England
Gordale Scar
Limestone walls close to arm's width as a waterfall thunders through the crack.
The limestone walls narrow until they almost touch above your head, and from the crack between them a waterfall thunders into a plunge pool that blocks the only way forward. Gordale Scar in the Yorkshire Dales is a ravine so dramatic that James Ward's 1812 painting of it had to exaggerate nothing.
Gordale Scar was formed by meltwater from glaciers cutting through the Great Scar Limestone, creating overhanging cliffs that reach 100 metres at their highest point. The scar's two-tiered waterfall is climbable — a scramble up the left side of the tufa cascade that most walkers attempt in dry conditions. The approach from Malham village follows a flat meadow path before the valley narrows abruptly, the cliffs rising without warning. Janet's Foss, a smaller waterfall in a fairy-tale woodland setting, lies on the path between Malham and the scar. The circular walk connecting Malham Cove, Gordale Scar, and the limestone pavement above forms one of the finest short walks in the Dales — three distinct geological features in four miles. Ward's painting, commissioned by Lord Ribblesdale, hangs in the Tate and captures the vertiginous enclosure that photographs struggle to convey.
Solo
The scar's enclosing walls create a silence that the waterfall fills completely. Scramble the cascade alone and the focus narrows to rock, water, and the next handhold — the Dales at their most concentrated.
Friends
The scramble up the waterfall is the kind of challenge that groups remember. Navigate the wet rock together, regroup above the scar, and walk the limestone pavement to Malham Cove for a finish that matches the start.
- The limestone walls narrow to arm's width as a waterfall thunders into the gorge — the sense of being swallowed by the Earth is visceral.
- The scramble up the tufa waterfall is the only way through — a test of nerve on slippery rock that deposits you in quiet pasture above.
- James Ward's 1812 painting of the scar hangs in the Tate — nine feet wide and still not big enough to capture the scale.
- The walk from Malham village passes through Janet's Foss first — a fairy grotto that couldn't be more different from the violence of the scar.
Wensleydale cheese crumbled over beetroot at the Lister Arms in Malham village.
Lamb hotpot simmered slow in a Dales pub with flagstone floors and a log fire.
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