Captain's Log

Malham Tarn

Rain had accompanied us on our drive from Hawes towards Horton-in-Ribblesdale. This continued as we climbed up the single track road towards Malham Tarn. At just under 400m above sea level, Malham Tarn does tend to catch any low level weather systems. I was surprised how windy and chilly it was as we kitted up at the Malham Tarn carpark. Another typical summer’s day: rain and a cold wind.    

Today’s walk would explore the area between Malham Tarn and the village of Arncliffe in the valley of Littondale. This would be a high level area full of limestone tops, scars and pavements. I’d not walked around this area before and so was interested to see what it was like. The Kapitan, Cabin Boy and Ted would be joining me, although they were a little disappointed to learn that there wouldn’t be any Dales 30 ticks on this particular walk.    

We couldn’t actually see Malham Tarn from the Malham Tarn carpark. It was hidden behind slightly higher level ground to the north. We’d get a good view of it at the end of the walk though. Our walk started by heading west along the single track road.  

Erratic

On the way to Gordale Beck, I found a laminated OS map that somebody had dropped. They had marked out the route of a 3 day trip on the map. Somebody’s adventure had been ruined. I placed the map in the stone wall at the next stile in case the owner decided to retrace his steps to find it. There was a metal cabin at Gordale Beck that obviously contained a generator that was clattering away. Presumably it was pumping water although I couldn’t see any pipes in the area. The OS map does indicate a pumping house further down the beck towards Gordale Scar. Maybe the pump has been moved further upstream since the map was created. 

The weather deteriorated as we gained height. It was a drizzly and murky day. Even so we could still see Flasby Fell near Gargrave. It was just over a month now since I’d walked there as I headed south on the Pennine Way (see Captain’s Log, Pennine Way SoBo). An odd structure appeared on the top of the hill to our right. It looked like a tall rock with another rock perched on top of it. We headed off our route to have a closer look and sure enough, that is exactly what it was. The hill was Lee Gate High Mark and the rock balancing was an erratic left by the retreating ice from the last ice age. It was quite impressive, the shape of the Kapitan's body, but with a larger head. I looked around for other erratics, but this seemed to be the only one. 

Cote Gill

The rain started again as we reached the highest point and continued as we descended towards the Littondale valley. Our route took us past the impressive Cote Gill where there was a waterfall with a large drop on its main beck. There were also a couple of other waterfalls tumbling down the side of the gill on Scar Bank on the side of the gill. We met two large groups of female Duke of Edinburgher as we continued our descent. The ones at the front looked happy and smiley; the others at the back, grumpy and miserable. In other words, pretty much like my team. The weather started to get better as we got lower until it was positively sunny as we reached the bottom of the valley. We reached the tarmac of the road running along the Littondale valley and we started walking along it towards Arncliffe. 

Arncliffe

The road was a bit busier than I was expecting, but it was safe enough. There were nice views of the hills on either side of the valley. Curlews circled us as we made our way along the road. A couple of them landed on the ridge tiles of a barn and inspected us as we walked by. Arncliffe turned out to be a pretty little village based around a rectangular village green that was ablaze with buttercups. There were a couple of patio tables on the green in front of The Falcon Inn. The pub wasn’t open and so we made use of one to have our lunch.  

At the side of the inn was a small building that had a ‘Telephone Exchange’ sign above it. I wondered whether ‘telephone exchanges’ really did exist given today’s technology. A country lane meandered out of the village and headed steeply uphill. We started our main climb of the day. 

Monk's Road

Our path climbed steeply up to the top of the scar above Cowside Beck that ran along the bottom of the valley. There was also an excellent view as we looked back towards Arncliffe and the Littondale valley. We were walking along the Monk’s Road, named after the holy officials who used the path to access their lands in the area. It turned out to be a delightful grassy path with a view of Fountains Fell opening up at the head of the valley. There were a few cows and their youngsters along the route, but they weren’t interested in us. The route was so enjoyable, I was disappointed when the path diverted away from the edge and started heading through the limestone outcrops of the surrounding hillocks. 

Eventually we reached the impressive scar of Scab Hill. Before reaching Middle House Farm, the Monk’s Road branched to the right and headed towards Malham Tarn. There was a small climb to endure before we reached its summit and could see the large expanse of Malham Tarn below us. We started the descent to its lake side. 

Malham Tarn

The weather was very pleasant now with sunshine and blue skies. We were back on the Pennine Way again and we plodded its route southwards. We left the tarn behind and before long we were back at the carpark. 

Despite the poor weather in the morning, the day had turned out to be excellent. The views had been far better than I expected. The Littondale valley was quite interesting and certainly worthy of further exploration at a later date. Although they’d not ticked any Dales 30 peaks the Kapitan, Cabin Boy and Ted seemed happy enough.