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Total Distance: 10 Miles
Highest Point: 1330 Feet
Total Realistic Time: ~5 Hours

Click on the image below for the full walk preview video:

Malham is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Before 20th century boundary changes, the village was part of the Settle Rural District, in the historic West Riding of Yorkshire.  In the Domesday Book, the name is given as Malgun, meaning “settlement by the gravelly places”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malham

Second hike after lock down we organised to go and see the Harry Potter stones in Malham.

Parked at Yorkshire Dales Car Park in Malham £4.50 all day which was reasonable as it had facilities available pretty much all day.

We went on a Saturday morning starting at 10:30am, any later we would have had a problem parking as it got very busy.

We were able to park all three of our cars in one coach parking area, due to social distancing measures still in place, no coaches were due.

From the car park we headed towards a small waterfall where you are able to have a little paddle, good for the dogs to cool down called Janet’s Foss, very pretty.

From Janet’s Foss we headed towards Gordale Scar:

You get to Gordale Scar where there is a little climb up a lovely waterfall.  A lot of people gather for the view and a few risk climbing up to continue to Malham Tarn the short way round. We decided to go for the challenge and climb up it, looks very hard from the bottom, but there is a good route to get up it with very good grip holds on the rocks to pull yourself up each small section. Once over the first big rock, it is not too bad at the top, a bit wet with the waterfall, however nice and cool.  The weather was sunny, so that helped too. Recommended to have waterproof boots or shoes, you do get slightly wet, but it is very refreshing and clean.

Recommended to also check that you have your water bottles secured on your bag, my sister dropped her water bottle and it went bobbing along the waterfall for a bit, however our brother managed to somehow retrieve it back.  Well done, refreshment saved.

There is a nice path much of the route. Many different routes you can take to get to Malham Tarn. We took a quieter route to try and keep to social distancing, as the main route got quite busy.

From Malham Tarn we headed in the direction to the main attraction, Malham Cove and the stone steps which featured in one of the Harry Potter films, The Deathly Hallows.

Lovely scenery towards Malham Cove:

The stone steps are at the top of Malham Cove, you can view the cove down below.  Looks very surreal, if you have seen the Harry Potter film it looks amazing. Between the stone steps there are big gaps, so make sure you keep all your belongings/phones/cameras safe, does not look easy to retrieve anything down these gaps.

Click on the photo below or link to see video view:

You walk across the stone steps to the other side which takes you down to the cove.  Big steps leading down to the cove.

Once you get to the cove, there are some nice picnic spots before it.  Climbers are sometimes seen climbing the cove, some over hangs of the cove.

There is a small path to part of the ledge on the cove, first you need to cross a small stream to the right.  You get a good view from there too.

After we spent a little time at the cove, it is only about a mile on a path before you get back to the starting point in Malham.

Near the car park, there is a lovely snack bar called The Old Barn, they were serving butties, tea, coffee, ice cream.  Fully recommend it, they were so friendly too.  We had a bacon butty, cup of tea and also an ice cream after that for a well deserved break before we all went our separate ways back home.  Great end to the day.

GENERAL EQUIPMENT

• Apple iPhone XS (for use of OS apps for lazy mapping and photos/videos)
• OS Maps app (premium version – I use for following the route)
• Comfy walking shoes (most important)
• Extra socks (keep the feet happy when needed)
• Waterproof Jacket (always a must, the weather changes alot in the hills/mountains)
• Long sleeve and/or short sleeve (for layering)
• Neck scarf (extra warmth and protection if needed)
• Woolly hat (keep your head and particularly my ears warm)
• Gloves (if scrambling is required)
• 2 litres of water
• Flask with Hot drink (a good cuppa is always welcome)
• ibuprofen (helping hand if you have any aches and pains)
• Food and snacks (fuel to keep you going)