The Cheddar Gorge Outing

 While visiting my sister in Bristol with my stepfather for Christmas, we decided to finally escape the endless eating - by me, mostly - and escape into the countryside, where while it was still raining heavily as it did all trip, we would have a change of scene from wet Bristol pavements. 

The beach not appealing on a day when the sea and the land were virtually the same thing, we headed inland for Cheddar Gorge, a famous natural formation to the south of the city comprising of a narrow road surrounded by towering crags and the site of the earliest complete human skeleton found in the UK.

Despite the appalling weather, it was amazing how many waterproofed figures were walking up and down the gorge. There were cyclists too, serious types of expensive road bikes grinding their way up the climb through the gorge as the rain hosed them down. 

Evidence of human activity was everywhere - rubbish and more disgustingly human waste at the various stopping points. My sister and stepfather collected a box of the the former and thankfully not the latter. 

It's really upsetting that supposedly outdoor loving types would do this. 

The gorge indeed is spectacular, looming cliffs of slate and limestone, where apparently peregrines and ravens fly, although they were too smart to be doing it on such a rotten day and were probably laughing at the brightly coloured humans scurrying about from their lofty eyries. 

The village is surface pretty, but as with so many similar places it's largely filled with tourist tat  - genuine cheddar cheese on sale, no doubt at about £5 per gram. We couldn't find a cafe open to shelter from the weather in as we trundled up and down the village. 

Still, it was a fun little jaunt, and I'd like to come again in warmer months when there might be some flora and fauna to see. I'd love to see a raven for the first time!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 01.01.23

First Ever Visit to Creswell Crags

With a spot of time off work my plans to do something interesting and adventurous haven't really come to anything  before now due to exhaustion, and this has been frustrating.

I was going to sleep out  under the stars the last couple of nights to test some of my camping gear, but it has rained. Pity, I would love to have done a little micro adventure like that this week. Might yet still do so, cold temps or not.

The powers that be behind micro adventuring are always saying "oh just head up the nearest hill and do it" - easy enough if you are in commuter belt Surrey but not in a town like this. I don't know if I'd feel safe sleeping out alone anywhere near here.

So, today, I woke up early and headed out to Cresswell Crags, a gorge on the Notts / Derbyshire border and a ballache to get to by train despite the fact it is only 20 miles away as the crow flies; it is more like 40 by rail.

It is essentially a gorge that contains caves that contain signs of prehistoric human occupation going back to Neanderthals 60,000 years ago through various other human cultures going back to about 15,000 years ago. There are axe heads, animal skulls such as hyena and lynx (!!!) and most importantly the only cave art to be ever found in the UK, and the so called Ochre Horse, an etching of a horse on bone and the only pre-historic so called "portable" drawing of an animal ever found in Britain.

I certainly enjoyed being outside in the fresh air today, maybe there is something to the suggestion I read that being near oxygen producing trees creates a feeling of wellbeing. Although they don't when I'm trying to draw the bloody things- my sketch of the crags I did today is unpublishably bad.

It is a dramatic setting and free to visit, but to actually go in one of the caves is pretty expensive. I contented myself with making a couple of circuits of the crags, and having a cup of tea in the cafe, watched by a great tit who came to sit on the balcony edge, attracted by the rustle of free posh biscuit wrapper.

Plenty of wildflowers here, comfrey was very abundant and much enjoyed by the common carder bees present in numbers - they are always the commonest bumble on the wing late in the season.

Enjoy the dramatic rockscapes!

Si