This is the last post of 4 from my trip to the Peak District National Park. I was traveling with V & T and we'd been in the park for a couple of days walking the Tissington Trail and visiting Dovedale.
On this day, we packed up our things at the B&B and headed north towards Sheffield. After a quick jaunt up Mam Tor we kept driving east towards Sheffield and decided to visit some caves.
Our first stop was Speedwell Cave, which we'd read in a tour book had "an eerie boat-trip through a long, dark, flooded underground tunnel" but for a reason I can't quite remember we decided not to stay and take the tour.
Instead we headed up to Treak Cliff Cavern just north - and I'm so glad we did! It was much less crowded. In fact, we were the only 3 people on the tour.
Here's where we were:
These caves are known for being the only place in the world where you can find "Blue John" stone, a blue, banded, fluorite which has been actively mined here since the 1750s. These are extremely beautiful stones. Hard to capture on a camera in the dark, but here's a shot I took:
There were also some very cool fossils in the limestone. . .
as well as colorful flowstone.
One of the caves has "dead" stalagmites. This happens when skin oils from human hands affect the surface tension on the stone and they stop growing. Here's one example:
And some more photos from our visit:
Highly recommended. Great tour guide. Very cool stuff to see. And loved the selection of jewelry and other items made with the stone at the gift shop. Really glad to take a little piece of this unique material home with me.
You can see more photos of my trip in the Peak District album.
On this day, we packed up our things at the B&B and headed north towards Sheffield. After a quick jaunt up Mam Tor we kept driving east towards Sheffield and decided to visit some caves.
Our first stop was Speedwell Cave, which we'd read in a tour book had "an eerie boat-trip through a long, dark, flooded underground tunnel" but for a reason I can't quite remember we decided not to stay and take the tour.
Instead we headed up to Treak Cliff Cavern just north - and I'm so glad we did! It was much less crowded. In fact, we were the only 3 people on the tour.
Here's where we were:
These caves are known for being the only place in the world where you can find "Blue John" stone, a blue, banded, fluorite which has been actively mined here since the 1750s. These are extremely beautiful stones. Hard to capture on a camera in the dark, but here's a shot I took:
There were also some very cool fossils in the limestone. . .
as well as colorful flowstone.
One of the caves has "dead" stalagmites. This happens when skin oils from human hands affect the surface tension on the stone and they stop growing. Here's one example:
And some more photos from our visit:
Highly recommended. Great tour guide. Very cool stuff to see. And loved the selection of jewelry and other items made with the stone at the gift shop. Really glad to take a little piece of this unique material home with me.
You can see more photos of my trip in the Peak District album.
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