A Walk in Goathland, March, 2000
Part 1: In which our merry troupe, drier but hardly wiser, returns for more
After our drenching in Malham the day before, we were happy to hear the weather report promising a fine day for a trip into the North York Moors. Goathland is a stop on the scenic steam railway that travels up the Moors and we had stopped there in October and wandered around a bit. This trip, we planned an 8 mile amble to take in the Mallyan Spout, a walk along a wooded gorge and along a stretch of Roman road and some stomping around open moorland.
Preparation is everything
This time we threw extra clothes for everyone into the car trunk. The drive to Goathland is very nice after turning off the motorway and heading toward the Moors. The road passes the Hole of Forcum-a huge smooth sided ravine-where we stopped to take a few pictures, and the large Fryingdales early warning radar site (where we kept right on going.) The last mile or two Goathland is over narrow track across the moor. The town has a large narrow common (we saw lots of sheep there on our forst visit) and a few stores. We stocked up on essentials: oat cakes and chocolate-covered Hob Nobs.
Mallyan Spout
We set off down the old railway incline toward the Hamlet of Beck's Hole. At the end of the incline, we saw a black flag featuring the skull and crossbones flying over a house in the hamlet, and we opted to continue on towards mallyan spout. We trudged up a hill alongside a wooded ravine, then dropped down into the ravine to follow a steam to the the Myllan Spout--a very pretty waterfall. As with the Gordale Scar, there is a bend in the stream that allows you to approach the falls without seeing it until you are very close and provides a dramatic unveiling.
We broke out the Hob Nobs in celebration, and stayed around the falls for a while, taking pictures.
Mallyan Spout, near Goathland
Our planned route would take us along the side of the stream for a couple of miles. Although the walk description mentioned "slippery and dangerous" we hadn't really equated that with "big rocks, thick mud and sheep poop".
Mary Ellen, Connie and Dave confront a future dinner
As we neared the end of the stream side track, we paused for some more Hob Nobs.