Day 2 of our little break and we headed out to Cheddar Gorge, a place Linda wanted to visit for her birthday. We were still waxing lyrical about our visit to Wells the previous day as we drove to the village of Cheddar, but that all stopped as we entered the south western corner of the Gorge, cliffs towered over the car as the road snaked its way in a north easterly direction and I did my best to keep looking at the road. All too quickly we reached the car park at the other end, this one is free, unlike the ones inside the gorge and at Cheddar, so we parked and booted up. With the car park being in the dip between the two cliffs, the start of the walk is uphill straight away and it was a short steep pull up into the Cliff Plantation for us. We got good views almost straight away as we climbed, passing through copse of silver birch as we went. We then broke out from the trees onto the cliff tops above the gorge, with some lovely views in every direction, particularly west across the flat plains of the Somerset Levels. We then started to slowly drop down, eventually finding the top of Jacob’s Ladder, we’d read that access to this was a charge, but either it is free in winter or free if you are descending (which if so I’d recommend the clockwise route we did). We quickly dropped down the 274 steps with a school party following us, who’d been up the tower at the top of the Ladder, we popped out on the road below, amongst all of the trinket shops and tourists paying for entrance to the caves. We quickly found Lion’s Rock and the West Mendip Way path which starts up and onto the northern cliffs of the Gorge, as we climbed my blood sugars took a dive and we stopped on a fine cliff outcrop for lunch, with views down to the road near Horseshoe Bend. At this point we’d passed through another piece of woodland with the path opening out to give great views up and down the Gorge and across to the cliffs on the other side. We really enjoyed the path on this side, as it gave better views of more of the Gorge and we could appreciate the cliffs and crags on the opposite side. As the path dropped steeply down we got one last great view back along this little gem, with the village of Cheddar at the far end. We arrived at the car and sat having a coffee as the rain teemed down, talk about perfect timing. We drove back through the Gorge, stopping off briefly in a car park to quickly take a photo of the steeple like cliffs, before heading back to the hotel. All in all its a lovely walk, not very long at all at 4 miles, but it packs a punch in the climbs out of the Gorge at either end, really pleased to have done this one and there are lots of paths heading off away from the Gorge to enjoy as well if we revisit.
Start – Black Rock
Route – Cliff Plantation – The Pinnacles – Jacob’s Ladder – Cheddar – Lion Rock – West Mendip Way – Piney Sleight – Black Rock
Distance – 4 miles Start time – 10.15am Time taken – 3hrs 30mins Highest Point – The Pinnacles 253 metres
Weather – Some sun, cloudy, rained as we sat in the car at the end
The free car park at the north eastern end of the Gorge, we took the path up right from here, but there is also a gate over there behind those cars which takes you to the northern side of the Gorge first, if you want to head that wayClimbing up into Cliff Plantation, a group had passed us and seeing my Montane t-shirt, had mistaken it for Montana. An American in the group asked if I was from there!Cliff PlantationNow onto the open cliffs, the Gorge is right infront of me, dropping away, but from here you can also see our return path above the brown bracken line. The fields of the West Mendips beyondViews west to the flooded fields we had seen the day before, from Glastonbury TorExmoor away in the distance, we could also see a group of cranes in that direction, we assumed that was Hinckley Point nuclear power plant and its new construction. The water is Cheddar reservoir and behind that bank of cloud which had dropped, is the Bristol Channel/Atlantic OceanI braved the edges to take photos down into the gorgeVertiginous viewsThe road near Horseshoe Bend below. Cheddar reservoir in the distance, the cliffs seen on the other side of the Gorge, below the reservoir are where we had lunchLooking back to The PinnaclesGoats keep the brush, gorse and brambles under control and are part of the management of this SSSI area. Have to love the fearlessness of the kids who were scooting around this part, playing.Coaches parked can be seen below with the village of Cheddar, between the coaches and the village is a myriad of trinket shops, selling all amounts of tat. Including an all year Christmas shop! The pointy dark hill back right will be familiar to those who have travelled up and down the M5 as often as I have, it holds the Webbington HotelJacob’s Ladder, I’m part way down the 274 steps here. We walked down free, not sure what happens in the summer months or if you only need to pay if you come in the bottom. Either way there is a way around by dropping a little further into the village on the main path at the top, and walking back along the road at the bottomLooking up at Pulpit’s Rock, the obvious blue house on the left marks what is behind itLion RockA long pull up had us at the cliffs on the northern side and our lunch spot, the road below can be seen going left here, it turns sharply right and then into Horseshoe Bend, which is directly under the cliffs on the right. The grassy bank coming down in the centre of the photo is where the road goes around for the BendLunch spot viewsA Happy Birthday girlLooking along the GorgeAnd the other way, the path along this part was superb, with the cliffs clearly seen from this sideTurning around for one last look along the Gorge before the steep descentAs you can see now the ground is wet as it had started raining, we were glad to be sat in the car before it started, a small stream was running down the side of the road already at this point. But we have stopped to take a few photos from inside the GorgeThe Pinnacles from belowCheddar GorgeThat evening we headed for fish and chips sat in the car at Weston Super Mare, Linda had pie and chips. The Grand Pier is all lit up as we had a quick bimble after eating. A fine end to a lovely day
treksandtors 