Malham Walk – A Hip2trek adventure to Malham Tarn and Malham Cove

 

Our latest Hip2trek walking adventure was another visit to Malham but this time with a planned stop for hot chocolate and candy apples! We visited marvellous Malham about seven months ago and loved the walk we went on, but with a bit more walking experience behind us and my hips being better we wanted to go back and try a bigger walk this time going to Malham Tarn. The weather forecast wasn’t great so armed with hats, gloves and lots of layers we were prepared for a very chilly walk, and crikey it wasn’t wrong we were absolutely freezing. Last time we had arrived in Malham the day after a popular TV programme had been aired and were met with hordes of people and an overflowing car park. This time we had our pick of parking spaces but Hubby was a bit miffed the contactless payment at the parking machine was a little eager and took his payment twice! We weren’t off to a great start.
 
 
We retraced our steps along familiar footpaths and through kissing gates to Janet’s Foss still looking spectacular in the autumn the water was crystal clear. We have this really silly tradition of when coming to a kissing gate as we go through you ‘mwah’ to the person behind you. Anyone else do silly things like this? No….Oh just us then that are a bit bonkers! My eldest was sulking at this point so didn’t really want to take part. This time we didn’t visit Gordale Scar but took the path up the hill to the side of it and it was here last time that we had to take an easier path to cut the walk shorter due to my IT band problems. I was determined that this massive hill wouldn’t get the better of me and it would be a good test of my newly improved leg strength. The wind was so strong but we were well wrapped up and although we had a few stops on the way up we made it to the top. My eldest is like a mountain goat and was waiting for us at the top. From there we followed an obvious footpath which would eventually lead us to Malham tarn. We were walking right into the wind and I had tears streaming down my face and my youngest kept asking why were we doing this walk! We had promised that we would have hot chocolates as soon as we got back to the village and that kept us going. The scenery was lovely even though it was bitterly cold, and we could see the tarn in the distance.
 
 
From the tarn we followed a footpath which would take us through a very narrow gully and rocky limestone terrain. We knew the cove was about half a mile away but it felt like miles as we picked our way across the rocks. It was quite hard but the reward was a blast of sunshine and gleaming in the distance was the limestone pavements of Malham Cove. My Daughter last time had been terrified of the limestone pavement but this time she was so much more confident and we stopped and had a quick picnic on a natural bench like rock! We were so much quicker down the steep steps, me and my Son quite a bit in front and all the way down in the distance we could hear my Daughter chattering away. These steps are as close as I’m going to get to the ones I’ll meet in China so great training for my legs. Happily, my IT band had remained quiet and there was no pain or niggles, phew. I thought we still deserved hot chocolate so we made our way to The Buck Inn and we had hot chocolate, candy apples (well it was bonfire night!) and a warm by the fire. A great walk with lots of steep hills, I finally saw Malham tarn and there was a lovely treat at the end.
 
 
 
Do you play any silly games on your walks? Or do you have a walk you think we should try? All views are my own and I’ve received no incentive to write this.
Monkey and Mouse
Country Kids
#YorkshireFamily with Yorkshire Tots
17 comments Add yours
  1. Well done family! No way could I have gotten my pair to walk through that wind, hot chocolate or no hot chocolate. I am very impressed with your kids.. they’re definitely up for big walks! Malham looks like such a cool place to walk. Again, you got some fab photos! Thanks for linking up with #YorkshireFamily

  2. I have done this walk before in Malham, past Janet’s Foss. It is beautiful and something I definitely need to do again! x

    1. Hope you get to do the walk again Esther. We’ve done it a few times now and have enjoyed it in different seasons.

  3. Yep, we do kisses over the kissing gate too! Looks like a beautiful place, well worth the cold! #Whatevertheweather

  4. What a good job you were wrapped up warm, it was really cold at times last week and the wind was wicked when it came, but oh those views, so worth your efforts and sounds like your hips behaved really well. We always have to hold a kissing gate shut and demand a kiss before letting the next person through, all part of the fun on a country walk. I think the cold and all the steps definitely warranted the treats at the end.
    Thank you for sharing a lovely trek with me on #CountryKids

    1. Thanks Fiona, I hope to join in again and enjoyed reading the other posts too. I’m glad to hear other people have fun with the gates!

  5. It looks like a chilly walk! But at least there was a reward at the end! I’ve been to Malham Tarn for a uni course years ago and remember how windy the Tarn was when we were trying to find caddis fly larvae in it! My family and I also kiss at kissing gates, I like the tradition! Thanks for linking up to #Whatevertheweather x

    1. Oh wow hope you found them and were able to warm up in the pub afterwards! I’m glad there are other people doing the kissing gate tradition. Thanks for reading x

  6. This sounds like a lovely day and despite the temperature the weather looks great for this time of year. I love the fact your eldest is like a mountain goat! Lovely photos too.

    1. Ha ha! I don’t know if it’s just a boy thing but I can’t stop him leaping about. Thanks for reading.

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