But first things first, before I tell you about my lovely last Sunday wandering I need to share my achievement of this Saturday before I burst with excitement! I’m definitely getting ‘Faster at Fifty’! Dragging myself out with running club on what is normally a wet and windy 7 miler on Tuesday nights is starting to pay off. I went to my first Park Run since October (the week after the thorn in the shoe incident) and not only did I knock another 30 seconds of at 26 minutes 39 seconds and get a new personal best, I came first place in the over 50’s ladies category (and yes, there was more than one running if that’s what you are thinking!), there were five. According to Strava, I achieved five ‘best efforts’ including my fastest mile at 8:04. I know 8:04 is not like lightening, but for the girl who hid down the ditch in school cross country and has eaten half her body weight in mince pies over Christmas that’s good and I’m going to blow my own trumpet while I can because it’s unlikely to ever happen again!
Onto last Sunday. Well, what a glorious day! Wall to wall blue sky and sunshine. Ok, freezing cold still, but just the perfect day for a long walk of just over 10 miles. I’m still a little bit tired from my Christmas running efforts but last Sunday was just too good an opportunity to miss a little adventure and explore.
I was also desperate to try out my Christmas presents from being on Father Christmas’s ‘nice’ list, my new down coat and bobble hat! I’ve had a bit of an accident with my old down coat and I do lots of outdoor adventuring so decided it was time for a new one. The old one needed a wash and although I’ve followed the instructions and washed it in the right stuff it’s done that thing where all the down clumps together and it’s just not warm anymore. No matter how many times I put it in the dryer it just won’t puff up again. And, as for the bobble hat, they are like Christmas tree baubles, you can never have too many. I have a reputation for being cold all the time, I am truly not made for a British climate which is why I think I like to travel a lot, I need warm and sunshine! I am very rarely seen outside between October and March without one of my infamous bobble hats on from my ever-growing collection. A new bobble hat is always a safe Christmas present for me.
Sunday saw me go to the beautiful village of Malham in North Yorkshire for a long walk, taking in Janet’s Foss waterfall, Gordale Scar, Malham Tarn and Malham Cove. I love it up there and it’s a couple of years since I’ve been to this side of the county, being a South Yorkshire girl. So here we go on a little tour around this part of Yorkshire.
I like this walk because it sets off from the beautiful village of Malham where there are two lovely pubs and a selection of cafes. There is also lots of water alongside the route and I love being beside water. The village is well known for its natural limestone pavement and other geological limestone formations.
The first part of the walk sees you walking alongside the beautiful Malham and Gordale becks until you reach the quite spectacular Janet’s Foss waterfall. It is a small waterfall but in the most magical setting in the middle of a wood. The water tumbles over a limestone outcrop into a really deep pool. In the summer it would be ideal for a dip but much too cold on this day. It really is a magical place and legend has it that Jennet the queen of fairies lives in a cave at the back of the waterfall, hence the name of the waterfall, ‘Janet’s Foss’, with Janet being a derivative of Jennet and Foss being from the old Norse language for waterfall. In days gone by the pool under the waterfall was used as a natural sheep dip.
The walk then takes you across meadowland to the quite spectacular Gordale Scar. This is a hidden gorge over 330 feet high and includes two waterfalls. There are a couple of theories for its creation, either water from melting glaciers or a cavern collapse. The right of way is actually straight up the middle of the scar but involves climbing up 10 metres of unprotected tufa limestone directly over the lower waterfall. It is a favourite of local scramblers and it will be no surprise to anyone that last time I came I did just that and scrambled straight up the middle of the waterfall and gorge, telling my mother after I’d done it, not before! However, with the torrent of water coming down today following lots of heavy rain, my still tired running legs and still being a bit precious about my new hat and coat I decided that today was a bit too risky to attempt it and took the long route around.
Then it was a glorious climb over the hills and meadows and time to get the flask out for a cuppa at the side of the river. The scenery in this part of Yorkshire is just jaw dropping on a day like this, a never-ending landscape of rolling green hills and vast blue skies.
The path just goes up and up until you reach the large limestone pavement of Malham Cove which was full of climbers on Sunday. After around two miles you come to Malham Tarn, a glacial lake. At 377 metres above sea level this is the highest marl lake in England and is one of only eight upland alkaline lakes in Europe. The tarn is a designated protected nature reserve and a site of special scientific interest and is home to lots of unusual flowers and fauna in addition to various birds, animals and fish. The site was the inspiration for the 1863 Charles Kingsley novel ‘The Water Babies’. On a day like Sunday, it is quite a sight.
Time for my picnic, sat on a bench at the side of the hare sculpture, and then the return 5 mile walk. The return walk was just as beautiful as the way up to the tarn. You take a slightly different route back and have full view of the setting sun. I think I captured what is probably my favourite picture of the day on the way back. It looks almost like an Ashley Jackson landscape painting rather than a mobile phone photograph. The shafts of the last bit of sunlight were piercing the clouds and lighting up the limestone pavement and in the middle of the skyline was the skeleton of a lonesome bare tree. The photograph probably does not do it justice but it was one of those moments where you just have to sit and rest a while to take it all in.
Another lovely day of wandering!