in the last week of the half term holidays we went to ingleborogh caves in yorkshire. i went there on a geography field trip 30 ?! years ago.
the drive from home took a little over an hour, the caves are situated above the village of clapham, and the walk up to the caves through woodland is very beautiful.
i don't think that i have been on a toll path before, we had to put our money in the ticket machine at the start of the trail up to the caves. i wonder why this system is not used more often, in places such as the lake district where so much money has to be spent on repairing footpaths...
we wondered past the beautiful lake...
had the obligatory stone skimming session...
this was an amazing looking tree,
and on closer inspection we found it was a money tree !...
i wonder how long people have been putting their coins here ?
a bit of off the beaten track exploring...
once out of the wood the track opens out and carries on along side the river...
perfect spot for our picnic...
then on to the tour of the caves, john who took our tour, (there was only us six and another couple), was fantastic, he involved the children with out being patronising, he kept saying, "come on i'll show you", as he lead them on to see the next part of the caves...
the stalactites are amazing and they often have names, this is queen victoria's bloomers...
its quite amazing to think of the very first cavers swimming through these caves with little more than a rope and candles, they must have been very brave, or perhaps a little mad ?...
we thought this looked like something off dr who...
after an ice cream we headed back down to the village, past the bluebells...
the love trees, i often wonder about the people who carve their initials on trees, are they still in love ?
as we came to the end of the path and almost into the village this cat appeared and followed hebe all the rest of the way. ever since this encounter she has been dropping lots of not so subtle hints about how much she would really really reeaally like a cat !...
back in the village of clapham there is the most stunning playground...
just beautiful...
we finished off this glorious day by popping into skipton on the way home, for fish & chips by the canal, perfect...
the drive from home took a little over an hour, the caves are situated above the village of clapham, and the walk up to the caves through woodland is very beautiful.
i don't think that i have been on a toll path before, we had to put our money in the ticket machine at the start of the trail up to the caves. i wonder why this system is not used more often, in places such as the lake district where so much money has to be spent on repairing footpaths...
we wondered past the beautiful lake...
had the obligatory stone skimming session...
the wild garlic was stunning, i really wish i had collected some, as a few days after this i read in a magazine how you can make a wild garlic pesto, maybe next year as the patches of wild garlic close to home have gone past their best now...
this was an amazing looking tree,
and on closer inspection we found it was a money tree !...
i wonder how long people have been putting their coins here ?
a lovely grotto...
a bit of off the beaten track exploring...
once out of the wood the track opens out and carries on along side the river...
perfect spot for our picnic...
then on to the tour of the caves, john who took our tour, (there was only us six and another couple), was fantastic, he involved the children with out being patronising, he kept saying, "come on i'll show you", as he lead them on to see the next part of the caves...
the stalactites are amazing and they often have names, this is queen victoria's bloomers...
its quite amazing to think of the very first cavers swimming through these caves with little more than a rope and candles, they must have been very brave, or perhaps a little mad ?...
we thought this looked like something off dr who...
after an ice cream we headed back down to the village, past the bluebells...
the love trees, i often wonder about the people who carve their initials on trees, are they still in love ?
as we came to the end of the path and almost into the village this cat appeared and followed hebe all the rest of the way. ever since this encounter she has been dropping lots of not so subtle hints about how much she would really really reeaally like a cat !...
back in the village of clapham there is the most stunning playground...
just beautiful...
we finished off this glorious day by popping into skipton on the way home, for fish & chips by the canal, perfect...
It looked like the perfect sat out. We have never been here so thanks for sharing as its definitely gone on the list for when I'm more mobile. I love Yorkshire, it's so beautiful there. I can't say that I have ever used a toll footpath either, but then it's been about four years since my last big walk. It looks like a wonderf place for the kids, I know ours would just love it. The money tree was interesting, did people put money on it?? Also the bluebells, just stunning. What a shame about the wild garlic, the pesto sounds delicious and definitely one I'm going to remember. Got to agree with you on the cave swimmers and just cavers in general, I know I definitely couldn't do it! Thanks for sharing and what better way to end the day than fish & chips, perfect!! Xo
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great trip. I made pesto with wild garlic a few times last year and we all enjoyed it. Haven't managed so far this year as things seem very hectic - well worth a try though. juliex
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