Spectacular waterfalls cut through the rock everywhere in the Dales as water races its way down the hillside to the rivers below.
The magical Malham Cove which appeared in a scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Malham Cove is a huge natural limestone cliff which seems to have once been a spectacular prehistoric waterfall.
While the landscape certainly looks like it could have been created by magic, the truth to its formation is still pretty incredible.
During the last Ice Age the whole area was covered by ice. The ice scoured away the soil and weaker surface rocks leaving a broad expanse of exposed limestone.
We found it an awesome site & hike but don’t just take our word for it, Yorkshire’s “Harry Potter hike”, including Malham Cove and Gordale Scar, is voted best hike in the UK. It was also rated four out of five for difficulty – meaning it is a route for more regular ramblers. Malhamdale is a popular spot for walkers in Yorkshire and now a not-so-best-kept-secret…
At the top of the cove is a weird and wonderful limestone pavement – which provides a wonderful viewpoint over Malham and Malhamdale – and is one of the most impressive natural features in Yorkshire, and a highlight of the Pennine Way.
A lunar landscape, brain tissue, a giant’s molars…as you pick your way across the pavement take a moment to consider what a bizarre landscape this is! No surprise then that it was considered an ideal location for the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I. Malham Cove is where wizards Harry and Hermione camp out whilst trying to evade and defeat the evil Lord Voldemort.
Gazing up at the sheer sides of the cove, you can get a sense of the scale and grandeur of this crescent-shaped sweep of cliff face. Wordsworth wrote a sonnet about Malham Cove that captures something of the awe of seeing it in person:
“When giants scooped from out the rocky ground
Tier under tier, this semicirque profound…”
Not dry waterfalls at all: Aysgarth falls and the nearby Ingleton Waterfalls trail.
Aysgarth Falls are a triple flight of waterfalls, carved out by the River Ure over an almost one-mile stretch on its descent to mid-Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales of England. The falls are at their best after heavy rainfall as hundreds of thousands of liters of water cascade over the series of broad limestone steps, which are divided into three stages: Upper Force, Middle Force and Lower Force.
Ingleton Waterfalls Trail, a circular trail beginning and ending in the village of Ingleton, now maintained by the Ingleton Scenery Company. The trail, some 5 miles long, and with a vertical rise of 169 m (554 feet) has very nice waterfalls. It is on private land and an entrance fee is charged.
Set in stone.
The natural spectacle of Brimham Rocks, with its giant rock formations, was created by an immense river 100 million years before the first dinosaurs walked the earth, and a visit to this amazing landscape is truly a journey into pre-history.
The rocks, sculpted by 320 million years of movement of entire continents as well as hundreds of thousands of years of ice, rain and wind, have taken on weird and wonderful shapes.
This is another awesome National Trust property. But avoid visiting this place in the weekend and/or during school holidays if you want to enjoy to the fullest the unbelievable views and shoot some amazing photos. We made the mistake of stopping there on a Saturday and the whole place was alive with decibel producing, loudly shrieking kids…so if you don’t want to be tempted to shove one of the little pests over the edge…
This was the third and final installment based on our trip to the Yorkshire Dales. Next trip? who knows, watch this space.
