Looking Out From The Limestone Paving Above Malham Cove

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.