Gordale Scar

Beyond Janet's Foss (see yesterday) the route to Malham Cove branches off at Gordale Bridge, following the Dales Highway long distance path. Most people, however, make a detour further up the valley first, to see Gordale Scar, a deep limestone gorge with two waterfalls and overhanging limestone cliffs over 330 feet high. It's a pleasant walk, especially when the beck is flowing fast, as it was the day I was there. The water is really clear and has lovely turquoise and amber tints. 

The Gordale falls tumble down a huge drop. It looks relatively unimpressive in my photo (below), since there is nothing to give it scale. Sometimes there are visitors scrambling over the rocks but the beck was too full to allow that. If I say that about ten people standing on each other's shoulders might just reach from the base of main cascade, in the middle of the photo on the right, to the lip of the rock, that might help you visualise how big it is. 

Much of the rock around the falls is tufa: dissolved limestone precipitated out of the water onto the surrounding rocks. 

Backtracking down to the main path, I then climbed over to Malham Cove, where the Dales Highway and the Pennine Way briefly share the same route northwest before diverging again. 

The views from up here are stunning. A track leads down into the village of Malham, among the trees, with a sightline right over towards Pendle Hill in Lancashire, on the horizon.