It was a beautiful day as we set off for an hour and a half's drive to meet up with our friends at Priddy, near the Cheddar Gorge. It's a kind of half way point where we meet up for a walk in the spectacular limestone landscape around the gorge.
As you approach Cheddar the spine of the Mendip hills breaks out from the flat rather nondescript Somerset landscape. The underlying limestone has created a a wide ranging cave system as well as the Gorge and many smaller outcrops.
We always drive through the Gorge to enjoy the sight of those towering rock faces.
Plenty of visitors to the Gorge as always, tourists, walkers and many climbers scrambling up the cliffs. I suppose the closest alternative places to climb would be the mountains in Wales or the Welsh coast.
Our meeting place was Priddy, a lovely village with mostly stone houses, probably costing an absolute fortune, and several good pubs. Just checked out some house prices there and they range from £500,000 upwards !
The Queen Victoria is full of atmosphere, slate floors, stone walls and wood fires.
Milo was certainly enjoying the warmth of the fire. We decided to treat ourselves to a pub lunch instead of our usual picnic. The food was very well done, Peter had a beef pie with new potatoes & veg and I had faggots (liver based meatballs) with mash and onion gravy. All good winter grub.
Now I wonder why these 2 chaps have such silly grins on their faces?
Aha ! that's why, and the few pints they had to sample in the pub before hand.
We walked off our lunches at Ubley Warren, a popular walking spot with many rocky outcrops and 'mini gorges'. The whole of the Mendips seems to be an outdoor playground. We saw walkers, cyclists, cavers, horse riders, trail bikers and even parascenders and a microlight.
No walk would be compete with a final brew up and cake.
As you approach Cheddar the spine of the Mendip hills breaks out from the flat rather nondescript Somerset landscape. The underlying limestone has created a a wide ranging cave system as well as the Gorge and many smaller outcrops.
We always drive through the Gorge to enjoy the sight of those towering rock faces.
Plenty of visitors to the Gorge as always, tourists, walkers and many climbers scrambling up the cliffs. I suppose the closest alternative places to climb would be the mountains in Wales or the Welsh coast.
Our meeting place was Priddy, a lovely village with mostly stone houses, probably costing an absolute fortune, and several good pubs. Just checked out some house prices there and they range from £500,000 upwards !
The Queen Victoria is full of atmosphere, slate floors, stone walls and wood fires.
Milo was certainly enjoying the warmth of the fire. We decided to treat ourselves to a pub lunch instead of our usual picnic. The food was very well done, Peter had a beef pie with new potatoes & veg and I had faggots (liver based meatballs) with mash and onion gravy. All good winter grub.
Now I wonder why these 2 chaps have such silly grins on their faces?
Aha ! that's why, and the few pints they had to sample in the pub before hand.
We walked off our lunches at Ubley Warren, a popular walking spot with many rocky outcrops and 'mini gorges'. The whole of the Mendips seems to be an outdoor playground. We saw walkers, cyclists, cavers, horse riders, trail bikers and even parascenders and a microlight.
No walk would be compete with a final brew up and cake.Rest assured, the men were driven home by their completely sober wives.
