The journey to the tiny village of Malham takes you into one of the most beautiful valleys in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Shaped by the retreating glaciers of the last Ice Age, and millennia of wind and rain, the valley gets more dramatic the further you go. The landscape is crisscrossed with the distinctive pattern of dry stone walls, and dotted with stone-built farms and barns.
Malham village is a pretty place of sturdy stone houses set amidst a landscape of rolling farmland surrounded by green hills. A settlement has existed here for at least a thousand years and farming has been a mainstay of life since the Middle Ages. During the 18th and 19th centuries though, this rural scene was disturbed by copper, lead and zinc mining in the hills above the village. Malham became an, albeit small, industrial centre.
The mines are long closed, and today it is tourism that disturbs the peace and quiet. Close to 5 million people visit the National Park annually. The Malham area has some of the most stunning sights in the whole Park, and there are great walking routes that take you deep into the landscape. I set off on a circular walk to Malham Tarn, going first to the glorious natural amphitheatre of limestone that is Malham Cove.
The 80m-high vertical cliffs once had a river flowing over the top of them, today it flows beneath. Heavy rains the previous day meant water was abundant. I needed to cross the river but the stepping stones were covered by fast moving and very cold water. I know it was cold because I took my boots off and walked across barefoot. Once my feet were dry, I headed uphill.
On the clifftop, a vast limestone pavement spreads over the landscape. This has always been an awe inspiring and popular place to visit. The fact that it was a filming location in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has only enhanced its reputation. Even on a day of unpredictable weather in October, I was expecting to see at least a few people dressed in Hogwarts school uniforms. They must have had exams.
I met an elderly couple coming across the limestone pavement and exchanged views on the likelihood of rain. We agreed it was high. The views across the cove and down the valley are little less than spectacular, but it’s not a place for vertigo sufferers. The route to Malham Tarn passes through the Dry Valley, which is neither dry or a valley. This was the route carved by the river that once flowed over Malham Cove cliffs.
Further along is a place known as Water Sinks. This is where water from the tarn sinks beneath the land to form a subterranean river. Malham Tarn is a short walk away. In an area of limestone rock, a permanent body of water is rare, but the tarn exists because the glaciers that carved this landscape dug through the limestone to a layer of slate. Here I bumped into another walker, otherwise there were few people around.
The route took me from the tarn through open, windswept country until I arrived above the river that flows into Gordale Scar. This dramatic gorge has been crafted by the water over thousands of years. In dry weather you can actually walk down through the gorge. It was not dry weather and a powerful waterfall was slowly eroding the rocks even further. Clambering back up from the waterfall, I set off back to Malham.
It was lunchtime as I arrived in the village and the sun finally made an appearance. I sat outside The Lister Arms pub for a bite to eat and a pint of Thwaites Bitter (is Lancashire beer legal in Yorkshire?). I imagine in summer this village is a hellscape of tourists, but in the off season it feels much like it might have a hundred years ago … and I didn’t see any Harry Potter-related nonsense anywhere.
Fantastic photos of one of my favourite spots 🙂
It’s a beautiful area, I hadn’t been in years but well worth the effort.
Best to avoid Sundays – can get very busy 🙂