Thor’s Cave

This cave was created over thousands of years by the effects of water and wind on the limestone rocks formed from layers of dead marine animals between 280 and 360 million years ago. The area was submerged under a shallow, warm sea near the equator, and the hill would have been like a tropical reef.

The name may be a corruption of ‘tors’ (meaning hills), or it may come from Thor, the Norse god of thunder.

Around 20,000 years ago the huge cavern would have been used for shelter by both humans and animals.  Bones of bears and giant red deer have been found in the area, and Thor’s Cave is the site of a Bronze Age Burial.

Sue and I visited it yesterday.

Saturday/Sunday 7 and 8 March 2020 - A Weekend at Ilam

 Click on any picture to access a slideshow

 

This was Sue and Phil's 25th wedding anniversary weekend at Ilam Hall, attended by well over 100 of their friends and relatives.

 

On Saturday morning a sizeable party left the hall, in view of the church that lies within the grounds - pictured above - at around 9.30. Just as Richard and I were finishing our 5 km jog in Derby.

 

We hastened back to base, and whilst Richard then enjoyed a leisurely day, I shot off to catch up with those who had set out an hour earlier. I was called back by Phil - one of his bellringing fraternity had arrived late and wanted a longish walk.

 

So bellringer Brian and I set off to cross a tempting bridge from which the next picture, looking back up to the hall, was taken.

 

 

We soon realised we'd gone the wrong way. However, our brisk pace brought us to a point near Beeston Tor Farm, where the big group of 27 were sitting around with their flasks open. The drink was most welcome. I'm usually full of coffee by now, after a parkrun!

 

A rather more sedate pace prevailed for the rest of the day - much to Brian's relief.

 

The cycle track beside the River Manifold, following the course of an old railway line, led us from Weag's Bridge (below) to the turn to Wetton and Thor's Cave.

 

 

There's an information board about Thor's Cave, from where the massive cave is seen high above.

 

I've written about this spot after previous visits. This report provides more information, or you could just put 'Thor' into the search box on the top left of this blog - always a good way to find things I might have written about.

There were lots of people, in addition to our 27, about today, so most of us didn't bother to go into the steep, slippery, muddy cave. Been there, done that!
 

 

There's a fine view down to the Manifold Valley from the cave entrance.

 

 

The Royal Oak in Wetton provided another most welcome rehydration opportunity, with the benches in the village centre offering a good spot to scoff some lunch - Thanks to Sue for the smoked salmon and cream cheese with cucumber buns. 

 

 

 

From Wetton, the path down Hall Dale brought us to Dove Dale, the pinnacles of Pickering Tor, and the much photographed Ilam Rock, on which there were no climbers today.

 

 

Ilam Rock would have been a very greasy climb today.

 

 

Dove Dale has clearly recently seen the River Dove at high levels, but there's no evidence of serious flooding. The duck boards seem to have stayed above the river level.

 

 

There's a rocky knoll near Lover's Leap and the Twelve Apostles, on which our motley crew finished off any edible contents of their bags and flasks before resuming the easy walk amongst grockles back to the Hall for tea and (lots of) cake.

 

 

Anyone who had stayed mud free so far was to be disappointed as they trudged across a final field beyond Izaak Walton Hotel to Ilam.

 

 

 

Here's our route - 20 km with about 550 metres of ascent.

 

 

Later, about 110 guests enjoyed a lavish meal at Ilam Hall. Sue has lots more photos that she may broadcast separately.

 

 

As usual on such events, many people went home on Sunday morning, so there were just 15 or so of us on a ramble from the Hall.

 

 

The views towards Thorpe Cloud and Dove Dale were illuminated by sunshine today, but after overnight rain everywhere was rather muddy.

 

 

 

 

 

We went via Rushley then down a very muddy path to the River Hamps and the Manifold Way, lunching in a churned up field before heading up Soles Hollow.

 

 

 

After crossing a minor road, our path led down a most pleasant valley through Musden Wood to Rushley.

 

 

Pleasant, but muddy.

 

 

 

Very muddy!

 

 

 

Then, by mid afternoon, we found ourselves back at the Hall, with just enough time to get to Morrisons in Buxton before its 4 pm closing time to purchase supplies for dinner.

 

 

Here's our convoluted route - just 17 km today, with 480 metres ascent. Thanks go to Robin for planning both day's routes.

 

 

So, a most enjoyable weekend, away from the relentless news of the spread of Coronavirus, which at the time of writing is starting to threaten many of this year's plans.

Sunday 12 December 2010 – A Stroll from Wettonmill

The previous Sunday, the Manifold Valley had been engulfed in snow, with temperatures lower than –10C.  During the week a slow thaw had freed up access, but early arrivals for this walk were still able to enjoy driving down the ‘toboggan run’ from Butterton and recover from the ordeal with coffee in the café.

Then our Health and Safety officer, Notchy, arrived to put a stop to such frivolity.  Our car duly turned round and took the easy route through the long single track tunnel to the south of Warslow.

Luckily the large lay-by at Wettonmill was free enough of snow to permit parking.  We duly filled it with cars, some 24 folk having turned up for this annual event, including a few who either hadn’t been on a walk with us before, or hadn’t appeared for rather a long time.  It was great to see you all; thank you for coming.

It’s a fairly short walk from Wettonmill, down the Manifold Valley to the climb up to Thor’s Cave, where the assembled masses could explore the magnificent cavern and enjoy a choice of CCS or fudge brownies, or indeed both, with their elevenses.

Viewers of BBC’s Countryfile programme will have benefitted from the comprehensive analysis of this area by a sheep farmer in the previous week’s episode.  It still seems amazing that this huge cavern, high above the valley, was formed by a river, millions of years ago.

The place has a rich history.  Some 20,000 years ago bears and red deer would have sought refuge in the cave, but by the end of the 19th century it had become a tourist destination.  It was served by a railway station on the Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway some 80 metres below, between 1904 and 1934, and in 1988 a memorable film, The Lair of the White Worm, directed by Ken Russell, was shot on location here.

We trotted back down to the valley path, and emerged into bright sunshine near Weags Bridge.

After this, all bar two of the assembled mass met the challenge of the steep path through vibrant gorse bushes that short-cuts a hairpin on the road.  Well done!

Below Wetton Low, a slithery path contours beautifully above the Manifold Valley, with fine views back up the valley, and also to the south east towards Ilam, former home of the Watts-Russell family.

After a while we turned into a biting breeze towards Hopedale, prior to which a freshly muck-spread field gooed up our boots.  So instead of heading straight for the pub (we were surprisingly early anyway), a convoluted route was chosen that enabled us to reach the warmth of the Watts-Russell Arms a little before our planned 1pm target.

Phil (the 25th member of our party – feeling ill, but not poorly enough to miss out on a pub meal) had been in residence for some time.  Our group basically took over the pub and enjoyed Chris and Bruce’s beer and food.  It’s always a bit of a concern, taking 25 people to an untried venue, but I think everyone enjoyed their meal.

After nearly two hours in this pleasant spot, chatting about important matters like TGO Challenge routes (Mick and Gayle are reserves – their route is fully planned; I have decided to start with novice Mike from Oban and have a rough plan in mind; Graham hasn’t decided on a start point for his 21st crossing), and inserting comedic answers to a little quiz that I had set, as well as catching up with all those we hadn’t seen for some time, we set off again, in the direction of Ecton Hill.

It was a pleasant afternoon, though the light soon started to fade, and by the time we were approaching Top of Ecton a small splinter group, perhaps afraid of the dark, had formed.  So these seven miscreants headed off back to Wettonmill via Sugarloaf, whilst the rest of us continued on as planned up to the 369 metre summit of Ecton Hill, reached by the time the light was beginning to fade at 4pm.

Everyone seemed very happy, and Sue found a patch of deepish snow in which to play.  It’s a good viewpoint, but photos were difficult in the low light.

We knew that Impending darkness would not be a problem, as it’s an easy descent to rejoin the Manifold Valley at Ecton, then a leisurely stroll back to Wettonmill via the course of the old railway as far as the tunnel by The Lee, before a final half hour or so on the good path above the east bank of the river.

Despite the dim light, no torches were needed and we all arrived safely at Wettonmill at 5pm after our five hour stroll plus two hours in the pub – 18km (11 miles) with 780 metres of ascent, as shown below.

Only a few pictures were taken on the day, so I’ve added the set from our recce walk two months earlier to this slide show.  It’s amazing how quickly summer changes into winter, though the conditions for our walk were much less wintry than they would have been a week earlier…

I wasn’t the only blogger in attendance.  Gayle has posted her usual eloquent résumé, which quite neatly complements this version, here.  We are glad that you enjoyed your day out, Gayle.

A Christmas Walk, and other stuff

Those of you using Google Reader to view this blog may have noticed that I accidentally posted a round robin message, which you may also have received by email.  Luckily, it wasn’t a serious faux pas (except in that it omitted to incorporate an image!), and on reflection I’m reiterating the text of the message below.  If any readers would like to be added to (or indeed deleted from) our email circular list, or join us on any of these jaunts, do let us know.

The snapshot was taken from Thor’s Cave on 6 October.  The view will have taken on a different hue by 12 December!

“Hello All

Christmas Walk

We think we have a nice route for a Xmas walk on Sunday 12 December, starting from Wettonmill.

Details are here.  Please let us know, by 30 November at the latest, if you plan to come, as we'll need to pre-order the food.  We'll let you have the menu closer to the time.

Evening Walks

We have had to change the dates of the last two evening walks of the year, to 10 November (next Wednesday) and 20 December.  Details for that small minority of you who may like to turn up are here.

Day Walks

These days our day walks tend to be at fairly short notice, geared to the best of the weather.  Do let us know if you would like to be kept informed of short notice mid-week walks.

We'll be in Wales the week after next, and are happy to set provisional dates for any of the 'Great British Ridge Walks' mentioned here.  So let us know if you'd like to join us on any of those routes, on any particular day.  We are unlikely to be doing them all - it'll depend on the weather.

That's all for now.

We hope you are well, and enjoying life.

All best wishes

Sue and Martin”

Sunday 20 October 2002 - A Walk from Alstonefield

 

Like yesterday's posting, this will be of only passing interest, even to those present.

 

Today's rediscovery of early digital images reveals four pictures from 20 October 2002, recorded in my diary as:

 

'Dovedale walk with Sue, Andrew, Sue and Phil, GS, Dave A, G&T. 11-5 - Alstonefield/Manifold/Dovedale'.

Well, that was concise. G&T were not married at this point - in fact, Sue and I had only recently exchanged vows.

The first two pictures must have been taken between Alstonefield and the Manifold Valley.
 

 

Then we all explored Thor's Cave, which looks as if it wasn't quite as muddy as on our recent visit on 7 March in the heady days when we were allowed out.

 

 

Our lunch spot was probably further along the Manifold Valley, perhaps near Rushley.

 

 

 We WILL meet again -  to quote Andrew from his weekly missive...

 

Sunday 1 March 2015 – A Short Circuit from Warslow

It’s always a pleasure to meet up with our friends from Johannesburg Hiking Club, especially as they generally let me choose my own route for their walks. Today I was aware that a few of the rapidly aging population were struggling with ailments, so a short circuit was in order.

They were staying at Shayside, to the west of Warslow, from where we set off at around 10am along the track to Villa Farm. Pictured above is the full team: Sue, Gill, Kevin (bad knee), Millie, Anita, Sue (bad shoulder), David (bad knee), Colin (bad knees), Gaynor’s shadow (asleep after a hard night), me.

From Villa Farm, on the outskirts of Warslow, we headed along the bridleway towards Grindon. It was undulating.

And muddy in places. Sue E in particular enjoyed gathering as much mud as she could, for later distribution on the floors of Shayside.

We turned left at Hoo Brook and headed to the cafe at Wettonmill, where David brought a round of drinks (I think) - it was his birthday. By now, Kevin’s knee was whinging to the extent that he decided to retreat to Shayside along the tarmac provided.

The cycle track that used to be the Manifold Valley railway line led to a good view of Thor's Cave, high above the valley.

The cave is along the path to the left in the image below. Everyone had been there before, so we continued up to the village of Wetton, Millie assiduously carrying her lunch.

Here's the view from Wetton, across the Manifold Valley to Grindon. It was becoming steadily cloudier, following earlier bursts of sunshine on a cool day.

Anita and Millie posed on a block of stone in Wetton that may once have been used to mount horses.

Lunch was taken beyond the Wetton hills at a sheltered spot near Back of Ecton.

Continuing up towards Ecton Hill, past a small reservoir, we came across some very docile 'British White' cattle, completely unfazed by Millie’s benign presence.

Ecton Hill, 369 metres, provided good, if deteriorating, views from the high point of the walk.

We descended north to the site of a copper mine. This was a state of the art facility in its day over 200 years ago. Copper was being mined here as long as 4000 years ago, but production peaked between 1760 and 1789, when 400 local workers produced 42,000 tons of ore that was transported by pack horse to a smelter eleven miles away. The copper was used for making brass and for lining the bottoms of naval ships to make them sail faster.

The mine finally closed in 1889. Today the hill was fringed with camouflaged men armed with rifles, so we tiptoed softly away as it started to rain.

By the time we reached the distinctive copper turreted building that dominates Ecton it was raining quite hard and everyone seemed thankful that a short itinerary had been chosen.

By 2.30 we were back at Shayside, after a wet and muddy, but nevertheless enjoyable, conclusion to the walk.

Here’s our route - 14 km, 500 metres ascent, taking 4.5 hours:

Here’s a link to an album of 24 images.

It was good to see everyone after a longish period, and to enjoy David’s birthday tea and cake selection – all very nice cakes that sent Gaynor to sleep, I didn’t need much supper – and Andrew (even more crocked than those on the walk) even got a whiff of cake from afar and put in an appearance. We hope your knee problem resolves itself, Andrew. And we hope the ham in coco-cola went down well!