Day 8: The Malham Amphitheater

August 3, 2024: As it turned out, there was no real rain during the night. Just the lightest of sprinkles to drum me to sleep and by morning, the skies were clear and sunny.

Immediately upon leaving camp, the trail climbed to the top of the Malham Amphitheater, an impressive-looking cliff with some weird limestone formations at the top. There's not really much else to say about that, except that the climb to the top included 421 steps according to my guidebook. I didn't bother to count the steps myself, however, so I'll take their word for it. And the the views were nice. Very nice. Well worth a visit if you're in the area. =)

The Malham Amphitheater, straight ahead!

From there, the trail led north through a dramatic valley which my guidebook described as a "Narrow, enclosed valley. High cliffs. Good place for an ambush!"

So I kept my eyes open for any ambushes, but I am happy to report that none appeared and we made it through the narrow, high-cliffed valley with all the hair on our heads completely intact.

The day included two big climbs, but it was the climb up Pen-y-ghent that was ridiculously steep and memorable. "Have the locals here never heard of switchbacks before?" I complained to Karolina. "This is an Appalachian Trail kind of trail!" I imagined someone who designed the AT came out here and bragging about the ridiculously steep trails they made through the White Mountains at a local pub and the locals here turned to him and said, "hold my beer" as they proceeded to out-do him.

This was the section of Pen-y-ghent shortly before we reached the really steep section!

There were lots of day hikers along that portion of the trail, and I wondered aloud to one of them why we were doing this, and he said he was regretting some of his own life decisions as this was the second time today he was climbing to the summit. WTF? "Why?!" I asked.

"I really don't know...."

Late in the day, we passed a really nice stream, and I filled up with water using the new water filter for the first time. It worked wonderfully, and I said a silent prayer for Martin hoping he was okay. I still hadn't heard from him or about him since he was taken to the hospital in the ambulance. 

I fill up with water using the brand new water filter for the first time! =)

Anyhow, coming down off the summit, the trail veers into Horton-in-Ribblesdale, but my guidebook seemed to suggest that there wasn't really any reason to go into town except for food or lodging. Wild campers could easily bypass it by following the 3-Peaks Bypass. That would knock a few miles off the hike as well as the long descent into town that would immediately be followed by a long ascent back out of it.

Since there seemed to be no good reason to go into town, I decided to use the bypass. The trail was surprisingly busy with people, even late into the day, and I decided to look for a place to camp along the bypass hoping that most people going into town or coming out in the morning would miss us as we camped between the two main trails that led into and out of town.

We set up camp, but several joggers still passed by. One even jogged by at about 2:00 in the morning for some ungodly reason. Why were there so many crazy people in this area?!

During the late afternoon, Karolina complained of a headache, but shortly after setting up camp, it turned into vomiting. After summiting Pen-y-ghent, she asked if her nausea might be due to altitude sickness, but I laughed that off as extremely unlikely. As steep as the climb to Pen-y-ghent was, it topped out at only 2283 feet (696 meters) above sea level. Nobody gets altitude sickness with those kind of altitudes. I didn't really have a good explanation for her sickness. Maybe it was just something she ate? Food poisoning from the dinner last night? I've heard that a lot of food poisoning often doesn't show symptoms for 24 hours after eating contaminated food, which would put it at last night. We never did figure out why she become so sick this evening, though. It will have to be a mystery for the ages!

Anyhow, the sun set and it was time to get some sleep. Another day thus completed!

View from the bottom of the Malham Amphitheater. Apparently this is also a popular rock climbing area, but I didn't see any rock climbers this morning.

Some of the 421 steps to the top of Malham Amphitheater

The top had these weird limestone formations that were remarkably hard to walk on!

View from the top looking back down the valley we had just hiked up

I was on high alert for ambushes through this valley, but I'm happy to report that there none! Not today, at least. =)

Malham Turn

I noticed that a lot of old logs and stumps had coins embedded into them along the trail. I don't remember seeing this sort of thing before, but it was all over the trails in England!

Malham Tarn House Study Center

Lots of mine shafts all over the country!

The old mine shafts near the trail usually had fences around them and appeared to be filled in anyhow.

View from the top of the first big climb of the day

Never did see any horse-drawn vehicles

And this is the infamous Pen-y-ghent. You can see the trail a bit heading up the mountain on the right side of the photo, next to the stone fence.

Looking down the far side of Pen-y-ghent, which wasn't nearly as steep as the uphill side!

And this is looking backward toward Pen-y-ghent and where we descended.

Lots of rabbits were visible on a daily basis, but this was the first time I managed to get a decent photo of one. They are very people shy!

Me at the top of Malham Amphitheater