Aging Cheddar
We had the opportunity to stop off at Cheddar Gorge for an afternoon. This is a really fascinating natural feature, and while we only made a flying visit, it offers a lot for a variety of interests.
The Gorge itself is said to have developed over a period of 300 million years. Geologists say that its foundations were laid down when the area was a tropical sea. Over time sediments like fish and bones and shell accumulated, and were eventually converted into layers of limestone. These layers were in time thrust upwards, and began to become weathered and exposed. During the Ice Age the limestone were temporarily frozen, but as the ice melted and all the water gushed into huge rivers and one carved out the gorge. The climate has continued to warm, and the rivers started to sink into and through the gorge where it flows today through narrow caves and cracks. This is what has given us the dry valley, Cheddar Gorge of today. (Well that is what Key Stage 3 Geography says, anyway).
The Gorge Late Summer
Whatever the cause this natural landscape is sought after by tourists, climbers, cavers, and adrenaline junkies. The natural beauty makes for wonderful photo opportunities, and walkers and bird watchers enjoy its paths and upper walks. The steep walls of the gorge are challenges for climbers going up, and BASE jumpers coming down. The areas many caves provide not just a place to age the famous cheese, but for cavers and others to explore.
Cave Features
We visited a cave, and enjoyed the rugged beauty during our visit. But there is so much more to do. And cheese of course.
Flows
Padre
Cheddar resides in my memory and in my heart. I visited before the days of camera phones and low-priced digi-cameras when actual film was the order of the day. I went through 2 x 36 exposures just on the caves. I also did Jacob’s Ladder. That wasn’t the problem, but that watchtower at the top violently swayed above the treetops and I couldn’t do, gone dizzy. We returned the next day, arrived early by Badger Line bus, and walked up the gorge, with the mist rolling down in eerie sighs, then along the top of the Mendips to Priddy, and back down to Wells. Yes, it sticks in my memory. A magical place. 🙂
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