Malham to Janet’s Foss and Goredale Scar

Start

Malham Village National Park Car Park Postcode BD23 4DA

Accessibility

Not suitable for wheelchairs – bumpy, muddy and numerous kissing gates

Flat most of the way but two rocky climbs (3 meters high) at Janet’s Foss

No stiles

No seating area but can sit on rocks at Janet’s Foss & Gordale Scar

Facilities

Toilets in car park at start and finish. Cafes in village

Distance

3 miles there and back.

Route & Map

Leave car park and turn left.
Follow the road into village, but just before the Buck Inn cross river on right by clapper bridge (behind Blacksmith).
Turn right after bridge and follow this path through two gates.
At second gate turn left (path takes you around a barn. Follow this through three more kissing gates until you enter Janet’s Wood. Follow this path all the way to Janet’s Foss waterfall (uneven in places).
Then walk along left side of waterfall (up a steep section) and onto road.
At road turn right for four hundred yards.
Walk beyond packhorse bridge to a gate signposted left to Gordale Scar. Go through gate and walk ½ mile to bottom of waterfalls.

Route Options

Return the way you came
Return to Malham via road (right out of path from Gordale Scar)
Carry on with walk 3 in reverse. (Right onto road, and at packhorse bridge go right up hill signposted Malham Cove.

Wild garlic – The powerful small of wild garlic (ramsons) can be found in Janet’s Wood from late spring onwards. A relative of chives the leaves of this plant have a strong taste and can be used in soups and stews.
Janet’s Foss – Foss is the old Norse word for a waterfall or force and Janet (or Jennet) was believed to be the queen of the fairies who lived in a cave behind the waterfall. The moss-covered tufa screen over which it falls, has grown as calcite and has been deposited to form the apron seen today. Across the stream there is a cave, which was inhabited by smelters working the copper mines at Pikedaw to the west. The pool below the waterfall was once used to wash sheep before shearing in late June. Washing encourages the growth of new wool which lifts the fleece from the skin. The sheep were driven to the pool and the men washing them would be up to their chests in water. Sacking and strong drink kept out the cold.
Gordale Scar is a dramatic limestone ravine containing two waterfalls with overhanging limestone cliffs over 100 metres high. The gorge was formed by water from melting glaciers. William Wordsworth wrote a sonnet about Gordale Scar; James Ward created a large and imaginative painting of it that can be seen in Tate Britain. J. M. W. Turner also painted a picture of it in 1816, also to be seen in Tate Britain.

info@peopleandthedales.org