Malham

The small village of Malham in the south of the Yorkshire dales is one of the primary tourist hot spots within the area. While there are no notable hills nearby the area contains several the most notable limestone features within the dales.

The most famous of these is perhaps Malham cove which is a massive limestone cove formed by a dry waterfall originally fed by glacial melt water. This must have been a truly spectacular sight while flowing and remains one today.

Above the cove, you can cross a spectacular limestone pavement, and then follow the dry valley where a river once flowed (part of the Pennine Way). Further up the valley towards Malham Tarn, the river still flows at ground level, so look out for the sink holes at the point where it now disappears into the ground (a short distance off the path and shown on the map).



Gordale scar is about 1.5 kilometers east of Malham cove and is a dramatic limestone canyon, thought to have formed when the roof of a cave collapsed. The scar can be traversed via a simple scramble to the left of the waterfall in the picture. Nonetheless, the route can be slippery, and particularly tricky in descent (despite which a hill-walking club from a well-known university down south has been known to lead novice walkers down Goredale Scar).



The scale within both of the above pictures can be seen from the people.

A final feature around Malham is it's tarn which is one of only two lakes of any size within the dales and much the nicest.

An additional nearby limestone outcropping is that of attermire scar which is nearer to Settle and is an impressive set of limestone cliffs.