Winter in the Dales Weekend at YHA Malham
Our first hostel weekend of 2025 is in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales village of Malham. Once again, we will have a Burns night theme!
Join us for our Burns themed weekend as we visit the beautiful village of Malham in the Yorkshire Dales. This is a social and walking weekend and there is plenty else to do in the area. There'll be guided walks on both the Saturday and Sunday. For those that don't want to walk there are the nearby market towns of Settle and Skipton or plenty of other pretty dales villages to visit.
In the evenings we can socialise in the hostel or visit one (or both) of the village pubs.
The first evening we will address the haggis before our Burns dinner in the hostel. After dinner we'll have a Scottish themed quiz, and Karen will bring some whiskies to taste. Please bring a cash contribution if you wish to sample the whiskies. On the second evening we will eat in the nearby pub.
Malham is famous for the impressive geological features of Goredale Scar and Malham Cove and is a fantastic area for climbing or walking. Also nearby are the waterfall at Janet's Foss and the glacial lake of Malham Tarn, which inspired Charles Kingsley's The Water Babies.
Includes
- two nights' hostel accommodation
- one full cooked breakfast
- one continental breakfast
- packed lunches
- Burns-themed Friday dinner
- Address to the haggis
- Scottish themed quiz
- two-course pub meal on Saturday
- hot drinks
- guided walks on both Saturday and Sunday
Extras
- Twin room supplement
- Bring your own cold drinks
- Karen will provide a selection of whiskies to taste. Please bring a cash contribution if you wish to enjoy the samples.
Martin will lead two optional guided walks across the weekend too...
Saturday Walk - The Malham Classic
5 miles (3 hrs) 725ft assent
From the Hostel we will head towards the town where we will join a short stretch of the Pennine Way before turning to follow the River Aire upstream to its source.
The path becomes a little uneven as we head through the woods to Janet’s Foss, a waterfall hiding a cave where the fairy queen is said to dwell. We can pause here to take lunch if the weather permits.
We will then leave the wooded area to continue following the Gordale Beck upstream. The landscape here resembles Middle Earth as the valley narrows to suddenly reveal one of the Dales most spectacular sights of Gordale Scar waterfalls. There is a path up the centre of the waterfall, but we will retrace our steps back to the road at Gordale Bridge. There is usually a refreshment van here where a warm drink can be purchased.
From here we will climb up a steeper and muddier path towards The Dales High Way. After crossing a small road, we will continue to the top of Malham Cove. The top of the Cove is Limestone Pavement and can be very slippery, care will be required to avoid twisted ankles! The path across the pavement is a little unclear but we will try to keep to a slightly safer route by heading onto higher ground to work our way to the steps at the far side.
The decent into the valley is by some 400 steps so if you have weak knees, I suggest walking poles to take some of the strain. At the foot of the steps, we can see the majesty of Malham Cove.
The route back to the hostel will be via a small footbridge over Malham Beck and then across some open fields.
Sunday Walk - Malham to Airton
5½ miles (3 hrs) 600ft assent
From the Hostel we will head towards the town and follow the path on the West bank of Malham Beck past Aire Head where the river from Malham Tarn reappears from underground. After some picturesque mill ponds, we arrive at the former cotton mill, Scalegill Mill, dating back to 1791. This site once housed an earlier corn mill dating back to 1279.
We will enter the village of Kirby Malham passing the house of John Dower, the founder of the National Parks. The village is the site of St Michael the Archangel church, known as the Cathedral of the Dales. There are a number of interesting graves in the churchyard, including the “Watery Grave”. The church itself was once visited by Oliver Cromwell and is worth a look inside. (Toilet facilities are also available here.)
We will then climb across the fields before descending towards the village of Airton where there is a farm shop and café.
The route back to Malham will follow the Pennine Way through the village of Hanlith where there is a short but steep uphill road section before re-joining the field path following the River Aire upstream towards our finishing point in Malham.
Pleased note this route is likely to be very muddy and may not be advisable if the weather is inclement. If this is the case an alternative 4-mile circular walk around Malham Tarn will be offered instead.
Location & Itinerary
Malham is a popular village on the Pennine Way. The main attractions are the stunning scenery of Malham Cove and Gordale Scar - two of the most impressive sights in the whole of the Yorkshire Dales and both within easy walking distance of the village as is Janet's Foss Waterfall.
The 7½ mile circular walk from Malham village to Janet's Foss, Gordale Scar, Malham Tarn and Malham Cove featured as number 3 in Britain's Top 100 Walks on ITV.
Malham is a small and pretty village, surrounded by dry-stone walls, with a stream running right through the middle.
The itinerary for the weekend will be weather dependent and also depends on just what people want to do. We'll have guided walks on both Saturday and Sunday. There is great cycling in the area. Malham Smithy is open most days, and there are great local pubs.
Included is a cooked breakfast on Saturday morning and a continental breakfast on Sunday morning. We'll bring supplies for you to make a packed lunch each day. We'll eat in the hostel on Friday night and go out for dinner at the nearby pub on the Saturday night.
As always we'll appreciate your help with preparing the meals or cleaning up afterwards.
The meal on Saturday will be two courses, main and dessert, and we will contact you with the menu and ask for your order ahead of the weekend.
Sorry, there is no wheelchair access to this accommodation.
Travel & Stay
We will be staying in the main building of the hostel which we have for our exclusive use. All beds are bunk beds. There is just one twin room for two people (one set of bunk beds) and all other are in dormitories sleeping between four and eight people each.
Bedding is provided but please bring your own towel. There are toilets and showers located on both floors. There is central heating throughout the building.
The dining room will be our main social area and seats up to 45 people across tables with benches and chairs. The kitchen includes grill, kettle, microwave, oven, refrigerator, stove, and toaster.
There's also a lounge on the ground floor which seats up to 15 people on leather sofas and armchairs and the room has a flat screen TV with DVD player.
Outside there is a small garden with picnic tables.
There is a cycle store for those that wish to bring a bike.
For those needing to keep in touch with the outside world there is mobile phone coverage on most networks and also free Wi-Fi in the communal areas on the ground floor.
Malham is 11 miles north of Skipton in the Yorkshire Dales. There are 15 parking spaces on site and there is further parking just two minutes walk away in the village. Please share transport if you can.
The nearest mainline station is Settle just six miles away. Bus services 210 and 211 will take you from .Skipton to Malham on Fridays but these are infrequent services.
Please try to arrive by 7pm at the latest.
| Type | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| Member in dormitory | £135.00 | Available |
| Member in FEMALE twin share (bunk) | £170.00 | Sold Out |
| Guest in dormitory | £171.00 | Sold Out |
Not enough spaces left for you? Join the waitlist
We've managed to hold our prices to match our winter 2024 weekend!
Host & Everything Else
Some feedback from our previous trip to this hostel...
- Malham in Springtime, what a lovely place to be with Spice and the members. Had a fabulous weekend away, could not fault.
- It was a lovely weekend 😊 and great value and lovely company throughout the weekend. I want to say thank you Jonathan for all the hard work you put in. For making it a fun weekend 😊 for everyone see you soon on another event.
- Malham was my first experience of hostel weekends and it certainly won’t be my last as everyone was so friendly. Such good value for money too.
- Overall a good fun weekend, well organised, good walk and leader and a great group of people. A comment to pass onto the hostel - The light in the dormitory could do with being a higher wattage, very dark, had to use a torch even when the light was turned on!
- Have always enjoyed the bunkhouse / YHA weekends. Cheap and cheerful in lovely locations.
... and feedback from our 2024 Winter / Burns break ...
- Karen and Diane. Your efforts for these weekends are always appreciated. I know you enjoy it but you both put so much work in... before, during and after. Massive thank you.
- Thank you Karen , Diane ,Cathy, Jonathan for a wonderful weekend, your skills as chef , hosts , poets , quizmasters, were phenomenal.
- Thank you to all the excellent hosts and organisers of the weekend. We had a great time once again and look forward to the next one!
- Thanks to Karen, Di, Cath and Jonathan for hosting such a great weekend and everyone else for being welcoming and making my first bunk barn weekend a fun experience. Hope to meet up on another weekend soon xx
- Great to see everyone. Lovely place and lovely people. It was a fabulous weekend and hope to see everyone again soon.
- Thank you to all who made this weekend lovely. Smashing company catering and walks .I really enjoyed myself see you all again soon.
- Thank you everyone for a fab weekend. Special thanks to Karen and Di for the food, amazing as always, Cathy for organising rooms and Jonathan for the walk on Sat. Harder than I expected but really good. Thanks Matthew and everyone else for the singing! xx
- Thanks everyone for a great weekend. Catch up soon.
- Just want to say thanks for a fantastic weekend. Great food, quizzing whisky tasting, singing, company ect. Well done Karen, Di, Cath and Jonathan 🌞😋🎂
- A wonderful weekend - thank you to all of the organisers for all of your hard work and to everyone for your good company. Especially loved the Burns Night food, quiz and dramatic celebration of the haggis!! Have smiled and laughed all weekend and looking forward already to the next time😀
- Lovely weekend was had, thank you to the hosts for your hard work and making it enjoyable.
- Just a quick word to thank Karen, Diane, Kath and Jonathan for their hard work in the kitchen and organising the fab weekend we have just had.
- Thank you, Karen, Diane, Cath and Jonathan, for a fabulous weekend. The catering was delicious and the special efforts you made to add a Burns-Night flavour with the quiz, poetry-readings and whisky-tasting were much appreciated. I really enjoyed the scenic walks and the location and hostel were both fantastic. Thanks for everything you did to make it such a memorable weekend, and thanks to everyone for your excellent company.
- Thanks to all who made it a brilliant weekend 😀 x
- Thanks to you all for making it a fantastic weekend, food & hostel both excellent, Karen, Diane, Cath & Jonathan all worked hard to make it a lovely time 😊xx👏👏👏
- Thanks to Karen, Diane, Cath and Johnathan for their organisation and hard work which make such excellent weekends possible.
- Thank you to Karen, Di, Cath, and Jonathan for the brilliant weekend that you put together. We had a great time catching up with folk and making new friends. Look forward to the next one xx
- Thank you Karen, Di, Cath and Jonathan for everything from the fab food, to the lovely walks. Great to see and catch up with so many old spicers and meet new ones thank you all for a fab weekend. Until next time adios xx
- What a fun weekend! Great Burns night, company and music. Thanks Karen Di Cath and Jonathan for hosting and ‘thank you for the music’ Matthew
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