Peak Cavern

Been a busy week or so, but time for a quick couple of blogs today.  Took the oldies to Peak Cavern a couple of weeks back.  I wanted to go to one of the Blue John caves here.  (Apparently the name of the stone comes from French - in the early days of mining it they described the stone as Blue Jeune, it being a very mixed quartz.  And so it got corrupted to Blue John. They still mine half a tonne a year which is made partly into jewellery etc for local sales - we now have earrings - and is also sold for specialist things like a chalice for the Queen's Silver Jubilee many years ago.)  Anyway, the Blue John caves are very hard of access, with lots of steps, so I played safe and took them to the Peak Cavern.  After all, a cave they even took Queen Victoria through - well, what could go wrong?

It's original name was the Devil's Arse - after a lot of rainfall they get some flooding, and there's a pool where it rises then disappears back out through a small outlet in the walls.  And it makes quite a noise as it goes - our guide demonstrated.  Given the name, I'm sure you can figure out the noise.  But of course, QV couldn't visit a cave with such a rude name, so it was rechristened.  They also blasted out a couple of passages, so she didn't have to be shot through on her back in a little coffin-shaped boat.  Sounded ideal!

This cave has the largest natural opening of any cave in the UK.  It's so big that there was a small village in the mouth, the tiny houses of the ropemakers who used it as a dry factory.  One of these houses has been reconstructed for the tourists.  About the size of a coal shed, it would sleep 8.  Eek!

Our guide Sam gave a demonstration of rope making.  As nobody else volunteered to assist I did, and so he gave me the rope we made.  I have a nice little shank of it in the conservatory now.  Once it would have been made of hemp, and waterproofed with animal fat for use in the local lead mines.  Now it's jute I think he said, which they get from the Chatham Dockyards.

The cavern opens in the cliff face in the background

Opening ahead

Waiting to tour

Sam and the ropemaking

The mouth of the cave

I didn't get any good pix inside.  It wasn't very spectacular in terms of stalagtites or anything.  Also rather damp underfoot.

The narrow passage avoiding the coffin boat was great.  Turned out that the passage to get to it though was a little lower.  I have no idea how I got them both back home intact.  Ma obediently kept her head down and staggered on, but Mol would try to see where she was going.  They call it Lumbago Passage - need I say more?  I hadn't seen a warning about that on the website either!