Malham Cove, Malham Tarn, Gordale Scar & Janets Foss circular walk

Thursday 31st October 2024

Walking Diary (All Walks) North Yorkshire & Co Durham Wharfedale

A similar walk to one I've done before, but this time I tweaked the route slightly and also went to Malham Cove first and headed round in a clockwise direction.

The other difference this time was the weather, last time it was a gloriously sunny day, today was heavily overcast and mostly wet and drizzly throughout. Also my walking colleague today was Paul, and he openly admits he's not a fan of walking in bad conditions, needless to say I had to contend with plenty of unhappy murmurings.

The highlight of the day for Paul was the hot cup of tea at the refreshments van just near Gordale Scar! It was a shame though, as this is a really lovely and very interesting walk and it was pretty much spoilt due to the weather today - my fault really, as I should have changed our plans on the day and done a walk further east, where the weather was considerably better.

You can't get it right all the time. At least the beer in the Lister Arms was nice.

The information contained in the material on this Website is for information purposes only and does not constitute advice.
Distance: 9.4 miles
Duration: 4:30 hours
Ascent: 1329 ft
Difficulty: Moderate
Accompanied By: Paul
Weather: Overcast and Drizzly

3D outline of route

Parking

Wet and damp as we park up at the Malham Car Park

Heading through Malham as we start our walk towards Malham Cove. We will pop into that pub over there when we return.

Approaching Malham Cove - certainly wet, but not wet enough for the waterfall to appear again.

Malham Cove - The 230ft high, gently curving cliff of white limestone.

It was formed during the most recent ice age, around 50,000 years ago. Once topped by an enormous glacier, the cliff was previously the crest of an enormous waterfall fed by the melting ice.

Water did flow over the top though more recently, back in December 2015 caused by very heavy rainfall in Yorkshire. It was a fantastic spectacle.

After climbing up the 400 or so steps, we wandered across the very strange limestone stage. This was not straightforward as the slabs were extremely smooth, wet and it felt like they has a greasy coating. "Treacherous" was our word for it - the possibility of slipping and getting a serious bash was very real.

I chose not to go too close to the edge this time of visiting.

I did manage to go over though - not due to a slip, but I managed to wedge my boot into this gap and my body went forward but my left leg stayed put!

It did take a bit of effort to work it back out.

Excellent views back towards Malham, but I'll be glad to get onto a normal path.

I think these are called 'Malham Lings' - Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Hello - do you mind moving along?

Arriving at a favourite place of mine - there is a Tarn there believe me.

I'd hoped we would have our lunch here (Malham Tarn) and Paul would enjoy the natural beauty of the area, but we couldn't see a thing due to the low cloud and drizzle, so we cracked on.

Skirting around Great Close Scar as we change direction and depart the tarn.

A left turn at Street Gate and onto Mastiles Lane.

The stepping stones would have been tricky here considering the depth of the water and the 'slippy-ness' of the steps, but fortunately there is a flat slab bridge just out of view.

Next stop - the Mastiles Roman Camp which the path goes right through, although there's not much to see.

Heading towards the farm at Lee Gate.

Leaving Mastiles Lane and turning right towards Malham as we start walking on the country road.

The path to Gordale Scar - As the weather was grotty and Paul wasn't bothered about doing an 'out and back' to see it, we decided to give it a miss.

It's certainly worth a visit, I've been a couple of times before - but granted, it was in much nicer conditions.

But Paul had spotted a refreshment van on the roadside up ahead and the lure of a hot cup of tea was just too much for him.

The highlight of the walk for Paul.

As the weather picked up a bit we arrived at Janets Foss.

Janet’s Foss is a small but wonderful waterfall just a bit further along the road from Gordale Scar.

Apparently a fairy queen is believed to inhabit a cave at the rear of the fall.

Some good looking bloke admiring the rock formations.

We then followed Gordale Beck as we head back to Malham.

Think we will cross by the bridge and give these stepping stones a miss.

Time for a beer in the Lister Arms before we head for home.