Malham Cove and Gordale Scar

After a lovely weekend away with our three girls we decided to plan a day out for the whole family… a picnic in the Yorkshire Dales sounded like a good idea to us so we studied the weather reports to make sure that we picked the best day – Thursday was supposed to be heavy rain and Tuesday was cloudy with showers so it looked as though Wednesday would be the best day – sunshine and light showers.
We packed a picnic, our walking boots and waterproof coats – just in case – and set off for Malham. It was a very warm day but still managed to be very wet. There was no sunshine at all… but we still had a great time.

After parking the car we walked a mile or so to Gordale Scar. The gorge was produced by water from melting glaciers from one of the Ice Ages – quite old then.

From there, we walked over the hills to Malham Cove Malham Cove - a huge curving cliff formation of limestone rock. The face of the cliff is about 260 feet high and at the top is a large area of limestone pavement. The blocks of limestone are called Clints and the gaps are knows as Grykes and provode homes for all sorts of wildlife and wild flowers and ferns such as wood sorrel, Herb Robert, Green Spleenwort and Wall Rue.

When it’s warm and dry, walking across the limestone pavement is fun – they are like giant stepping stones. When its warm and wet it isn’t quite as much fun and the limestone blocks (clints) can become very slippery.