Jan 19th. A Peek @ the Peak Region

From yesterday's wall walk 

As we drove back to Kingston we had made a detour at the Peak Region, an area of beautiful natural sights. We were hoping to break up a long ride home and get an idea of one of the most popular and busy areas of the country. Once we got on the local roads we saw miles of moss-covered ancient looking stone fences covering equally lush green fields, with mountains and valleys, just like the guide described. There were many cyclers on the road. Granted it was a great weather, but if this is what this place looks like during the low season it is definitely a no-go late in spring - it will be swamped.


We've stopped at Carleton, a picturesque stone village beneath the ruins of Perival castle. It is famous for its extensive network of caves. We grabbed an early lunch and headed out to the first cave, the Peak Cavern a.k.a the Devil's Arse. Read up on the history of the cave, it is interesting. Our guide, Max, told fascinating stories about the cave as well... For several hundreds of years ropers lived there, making ropes for the nearly lead mines. They lived in awful conditions.. one of their tiny stone huts inside the cave was reproduced there.. The bathroom was right there on the spot, everywhere.. The smell of the cave could be felt inside the village, some distance away. We initially thought that it was the reason the cave was named this way. However there was another explanation.

Several times a year the cave floods. When that happens water mixed with air with some ungodly discharges from the deep underground generates sounds and corresponding smells that explain the original name. They did change the name for the sake of impressing princess Victoria who came to visit.

There was first a rope making demonstration at the beginning of the tour. Dan was awarded the final product for his assistance in the process. He and Georgia were very proud. Then we went on to see the cave. It is the largest natural cave in the UK that is accessible by a simple walk. The cave is located right below the Castle. There are estimated 15 more miles of underground cave networks that are still undiscovered in the levels below.

During our tour several groups of cavers had emerged at the far end of the cave. The guide explained that there are several caving outfits in town and they can take people down to the lower levels that require technical gear. It was clear that he is a caver too and really loves it.

His main story line was about the rich folks who came over for the tour of the cave (remember the bit about the bathroom in the beginning?) in their finery. Ropers happily took them around along the slippery walkways in nearly complete darkness and dragged the faint-hearted ladies in a coffin-life contraption through the claustrophobic narrow muddy tunnel in the back section. Roper's kids delivered the final touch by coming out from the overhead tunnel toward the end and making special sounds (or maybe not just sounds). Dante who attended one such tour said that "children just added to the horror of it." I guess in the absence of the horror movies, people have to make do with that they had to bring a little adrenaline into their lives.

Next we had a pleasant walk to the next cave, Speedwell. Speedwell cave used to be a lead mine. Now they have an interesting attraction - you go down 100+ stairs, get in a boat and it takes you for a ride along one of the mine shafts. This one is much nicer than what poor ladies had to endure in the last cave but still not for claustrophobic. At the end, there is a large cave as well but it is not as impressive as the first Devil's Arse.

There is extensive network of other caves there as well - with lots of pictures of cavers, but none are easily accessible. In contrast to the first older guide, this one, with his braces, was chock full of simple, mostly crude, jokes. At first it was kind of annoying, but toward the end, our amazement grew with the sheer quantity of them. As such he was an attraction in itself.

We decided to leave the other caves for the future trips here and walked back to the castle and village along the muddy wet grass of the mountain. We wandered around the village and stopped at the Rose cottage to try the local desserts - the famous Bakewell tart. Very nice.

Getting out of the Peak region took some time and ultimately our ride back was not made shorter by the detour. We still loved it here and will be coming back.

Kids were bored sick on the way back, they quarreled constantly, even iPad did not help. At least it seems that variety of the reasons for arguing has expanded quite a bit. Made us proud somewhat that they can express themselves so well. Isabella discovered that she can gets parents really excited by claiming she is going to be sick. Now that we are back home... we should do it again :)