Mile 2 The Sink Holes 1213'

 

Mile 2 and the outflow stream from Malham Tarn flows as a brook about six feet wide across the limestone plateau. Then it vanishes. Poof. Gone.

This limestone is fissured and tunnelled by years of weathering and erosion. Streams disappear down sink holes like this and are re-directed and sometimes split, again, according to how much water is in the underground system. Some of the water that goes into this sink hole sometimes makes its way to the foot of Malham Cove. We know this from dye tracing but the dye showed up elsewhere too.

In the dim past and once in clear memory on Boxing Day 2025 following a deluge, the sink holes were overwhelmed and the rain water flowed onwards to Malham Cove and plunged over the top.

I was unable to hop over a stile to explore this phenomenon closer due to a herd of frisky looking bullocks.