Wednesday 11 May 2016

May Visit to the Lakes Day 2

Although we woke to cloudy conditions this morning, we were optimistic  as the forecast was to improve steadily throughout the day, which it did.  We enjoyed a lazy breakfast and then our friends from Blackpool joined us for coffee after which we set out for Little Langdale to do a circular walk to Tilberthwaite visiting Hodge Close Quarry and Cathedral Cavern.  Spring is really upon us now; trees are well in leaf and looking spectacular.  I love to see the different greens: acid green of oaks, bright green of beeches and the slightly duller tones of silver birch looking striking against the gnarled silver barked trunks.  Bluebells and stitchwort were everywhere and in the bird world warblers were in song in the woods and swallows and house martins streaked across the sky.  Hodge Close Quarry was all I anticipated, invisible from the road, until, on walking to the edge, a dramatic water filled hole in the ground.  The sheer rock walls are a favourite of rock climbers and divers explore the water-filled depths.  I scrambled down in to neighbouring Parrock Quarry and made my way to the spectacular arch supported by a pillar left by the miners that divides to two quarries.
To view large, please click on an image




















From here we continued along the road until we could cross to the other side of the Tilberthwaite Valley and then returned via a broad track though the woods and past more quarry workings.  We quickly reached the River Brathay from where we scrambled up to the entrance to Cathedral Cavern which we entered through a short, but narrow mine tunnel.  Like Hodge Close Quarry, this was a thriving slate mine in the nineteenth century, but fell into disuse during the twentieth century.  As we entered the tunnel, cold air seemed to sweep out to meet us,  Although we knew what to expect, it was still exhilarating to leave the tunnel and enter a cavern, large enough to fit a church into.  It gets its name from its size and from the fact that the roof is supported by slate pillar and lit through a large window to the side.  I walked through the cavern, past the pool, complete with goldfish and out through the 'window' where it is possible to scramble up to another level and access yet more caves above.  Both Hodge Close Quarry and Cathedral Cavern are dramatic examples of man's influence on the appearance of a landscape.









We completed the walk by crossing the delightful slate built packhorse bridge, Slater Bridge, and across the fields to the Three Shires Inn where a pint of the brown and frothy awaited.  The day finished with a BBQ back at the caravan.



No comments:

Post a Comment