Attermire, Rye Loaf Hill, Malham Cove and stuff

[mike knipe]

Me and superdingo met my brother (R Kid) in Settle this morning and went and did this walk.   The Attermire bit was really a bit of nostalgia - its an area we once scared ourselves in 30-odd years ago - I still have a pic of the bruvver popping over the top of  a crag looking quite worried....
Anyway, from the middle of Settle, we went up Constitution Hill and joined the Pennine Bridleway for a short distance then steeply up over a col to enter the great corrie containing Attermire Scar. This is a fine limestone playground for walkers, scramblers and rock climbers - and there's a bit of easy caving as well.
We passed by the ruins of a WW2 target - showing signs of being hit by anti-tank shells (poke around in the scree just behind the target to find lots of bits of mangled lead) - then up steeply to a little airy travers leading to Attermire cave - quite scary, specially with a dog on a lead. Another slit of a cave at the foot of the crag appeared to be decorated with bits of old nesting material and remains of ex-pigeons.
Then, returning to less precipitous places, we headed towards Malham and climbed Rye Loaf Hill - a little gritstone top with a fab lunchtime view towards Pendle, Airedale, Bowland and the Lakes.
After a lazy lunch in the sun, we headed for the fleshpots of Malham - in particular The Buck Inn for an hour or so - then up by Malham Cove to watch the climbers and watch the bird watchers watching the birds (peregrines) and watch the birds watching the bird watchers. My watch said it was late - so we  climbed the steep PW path to Watlowes and then found the road to Langcliffe - and this back to Settle. (This road is unsurfaced and, until recently was used by 4WD vehicles - quite legally, as it is, in fact categorised as a public road, not a path or bridleway - but they usually got stuck and made a mess. So now they're banned and the road sports a new surface not wide enough for a car - so progress is fast and easy - if a bit dull, to be fair...)
fab weather, good beer, nice crisps, good views, nice egg and tomato butty and Bruno thought it was fab too.
15 miles and 2700 feet of uphill.

[blue]

thanks mike, brought back some lovely memories of a similar walk i did a few years ago.

[Dave Wood]

Hi Mike. Did a similar circular route early last year after a dusting of snow. From Malham we went to Gordale Scar and then over to Malham Cove and Malham Tarn then followed the minor road to Capon Hall and picked up a path over moorland to Jubilee Cave and back to the flesh pots of Settle. Had some nice photo's but it appears I have deleted them accidentally from my computer. Lovely area. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[mike knipe]

Thanks lads - it is a cracking area isnt it - lots of variations of the same/similar walk can be done - if we'd had more time/legs, we were going to include Catrigg Force, but the extra pint at Malham.....  We seem to have had this month's sunny day as well....

[John Manning]

Nice pics Mike, specially Attermire Ledge... nice trot too by the sound of things. You should pop in for a brew – or even a lovely poo – whenever you're in the area.

[mike knipe]

I'm not here, John, I'm in Wales, which is why I'm ignoring your post...

Oh no, thats me back again.

Thanks for the invite, I'll certainly drop in for a cuppa next time I'm ooop Ribblesdale.  I won't sully your toilet facilities, though - you wouldn't want that...