Malham Cove

The cove is a cliff of Great Scar limestone about eighty metres high and three hundred wide, curved like an amphitheatre, formed along the Mid-Craven Fault and cut back by meltwater at the end of the last glaciation. Above it lies one of the best limestone pavements in Britain, blocks called clints separated by deep fissures called grykes, in which ferns and rare lime-loving plants grow sheltered from grazing. A large waterfall once fell over the lip and has not flowed in normal conditions for centuries; it ran briefly in December 2015 during Storm Desmond and again in 2020, when it briefly became the highest waterfall in England. Peregrines nest on the face and the RSPB runs a seasonal watchpoint. The pavement was used as a filming location in a Harry Potter film.

What you actually see

• The eighty-metre curved face - a limestone amphitheatre on the Craven Fault.
• The limestone pavement - clints and grykes with rare plants in the fissures.
• The peregrine watchpoint - RSPB telescopes on the nesting face in season.
• The dry waterfall lip - where water fell in 2015 for the first time in centuries.

When to go

April to October; peregrines are watched from April to July. The pavement is slippery and genuinely dangerous when wet or frosted, so dry days are much safer for walking on it.

Honest expectations

The four hundred steps up the side of the cove are steep and uneven. The pavement's grykes are deep enough to break a leg and are hidden by vegetation in summer. Malham village parking fills early on weekends and the walk in is on a busy path.

Nearby

Gordale Scar and Janet's Foss are a short walk; Settle and the Ribble valley lie west.