On Tour: Visiting Cheddar Gorge

Today my post is from outside of Cornwall. The photos are all of Somerset's wonderful Cheddar Gorge, which is just outside of the village of the same name. 

After driving through the Gorge - the exposed rocks are carboniferous limestone - we found somewhere to park the car. 

We headed to a trail which would take us to the top part of the gorge. The photo is looking back down after being about halfway up - if that makes sense!

We reached the top but, looking at the next photo it seemed all the other walkers were on the other side of the gorge. Good to be different though.

Lovely views and no one else about ...

… other than a few goats meandering about. I understand they are encouraged as this helps to keep the scrub under control.

Cheddar is the largest gorge in the UK. It rises to 449 feet high. I guess it's okay to use 'proper' measurements now we have Brexit! Okay, that's 137m.

While walking we came across a training session for mountain rescue …  

… their vehicles were parked in a field.

A bit of technical stuff: The gorge was formed by meltwater floods during the cold periglacial periods which have occurred over the last 1.2 million years. 

During the ice ages permafrost blocked the caves with ice and frozen mud and made the limestone impermeable. 

When this melted during the summers, water was forced to flow on the surface, and carved out the gorge.

There's one fascinating fact about one of the caves in the gorge. This is where Britain's oldest complete skeleton - known as Cheddar Man - was found in 1903.

It is estimated that the skeleton was over 9,000 years old. Wouldn't it be something to travel back in time to see how Cheddar Man lived?

There have been settlements here since Neolithic times. Quite mind boggling - it's a funny old world!

I guess you can't mention Cheddar without mentioning Cheddar cheese, which was first made in Cheddar way back in the 12th century. It's my favourite cheese - proper Cheddar that is, not some of the so called copies. Cheddar cheese traditionally had to be made within 30 miles of Wells Cathedral, but times change.

Here's another 'On Tour' post:
On Tour: Visiting Glastonbury Abbey, Glastonbury Tor and King Arthur

A Fresh Visit and Photos of the Mysterious Roche Rock and Hermitage, Cornwall

After lunch the sky looked a pleasant shade of blue for a change so I decided I'd head for Roche Rock - as above. But Cornwall being Cornwall the weather often has a mind of its own. 

After parking the car, all seemed well though the ground was very sodden from days of rain. 

There were pleasant views across the countryside.

As I have often mentioned I like stones and rocks. This area is a mixture of grey quartz and black tourmaline. They have been around for quite a while, as they were created some 270 million years ago which is quite mind boggling.

As for the heathland, this has probably remained the same for hundreds, maybe thousands of years.

The main attraction though is the old chapel or hermitage built high on the rocks - but first three photos leading to the chapel.

There is yellow gorse everywhere at this time of year, it even seems to grow on the rocks themselves.

The weather began to change rapidly, there was a chill in the air or maybe it was the ghost of an old miner said to frequent these parts.

In the middle of the photo below there is what looks like a hole high in the rocks. This is the Roche Rock chapel.

The chapel can now be seen much clearer in the three photos below.

It's often called a chapel but may well have been an hermitage. In 1584, for example, a John Norden wrote of a high rock on which is a cell or hermitage and stands upon the wild moors far from society.

The next photo is of the rocks leading up to the chapel. At the time I thought it looked like a rabbit or a face - but not so sure now!

I have previously published two posts on Roche Rock and the photo below was taken at that time - a day of brilliant sunshine. The links are at the end of this post and include stories and a little history of the chapel.

By the time I left on this visit it was very different as can be seen by my final photo for today. All looked quite creepy, not sure why there is a green flash in the picture - but I arrived home safely! 

Previous Roche Rock Posts:
Roche Rock Stories
The Mysterious Roche Rock, Cornwall

A Touch of Red In Cornwall

I was flicking through some photos and the colour red caught my eye again and again. Not sure why but I've always liked the colour. Even at junior and senior schools (many years ago!) I played for the red team - and today we have a red front door. So in this post there are photos with a touch of red. 

Red, of course, signifies danger or warnings as per the RNLI craft above and the buoyancy aids seen on some beaches in Cornwall. 

Lots of signs get noticed by having a splash of red - as per the three below.

Next we have the UK's traditional phone and post boxes - coloured red so that they get noticed. 

The following photo was snapped at the Lost Gardens of Heligan and both are still operational.

Some of the old style phone boxes have now been adapted for other uses. The one below, at Bodinnick, is a small village library... 

… and this box houses a defibrillator.

The phone box at the small village of St.Clement is still functioning and can be used for sending emails and texting.

A post box almost hidden at St.Mewan. 

Red Royal Mail vans below collect and deliver post and packages. 

A fire rescue vehicle. 

And finally, if you have some loose change, why not indulge in a red helicopter! I saw this one land in the gardens of the Fowey Hotel.

Oh, I nearly forgot the Cornwall Air Ambulance has a touch of red - what a great job they do. Last year they were called out on 1144 missions.

The Menacuddle Holy Well, Chapel and the White River in Cornwall

Today photos are from the Holy Well and Chapel at Menacuddle near St.Austell, Cornwall. I have previously given details about Menacuddle on my post The Secretive Menacuddle Holy Well and Chapel, Cornwall. 

I visited the chapel again as I suspected that the river would be in full flow because of the recent heavy rain - which it was. The river was also very white from local china clay deposits. This gives the area a quite magical appearance.

The Holy Well is within the small 15th century chapel.

As the area is quite damp and sheltered in a dip it encourages moss to grow, which I feel makes Menacuddle special. As for the river, it was certainly in full flow in both directions.  

A final look at the area as I leave.

It's strange, but on my visits, I rarely see other people about. It's not on the popular Cornwall tourist trails.

To see more details on my previous post about Menacuddle please click here.