Gordale Scar and Malham Cove

Yorkshire was my home for almost four years. Nicknamed "God's own county", Yorkshire has some stunning landscapes on offer. It has become better known this year, being number three on Lonely Planet's top regions to visit in 2014 and successfully hosting the start of the Tour de France. Still, Yorkshire is a disgracefully empty spot on the Hikr map. A visit to friends in Leeds gave me the opportunity to remedy this by presenting one of Yorkshire's classic hikes here.

----

Malham is a small village in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It's best known for Malcam Cove, a 100m tall limestone cliff. Our hike will end there, but first loops around Janet's Foss, Gordale Scar and Malham Tarn.

Janet's Foss is a small waterfall in some idyllic woods. According to legend, a fairy named Janet lived in a nearby cave. There's also an interesting money tree in the woods. In fact there are a few such trees in the area, but this one is perhaps the most famous. Allegedly, hammering a coin into the trunk of a fallen tree is supposed to bring good luck.

Getting out of the woods, the dramatic ravine of Gordale Scar appears. You can venture into the ravine until you reach a waterfall. This seems to completely block the way, but in fact the spur in the middle of the waterfall provides plenty of good holds and you can scramble up surprisingly easily. Depending on how much water is coming down, things can get quite wet. In fact, even getting to the foot of the waterfall is a real test of how waterproof your boots are. Also while scrambling, take extra care on the wet rocks. A rope can be useful for children or less experienced hikers. Or for dogs, which the people ahead of us prove is possible, though perhaps not entirely advisable... Reaching the top of the spur, you cross to the left and continue going up in a dramatic environment. Soon you reach a plateau, where all difficulties are over.

Rather than heading directly for Malham Cove, we decide to loop around Malham Tarn. This is a nice extension to the hike, but with the downside that to the west of the lake you have to do a stretch over a small tarmac road.

We then head back south towards Malham, soon reaching the limestone pavement on top of the iconic cliffs of Malham Cove. The polished and wet limestone is particularly slippery, so we don't venture too close to the edge of the cliffs. A well maintained path goes down to the bottom of the cliffs, where you can usually see daring climbers somewhere up in the wall.

Back in Malham, we of course end up with a pint of ale in the local pub, the obligatory end to any hike in the UK.

----

The British countryside is where I really discovered my love for hiking and this report should hopefully illustrate why. The total ascent of 250m might seem tame, but the landscapes certainly aren't. Yorkshire's rolling hills hide some wild spots like Gordale Scar where you can even get a real taste of alpine hiking.

Difficulty on the SAC hiking scale: the grade of T4 for this route is limited to the ascent through Gordale Scar, which involves some grade I climbing on wet rock. There is some T2 around the top of Malham Cove, otherwise everything is T1.