I will do some posts about some of the stuff we got up to while we were there over the next week or so but for now I wanted to write about the visit we took to Malham Cove as a last hurrah for the boys before they go back to school and because it was actually a change to go somewhere in the sunshine.
I have to say we are so lucky to live near such a beautiful area. I have many fond memories of the Yorkshire Dales and living in Leeds means we are less than an hour away from the traditional "Gateway to the Dales" Skipton.
So Sunday morning the sun shone and as we had a leisurely - if chaotic breakfast, we all packed our rucksacks with drinks and snacks and in Bears case an optimistic Frisbee. The GPS was loaded with maps of the area and geocaches and off we went.
An hour later we were pulling into the overspill parking field which was a more than reasonable £4 for the day and off we set towards the Cove.
No trip was complete for us without a moan by at least one of the boys and on this occasion it was the youngest who wanted to stop every 10 steps for a drink, a rest or a snack. Nearing the final gate for the cove Bear through his rucksack on the floor in disgust and sat down while Dad and Jake wandered further on pretending they didn't know him. As I hung around trying to cajole him the last 100 or so yards, a family with two young ones of their own took pity on me and their lovely daughter handed him a packet of sweets which made him recover immediately. In an uncommon fit of good manners Bear politely said thank you very much ( I do try to instill my children with good manners but my youngest seems to have a will of his own which can make him unpredictably contrary).
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| Little Monster loves the troll Bridge |
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| Glorious Day at Malham Cove |
After the impromptu sweet stop we continued the walk to the head of the cove and sat down for our snack. At this point my husband began to regret his lack or preparation and tried to cadge a drink and snack from the boys who were reluctant to share with him on the principle that he was disorganised.
The walking boots purchased at the beginning of the year from Mountain Warehouse are still going strong and having just had both sets of feet measured for school shoes I'm pretty sure they will both get use out of their current boots till the end of the year.
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| Rest stop |
With the pit stop finished and they boys recharged it was time to tackle the steps up the side of the cove and head up to the top towards the first geocache of the day. The boys thought it was great fun jumping off the rock formations and enjoyed the informal lesson on geological rock formations and ice ages.
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| Son no 2 |
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| Son no 1 |
After some jumping about, throwing a frisbee that Bear had brought with him, among other things and hunting down the geocache without been spotted we plotted the route back round to the car and opted for the much quieter walk through Dry Valley up towards the tarn and then back down towards the cove and approaching the village via the road.
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| The gorgeous Dry Valley |
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| This curious herd of cows/bulls approached us |
So after a perfect day in the sunshine and a few miles on the pedometer, we made it back to the village for a well deserved ice cream and an hours drive back home. The kids had a perfect day and managed to burn off some energy before they head back to school on Tuesday.
Thanks for reading.
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