White Peak
Of otters and men. And limestone.
The view from our campsite, showing Hotlins Hill (450 metres), Tor Rock (426 metres) and Chrome Hill (425 metres), with Axe Edge Moor (551 metres) peering over the hill to the left.
The dry Mainfold Valley, at the south of the park. At its lower end, near Ilam, is Waterways Swallet, the only major cave in the area.
The river sinks into a series of short caves, and seems to flow along under the bottom of the valley, resurging at its end.
The entrance to Thor's Cave, high above the floor of the Manifold Valley.
The Manifold Valley from the cave entrance.
Looking into the 7.5 metres wide and 10 metres high entrance of Thor's Cave.
And back out again. Note the climbing belay in the roof.
Looking in from The Window entrance, whose light allows most of the cave's 46 metres to be followed without a torch.
Looking towards The Window. Fans of The Verve may recognise this from the cover of their A Storm in Heaven album.
The taller side passage.
Oxbows in the other side passage.
End of the side passage.
The impressive arched entrance to Nan Tor Cave - note the houses for scale.
Lots of family at the River Manifold at Hulme End. An otter put in a short appearance here as well. Not a family otter though.
Playing fetch. Yours truly.
Flowers by the river bank.
A rock for geologists. Looks like limestone with chert nodules, and a mineral streak that seems to be green calcite.
Swallow fledglings. During the week we were here, these progressed from being nestbound and fed each meal, to flying and being given hunting lessons.
Parent feeding a fly to a chick. These were very difficult to photograph, not only because the parents did not like the camera lens, but also because when they did deliver a meal, it was over within just a sixth of a second - 1 frame at high burst shooting speed. The parents did not even stop to put their feet down, and by the next frame, they were already far from the nest.
Streamers in the evening.
Larger streamers just before dusk (actually taken on a different day, but shh, it fits here).
And sunset.
The way it is around here; roads head over boring farmland, then randomly drop into a small gorge or lovely karst valleys. Then return to the farmland, and repeat the pattern.
High Wheeldon (422 metres).
Parkhouse Hill (360 metres). Though only short, it is one of the most impressively shaped hills in the entire national park, the only one that actually looks like a mountain. Just behind it is Dowel Dale, an area littered with many little caves, with Dowel Dale Side Pot being the major one.
Chrome Hill. Together with Parkhouse Hill, access to these reef knolls was officially denied for many years, despite being what would normally be common land. The new open access rules (CRoW Act) finally gave access to these in 2000, which was considered a major victory for countryside enthusiasts.
Rainbow, highlighting the frequent small rain showers that affected our stay. Caves are made by water, of course. This one is sitting almost on top of the Knotlow and Lathkill cave systems.
Even on the lower lying farmland, the area is still subject to high winds. Apparently this guy didn't realise that in time, and got blown off the road.
Another road, another gorge. Bradwell Dale, I think.
Mam Tor's scarp towering over Castleton in the Hope Valley. Though only 517 metres high, it dominates the view, and marks the start of the Dark Peak.
Winnats Pass. This is a very deep gorge, about 120 metres deep at its mouth. The entrance to Speedwell Cavern (a mined entrance to the Peak Cavern system) is at its base.
The gorge climbs very quickly onto the plateau, making it only about 750 metres long.
Limestone outcrops in Winnats Pass.
Monkey. Yeah. These are mountain sheep like ours (long tails) and roam wild on the common land. Unlike the Welsh ones though, they are totally unafraid of humans, and will happily walk up hoping for treats, or posing for pictures. There's probably a Welshman joke here that could explain why the ones at home are more afraid, but that would only end up making myself the target of my own jokes.
Starting up Mam Tor, with the top of Winnats Pass in the background.
The beautiful view over a morraine - looking like a miniature drumlin or kame field - in Edale, to Kinder Scout (636 metres), the tallest mountain in the Peak District.
Colours of the light and heather on Kinder Scout.
Remains of the hill fort at the top of Mam Tor.
Looking over Hope Valley, with Lose Hill (476 metres) on the left, smoke from Hope Valley Cement Works in the middle, and the moorland containing Peak Caven and Winnats Pass on the right. Just beyond and to the right of Lose Hill is Win Hill (462 metres). Whoever came up with those names has a broken idea of what counts as winning, since Lose Hill definitely won the altitude battle. (The names actually come from a battle in 626, referring to the bases of the winning and losing sides, but that's too predictable, so shh.)
Superb scarp on Black Tor (about 435 metres), with Lose Hill behind it. These make up the Great Ridge.
View over Hope Valley, showing the Dark Peak rising up on the right, and the White Peak in the middle and left. Just about all of the big cave systems in the Peak District are situated around here. In the middle is the Peak Cavern system. Just behind Winnats Pass is the Giant's Hole system, and behind that are Nettle Pot, Eldon Hole Christmas Swallet and P8. To the right of it are the Blue John and Treak Cliff Caverns (show mines/caves) and Winnats Head Cave. On the left, just by the cement factory, is Bagshawe Cavern in Bradwell, and a couple of ridges behind that are Hunger Hill Swallet and Carlswark Cavern.
Mam Tor.
The old main road, across the shale slopes of Mam Tor. Of course, that's not a great surface for a road, and after repeated landslides, it was closed in favour of the Winnats Pass road. It still serves as a bike route though. The tourist entrance to Blue John Caverns can be seen on the left.
Winnats Pass.
The gorge containing the main showcave entrance to Peak Cavern. Above it is Peveril Castle, which in turn gives rise to the name Castleton for the town below.
The view from our campsite, showing Hotlins Hill (450 metres), Tor Rock (426 metres) and Chrome Hill (425 metres), with Axe Edge Moor (551 metres) peering over the hill to the left.
The dry Mainfold Valley, at the south of the park. At its lower end, near Ilam, is Waterways Swallet, the only major cave in the area.
The river sinks into a series of short caves, and seems to flow along under the bottom of the valley, resurging at its end.
The entrance to Thor's Cave, high above the floor of the Manifold Valley.
The Manifold Valley from the cave entrance.
Looking into the 7.5 metres wide and 10 metres high entrance of Thor's Cave.
And back out again. Note the climbing belay in the roof.
Looking in from The Window entrance, whose light allows most of the cave's 46 metres to be followed without a torch.
Looking towards The Window. Fans of The Verve may recognise this from the cover of their A Storm in Heaven album.
The taller side passage.
Oxbows in the other side passage.
End of the side passage.
The impressive arched entrance to Nan Tor Cave - note the houses for scale.
Lots of family at the River Manifold at Hulme End. An otter put in a short appearance here as well. Not a family otter though.
Playing fetch. Yours truly.
Flowers by the river bank.
A rock for geologists. Looks like limestone with chert nodules, and a mineral streak that seems to be green calcite.
Swallow fledglings. During the week we were here, these progressed from being nestbound and fed each meal, to flying and being given hunting lessons.
Parent feeding a fly to a chick. These were very difficult to photograph, not only because the parents did not like the camera lens, but also because when they did deliver a meal, it was over within just a sixth of a second - 1 frame at high burst shooting speed. The parents did not even stop to put their feet down, and by the next frame, they were already far from the nest.
Streamers in the evening.
Larger streamers just before dusk (actually taken on a different day, but shh, it fits here).
And sunset.
The way it is around here; roads head over boring farmland, then randomly drop into a small gorge or lovely karst valleys. Then return to the farmland, and repeat the pattern.
High Wheeldon (422 metres).
Parkhouse Hill (360 metres). Though only short, it is one of the most impressively shaped hills in the entire national park, the only one that actually looks like a mountain. Just behind it is Dowel Dale, an area littered with many little caves, with Dowel Dale Side Pot being the major one.
Chrome Hill. Together with Parkhouse Hill, access to these reef knolls was officially denied for many years, despite being what would normally be common land. The new open access rules (CRoW Act) finally gave access to these in 2000, which was considered a major victory for countryside enthusiasts.
Rainbow, highlighting the frequent small rain showers that affected our stay. Caves are made by water, of course. This one is sitting almost on top of the Knotlow and Lathkill cave systems.
Even on the lower lying farmland, the area is still subject to high winds. Apparently this guy didn't realise that in time, and got blown off the road.
Another road, another gorge. Bradwell Dale, I think.
Mam Tor's scarp towering over Castleton in the Hope Valley. Though only 517 metres high, it dominates the view, and marks the start of the Dark Peak.
Winnats Pass. This is a very deep gorge, about 120 metres deep at its mouth. The entrance to Speedwell Cavern (a mined entrance to the Peak Cavern system) is at its base.
The gorge climbs very quickly onto the plateau, making it only about 750 metres long.
Limestone outcrops in Winnats Pass.
Monkey. Yeah. These are mountain sheep like ours (long tails) and roam wild on the common land. Unlike the Welsh ones though, they are totally unafraid of humans, and will happily walk up hoping for treats, or posing for pictures. There's probably a Welshman joke here that could explain why the ones at home are more afraid, but that would only end up making myself the target of my own jokes.
Starting up Mam Tor, with the top of Winnats Pass in the background.
The beautiful view over a morraine - looking like a miniature drumlin or kame field - in Edale, to Kinder Scout (636 metres), the tallest mountain in the Peak District.
Colours of the light and heather on Kinder Scout.
Remains of the hill fort at the top of Mam Tor.
Looking over Hope Valley, with Lose Hill (476 metres) on the left, smoke from Hope Valley Cement Works in the middle, and the moorland containing Peak Caven and Winnats Pass on the right. Just beyond and to the right of Lose Hill is Win Hill (462 metres). Whoever came up with those names has a broken idea of what counts as winning, since Lose Hill definitely won the altitude battle. (The names actually come from a battle in 626, referring to the bases of the winning and losing sides, but that's too predictable, so shh.)
Superb scarp on Black Tor (about 435 metres), with Lose Hill behind it. These make up the Great Ridge.
View over Hope Valley, showing the Dark Peak rising up on the right, and the White Peak in the middle and left. Just about all of the big cave systems in the Peak District are situated around here. In the middle is the Peak Cavern system. Just behind Winnats Pass is the Giant's Hole system, and behind that are Nettle Pot, Eldon Hole Christmas Swallet and P8. To the right of it are the Blue John and Treak Cliff Caverns (show mines/caves) and Winnats Head Cave. On the left, just by the cement factory, is Bagshawe Cavern in Bradwell, and a couple of ridges behind that are Hunger Hill Swallet and Carlswark Cavern.
Mam Tor.
The old main road, across the shale slopes of Mam Tor. Of course, that's not a great surface for a road, and after repeated landslides, it was closed in favour of the Winnats Pass road. It still serves as a bike route though. The tourist entrance to Blue John Caverns can be seen on the left.
Winnats Pass.
The gorge containing the main showcave entrance to Peak Cavern. Above it is Peveril Castle, which in turn gives rise to the name Castleton for the town below.