the walk was back to Malham village via Janet’s Foss, a waterfall where the drop pool was traditionally used for sheep dipping. The name Janet or sometimes Jennet is thought to be a folk tale reference to a fairy queen who inhabited a cave at the rear of the waterfall.
As we walked back to the car, we’d clocked up 6.8 miles and the completion of the most popular walk in the Yorkshire Dales. We had a quick look in the shop and I was making a note of a novel set in the Dales for future reading when I overheard a walker who had misunderstood the bus timetable. He had a problem getting back to Settle for his train, and without thinking too much about it, we offered him a lift and were happy to help.
That evening we cooked … or leastways heated pasta sauce we’d bought at Tebay services to have with pasta and broccoli … once we’d mastered the hob!
Off Travelling Together 