Given that it was only a few minutes drive* to Cheddar Gorge I was able to have a lazy start to the day, but still got up there for around opening time. The huge plus point of this was getting parked very close to Gough’s Cave which is a good starting point. There’s quite a bit of building work going on at the moment, I think they’re putting a new roof in one of the buildings, but I got a very cheery “Good morning” from one of the builders, which was a good start.
By the time I’d bought my ticket the staff had just finished their checks of the Cave so I was first visitor in and, for a short while, about the only person in there. It made for a special experience, having total peace and tranquility (I’d declined the offered audio guide) to wander through and take in the sights.
There’s some evidence in this pic of both ironstone and copper salts, based on the pigments.
You didn’t think I wouldn’t find some sort of railway did you?
As with Wookey Hole they age Cheddar here as well, in fact they were collecting some of the truckles when I left.
The history of the caves, at least in recent times, is similar to other places - rediscovered in Victorian times, developed as a tourist attraction, still being explored today by divers! Also like other such places you can delight in finding shapes in the rock formations, does anyone else see this as a koala?
I exited the cave just in time as a very noisy school party were close to going down so after a cup of coffee I wandered down the Gorge via the Museum of Prehistory to the second cave, Cox’s. This is slightly different as there’s an AV presentation playing at various points. I was walking round with a friendly older couple - it helped that none of us were exactly running!
I can’t really decide whether the changing colours of the lighting enhanced the cave or detracted from it but in any case it was fairly spectacular, albeit on a smaller scale than the other caves I’ve visited this trip.
There are two distinct sides to Cheddar village, where the caravan site is it’s really just a small local centre but the moment you get up to the Gorge it’s a tourist hotspot with all the attendant shops and cafes. Having walked most of the way down I settled for fish and chips for lunch with a pot of tea - I’m mainly a coffee drinker but tea does seem to go well with F&C! I then did a bit of shopping, procuring some more cave aged cheese (there’ll be a taste off later) and a 3L pouch of dry cider - the downside of the latter being I then had to carry it back up the hill. A quick call into Sainsbugs on the way back to the site provided some salad and cream crackers to go with the cheese.
Thought for the day, is it compulsory to put, “Caution - Very Hot Water” signs on any tap accessible to the public, even when the water is lukewarm due to the temperature control valve?
*I could have walked but I figured by the time I’d got up there, and left enough energy to get back, I’d be limited as to how much I could do in the middle.
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