#itinerarycheck Started at Malham village car park (BD23 4DA, £5.50 all day, card at the machine, toilets at the National Park centre). The loop I ran was Malham → Janet's Foss → Gordale Scar → scramble out of the gorge → Malham Tarn side → limestone pavement above Malham Cove → down the cliff steps → village. Total 10.5 km, 3h40 moving, 390 m climb.
Janet's Foss is a 10-minute woodland detour and worth it for the pool alone. Gordale Scar is the meat: a 100 m limestone amphitheatre with a waterfall and a 5 m polished scramble straight up the gully. If it has rained in the last 48 hours, skip the scramble — the alternate Dales High Way line goes left before the campsite, up a field to the road, adds 20 minutes but saves you a dislocated ankle. I did the scramble dry and it was moderate; my mate did it after rain and slid two metres before catching a hold.
The limestone pavement on top of Malham Cove is the part that wrecks people's knees — clints and grikes, uneven as a broken floor, and the cliff-edge steps down are steep with a rope handrail on one side only. Harry Potterfans will recognise the cove from Deathly Hallows but the real reward is standing on the pavement at 17:00 when the sun rakes sideways and every grike throws a shadow.
Bus 210/211 from Skipton works weekdays, seasonal 75 on weekends. Bring £10–15 for the Lister Arms pint and a pie after. OS Explorer OL21is the map; phone signal dies in the gorge.
Would you classify Gordale Scar as a scramble or a climb? I say scramble-with-consequences. Where do you draw the line?