Malham Cove and Janets Foss

Let me take you on a little adventure! Setting the scene: 8 AM, 11th of April, locking up the house and heading for some travel snacks before we hit the road for the two-hour drive to Malham, it was a gorgeous morning! The weather was holding out, and my friends and I were in good spirits, being very typical with our Starbucks in one hand and a croissant in the other! We arrived at the car park for the route in Malham at around 10 AM. I'd definitely recommend arriving at a similar time, as it was already filling up very quickly when we pulled in. We paid for the parking, used the on-site facilities before we set off, and pulled up the 12K circular live on AllTrails. Before we went for this walk, quite a few people advised us to do the route backwards, so the final reward was seeing Janet's foss and the gorgeous waterfall there. Being me, however, I decided to ignore all the advice and head down the track to Janet's Foss. It's a lovely route to Start! The land is flat, and you follow a paved track towards the woodland. There are hills around, but no indication that we were heading up any. Now, I'm originally from Barnsley, so I am familiar with a hill or two. My friends, Hayley and Jess, are Hull-born and raised, so it's safe to say they weren't as comfortable with what was to come. At this point in the trip, Hayley even said, "I don't know why everyone kept saying this was a Hike, this is lovely!" Which, in hindsight, was a rather amusing, and I didn't quite have the heart to tell her about the elevation to come!

Janets foss

After the initial paved trail, we started heading into the woodland, and it was an absolute dream. I was completely in my element, essentially a human labrador, I just love being outside. The rays of sunshine breaking through the trees were absolutely stunning, and I was so glad we got to experience this part of the walk with the sun (More on that later).

The greenery contrasting with that beautiful blue sky was so peaceful. At this point, with it being still relatively early, we didn't have many bump-ins with others out on the trail, which was to quickly change once Janet's foss came into view. This part of the trail is still relatively accessible, and we were in the company of families with little ones in prams and lots of dogs, which was lovely to see. Getting around to the waterfall is very easy, and there isn't actually too much need for the map. To be completely honest, it's a very straightforward trail, and you just need to follow the path.

After that, you break out into a small alcove, where the absolutely stunning beauty of Janet's foss is laid out in front of you in all its glory!

Many people were standing around the fall and even more so sat around and having picnics to the beautiful sound of running water. I honestly dont think I could put into words how tranquil and relaxing it was! We stopped here for a good half hour, soaking in the stunning view. If it were a little warmer, we would have definitely taken a dip!

Malham Cove

We eventually pulled ourselved away from the waterfall to start our journey to Malham Cove, there was a little bit of an incline here, and I'd consider this point no longer accessable to all, there are some rather steep steps and its quite rocky, we had to pause a couple of times to let other groups pass down so we could continue going up, it wasnt an overly steep or long incline and we were back on flat ground before long. There is a little portion here where you walk on the road, but come across a refreshment van and some benches if you need to take a pause.

There is then a small gate to go through before you head out into the field leading to Malham Cove; this is where I definitely recommend you follow the path all the way around; don't turn back to continue on with the route just yet! If you continue around the large curved limestone formation, you come across another hidden water feature. It's really windy in this area as a forewarning, and I had to pull the earmuffs out! It's said that the crags of the formation were formed by a waterfall carrying meltwater from glaciers during the last ice age. It's a very rich piece of natural history, and the whole area was a wonder to look at! There are lots of warnings around to keep an eye out for falling debris and lots of lost rocks along the path so be careful!

Malham Cove Top

We were finally on our way on the incline, this is where the walk starts to get a little trickier, pace yourself as it's a steady incline up towards the top of the cliffs, and be aware it's a very uneven surface so be careful of your footing heading up and when you're on the top, to be honest. The Limescale formations are a little bit wobbly, so it was a bit of a game figuring out where to stand! This iconic bit of landscape may be familiar to you... Any Harry Potter fans out there? You might recognise the rocks from The Deathly Hallows, where the main trio took up camp! It was also up here on the top where we paused for lunch, the abundance of rocks made it very easy to find a natural chair to perch and eat, we sat over looking Malham, it was beautiful, breathtaking even. There is actually a shorter version of this route where you can now follow a path leading back to the starting point of the trail, which, given the storm we could see rolling in at this point, explained why we saw so many crowds of people dispersing!

The Remaining Route

So here is where it gets a little tricky, after leaving the cliff top, the storm started, and I really wish it was just rain. Oh no, we were pelted with Rain, Snow, Hail and WIND! This left the ground very wet, and we had to be extremely careful on the craggy rocks leading away from the cliff's edge. We didn't see any people up this way, and no surprise! Because this is where it gets harder, and the weather certainly didn't help! We kept on the incline, we were freezing, we were wet, we had our raincoats, but certainly weren't expecting such an onslaught of bad weather! The snow felt like it was breaking skin; it was so chilly. Morale was low, we screamed into the wind; it was a real challenge. But, like all things, this too came to pass, the storm moved on, and all we had left to tackle was the steep decline to get us back to the car; we may have had a few trips and falls down on the wet grass! Thankfully, the public toilets were still open when we made our return to the car park at 6 pm, most of the cars had cleared, and all we had left to do was sit in the warmth of the car heaters as we travelled back home.

All in all, this was my favourite day of the year so far! It was so nice being out with friends, completing a challenge and going home with the greatest sense of fulfilment. I would definitely recommend this route!