I enjoy walking, especially through a garden or in the countryside, but words (as so often) matter: you’ll find me less keen to set out if the journey might best be described as a climb or hike. So it took my sister (for whom hills are little more than hiccups) several seasons to get my sweetheart and me to accompany her to this point, where we could look out over the edge of a broad expanse of limestone pavement above Malham Cove in Yorkshire. Thanks little sis – it was fun and you know I’d never have done it without you!
You might recognise the pavement from scenes in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if you’re a fan. I was fascinated by the pavement itself: its deep cracks and the odd bits of ferns and wild flowers that somehow have a foothold on life within it.
If the first view gives you a slightly giddy feeling, you might prefer to look from this more gentle slope, taken on the way down towards the village and my belated ice-cream reward. I ought to confess that my sweetheart tells me that there is ice-cream van at the top of any mountain he wants me to climb and I typically believe him, having once happened upon one on a seemingly remote hillside. If your friends and family try to tell you the same, do not believe them without photographic evidence – there usually isn’t.
Susan Rushton 
Love that place. So glad your sister forced you there.
Yes, I have a good deal to be grateful for in the sister department.
We visited Malham Cove when we were in the UK a few years ago and the scenery around there was lovely and the limestone pavement amazing!
It amply repays the climb, doesn’t it?
Yes, absolutely!
Beautiful. But lying about ice cream?! That’s just not on 😂
I know. I blame myself for falling for it.
😂
Looks very much like a place I would love to walk!
You only get a hint of the limestone pavement here but it’s fascinating to be able to walk over it. I imagine in wet, windy weather I’d have been less willing to approach the edge!
Beautiful! I love that first shot – a plunge down and then an inviting path simply dragging us into the picture
I’m glad you liked it, Debbie. Thanks very much for the prompt and for hosting.
Enchanted. ❤
Thank you 🙂
Beautiful shots. What stunning views.
Thanks, Su.
I stayed with that upper image a long time. Both are lovely, but that first one has a mystery about it — perhaps it is that “inviting path” Debbie comments on. It is a wonderful photo. Both are very helpful, though: sometime this past year, someone someplace (nothing wrong with my memory) mentioned W.H. Auden, and I had to look up his poetry, and that led me to “In Praise of Limestone.” I couldn’t picture a setting, and now I can. Thank you!
My pleasure. I had that in mind too when posting this.
I love Malham Cove. My best friend from school lives very near and so we try to hop across when we can. Your photo is beautiful, and does it justice.
Thank you! I think I’m a convert!
I am crazy about this countryside. Just incredibly beautiful and mysterious. Someday, perhaps.
We typically see places as a snapshot in time – our time – but the craggy limestone pavement gives a feeling of continuity. You don’t just visualise the past, wondering how the rock came to be fractured and shaped, but you seem to see the future in the places that will erode and fall.