Explore with Amie

Malham Cove is a classic walk in the Yorkshire Dales that I think everyone should to at least once. It just so happens that this was my second visit and walk in the area. Alex’s sister, Lizzie, was visiting us for the weekend and so, we were hoping to get some exploring in. Initially, we had hoped to head up Pen-y-Ghent but, traffic had other ideas and after it took us 1 hour to do a section of the journey that should have taken us ten minutes, we thought it was best to do a shorter walk instead. Malham Cove was the obvious choice.

The National Park Authority have a car park, and then there is village parking on the grass. Make sure, if you do pick a spot beside the road, that you’re not in a passing place and impeding progress down the already narrow lanes of the dales.

Malham is a lovely little village with a cafe, tourist information centre and country-style pubs. Outside the tourist information centre and the toilets near the main car park, a display provides information on all of the three sights in the area: Malham Cove, Janet’s Foss and Gordale Scar. Each of these can be visited as an individual walk but it’s also easy to combine them in a walk that took us around 2 hours. The information board estimates three hours which is accurate if you’re taking a lesuirely pace and stopping for photos and snacks. Set aside the full three hours, though it’s likely you’ll be quicker.

We walked anti-clockwise, heading first alongside the river towards Janet’s Foss. This is the most difficult section of the walk, and even then it’s managable for most able-bodied walkers. There are a couple of sections of roots sticking out of the ground and rocks to navigate but it’s a well waymarked, straightforward path to the waterfall, Janet’s Foss. Gordale Beck plunges over the rocks to create a lovely little waterfall. It is known to be a wild-swimming spot, however, it smelt and looked pretty stagnant on this occasion. That could have been due to the hot weather spell we had been having the previous week. The area is owned by the national trust and gets its name from Janet, the queen of the fairies who legend says lives in a cave behind the waterfall. It’s a luscious and green area and so I can see why such legends have come about; there is something a little whimsical in the air!

Continue on past the waterfall following the path; it’s important to be careful here on wet days as the rocks will be slippery. It’s also fairly slippery on a dry day as the tremendous amount of foot fall that this route gets has meant that the rocks have been worn away and become incredibly smooth. It’s almost like they’ve been polished by everyone’s shoes! I was wearing adidas gazelle style trainers (not recommened) because I forgot to change my shoes when we arrived and had to be particularly careful here. You can do this walk in your bog-standard trainers – you don’t need walking boots or hiking shoes – as long as you don’t mind if they get muddy!

The path then rejoins the road and you should turn right, heading towards Gordale Scar. First though, Gordale Refreshments is a great little cafe shack to grab yourself a drink, sandwich or an ice cream! Naturally, because of it’s position, it isn’t cheap butm a Solero ice lolly was the exact thing I fancied at that moment in time. They also served things like burgers, bacon sandwiches and flapjacks so you can make a real lunch of it, if you haven’t packed your own.

In all honesty, we didn’t take the extra few kilometres to Gordale Scar on this occasion but, we have previously, so I’ve included photos from both visits here. If you were confused by the outfit change in the middle, that’s why. Instead, on this occasion, we turned left straight after the Gordale Refreshments. The path winds through on the edge of farmers fields, until you reach Malham Cove. You get really incredible views of the drystone walls lining the hills which are typical of the Dales landscape and give that really quintessential English countryside landscape.

Then, it was Malham Cove – the real highlight of this route. Famous as a Harry Potter filming location, the limestone cliffs here are shaped like a an amphitheatre and here, you’re on the top of them, skirting the stage. The rocks are unusually eroded due to ice and rain over the years and make for a great playground, hopping from rock to rock. This route crosses the entire length of the cove, so you really get to see it both from the top and at the bottom on the return. The 70m rock face itself is a popular spot with climbers looking for a challenge as well as being the home of a pair of peregrine falcons.

The path descends via stairs and then soon levels out to a gravel path for the majority of the way back to the village. Don’t forget to turn around and have a look at the rock face; see if you can spot some climbers! There were some of my favourite kinds of cow next to the path, Belted Galloways, so we gave them a wide birth and continued on our way. It’s so busy that they’re fairly used to people. The path soon joins the road and you want to turn left to towards Malham, past Riverside Campsite. Then, follow the road back to the car park and you’ve seen three fantastic spots in the Yorkshire Dales.

Follow the full route for yourself here.

Have you visited these iconic sites?

Amie x