and i want to tell everyone about it!!
i stayed in a converted barn in the village of Bell Busk, 4 miles from Malham and just off the A65 halfway between Skipton and Settle.
i booked our cottage with welcome cottages, http://www.welcomecottages.com/welu_homepage.html a company i've used a few times now and to date have not been disappointed.
the cottage was everything i could imagine. being a townie it was very strange being surrounded by........nothing!!
the cottage had three bedrooms, one of which had a four poster bed! and two bathrooms. cows, sheep and horses were in the fields around us!
this was a walking holiday and with Malham cove only up the road from our cottage this was a must walk. once there, there were 400+ steps to climb to the top of the cove but well worth it. from here we walked to gordale scar then onto janets floss. it was a round walk which covered 5 miles.
us at the bottom
and the view from the top.
we also decided to do the Ingleton waterfalls walk. we had to pay here but at £7 that wasn't too bad. i did find this the most boring walk we did. even though the waterfalls were great, it was a manmade path all the way round and consisted of going up and down plenty of steps!! but it was another round 5 mile walk.
Thornton force waterfall.
we decided to drive out to Hawes which was further than i expected. it took nearly 3/4's hour to get there. the village was lovely and had plenty of little shops for the girls to spend their money in. from here we did a 5 mile round walk up to hardrow force waterfall. the girls liked this walk the best, especially the bit where i had to climb over a stepping stone wall!! ( you did have to pay to see this waterfall. it cost about £6 for the four of us)
i was a bit disappointed that hawes was so far away. i had planed to go and walk around great shunner fell but there wasn't time. we did drive up there though and visited buttertubs pass. that will be a walk for another holiday.
a gentle walk we did was from grassington to linton along the river. it was just over 6 miles but a very gentle pleasant walk. it was a shame that the weather was rather cold as the girls could have paddled here.
we did spend half a day in skipton which for us was a brilliant town. where i live we get everything from a supermarket and to walk into a butchers, bakers, sweet shop and pie shop were quite a novelty!!
the other half of the day was spent at the White Scar caves near Ingleton. it cost £20 for the four of us to go in but was well worth it. i've been in lots of show caves and this rates as one of the best, if the best!
on our last full day we wanted to walk up whernside at Ingleton, one of the three peaks. we last did this back in 1989 and i wanted to climb it with my daughter. its over 2500 ft and the walk was well over 7 1/2 miles! you start your walk at the ribbleshead viaduct one of my favorite bridges. unfortunatly the weather was appaulling on this day, one minute it was sunny and the next it was belting it down. we had rain, strong wind
and then as we got near the top low cloud. it was pretty scary. but we made it. unfortunatly it was disappointing because once at the top we couldn't see anything due to the low cloud but doing the walk was an acheivement!!
the viaduct with whernside in the distance
nearly at the top and the clouds start to get lower!!
It was a truely wonderful holiday, the first walking holiday we have done since having my daughter 15 years ago. we all enjoyed it and can't wait to return next year.
dorothy medot.xx
- nearly fell off with the shock. 
but seems you had a good time anyway 
