I went to meet my sister and brother-in-law at Castleton today to meet up after the birthday. The weather was pretty grotty so we didn’t go to the Heights Of Abraham as we originally had planned to do. I didn’t think there was much point in spending loads of money to look at the view – of a cloud. Instead we went to Castleton and we went into Speedwell Cavern which was an interesting boat trip inside an old lead mine. The boat trip was about 15 minutes there, with a 5 min stop half way as we waited for the previous boat to pass us – then it was to the bottomless pit (which turns out to be 35ft deep!). Then back in the boat back to the start. It was a very interesting trip and the first time that I can remember for a long time inside a cave (I went to Cheddar Gorge when I was little but don’t remember much about it).
We then had lunch in the Bull’s head (not recommended) although they did give us free parking. That was a relief as parking in the town seemed very expensive with a 3 hours stay costing £3 or more and whats more, the on-road parking is only charged on weekends and bank holidays – so not only do they rip the visitors off, they are blatantly obvious about it!
After lunch we nipped into a couple of outdoor shops and I ended up buying two walking poles (thanks Mum and Dad, Ruth and Tim!) for my birthday and we immediately put them to good use when we walked up a VERY steep hill – past Peveril Castle (although we only saw the Norman Lavatory) along the Limestone way, braving the snow and hail on the top of the hill to find we’d walked along a one way system and we had to go back down again. We all enjoyed the walk (I think) and hopefully Tim will have some good pictures to post here soon. pictures by Tim are online at Castleton Gallery