Speedwell and Peak Cavern

Salam and good day everyone! We meet again...

Remember the weekend that I went to Peak District? Well, the next day (Sunday), we went to these two caverns...Speedwell Cavern and Peak Cavern. Cavern means a large cave or a chamber in a cave, to those who was wondering.

The tickets for these two places can be bought at the entrance. We went to Speedwell cavern first because we passed through the place the day before. We bought joint tickets meaning to enter both caverns for just £13.75 for student.

You have to wait in a line. If there's a lot of people, there's a chance that you have to wait for hours because they take 20 people per round and each round will last for an hour. 

There are 106 steps going down and up to the boats.

Those who are claustrophobic are not recommended to go here. The pathway is very narrow.

See what i mean. That's why they provide you with hard hats to avoid head injuries. But for those petite few like me, that's not a very big problem. hahaha...

At the end of the path, there's a chamber where we got off.

We can take pictures here for 15 minutes. At first when we came down from the boat, it was pitch dark, then they turn on the lights...and walla!

You can see the stalagtites. Then they'll turn off the lights again as a sign to get back on the boat. I sat at the very end on our way back.

Weeee....

We crossed path with another boat, just as the previous boat before us. As we passed the other boat, our guide said "That was the best 3 weeks of our lives!" and we were to shout yeay! or woohooo!! or something...=P

 So this is what the path actually looks like.

Then...another 106 steps going back up 

After the boat ride, we were off to peak cavern!

On our way to peak cavern, we have to walk through a village, which looks very beautiful.

Peak cavern has one of the biggest naturally formed opening in the world. It is one of the world's biggest naturally formed cavern.

Peak cavern is also known as the devil's arse (bum) because in the olden days, people believe cavern is a gateway to hell. In this cavern, there's a water flowing which sometimes can be heard as a farting sound, hence the name. Silly right? Well, that's what people believe.

However, Queen Victoria wanted to go to this cavern one day while she was visiting Derbyshire, and the people thought, the royalty couldn't possibly go to a place that have devil in the name let alone arse. So, they change it to Peak Cavern.

When we arrived, we had to wait for a few minutes for the next tour. The last tour was at 4pm.

When you enter, you'll see like a small workshop around the cave entrance. See the blackness at the cave's ceiling, I'll tell you about it in a bit.

A long time ago, around the 1920's, this used to be the workshop of a rope maker. Long ago, some people were asking the king for a place to stay, so he gave them this cave to live in, but they need to produce something for the palace and for their means of living. The people decided that they were going to make ropes. This was great because parts of this cave and the nearby caves (Speedwell cavern) are used for mining. Which they would need ropes. 

The black color on the ceiling was due to the burning of fire when the rope makers were living here.

The guide told us that people were living in a such a horrible state where the smell of the cave became so bad that they can smell it from the entrance to Castleton.  

He then showed a demonstration of how they used to make ropes in the olden days.They make ropes out of yarn which can be ripped off by hand.

But in the end, the ropes are thick and strong.

The ropes need to be tension free so that they are able to pull heavy stuff without breaking. See when he held the rope, it stays upright.

This is one of the gadgets used to make the ropes. Some are even being used today in some hand made ropes workshops.

Then we went inside the cave. This box that's shaped like a coffin is actually a boat. Used for transportation around the cave.

Long ago, these type of tour is only open for the wealthy people. However, it is said that only the brave and strong-hearted ones made it through the inner part of the cave due to the horrible smell at the entrance. They will be given candles at the entrance to light up their path. These holes in the picture will be occupied by the rope makers' children where they will scream and shout at the visitors to scare them. Imagine you're in pitch black darkness, with just sounds of your breath and suddenly you hear banshee-like screams on top of your heads surrounding the cave. It was told that the tourists are all on 4 (arms and legs) crawling their way in the cave.

Of course, nowadays, they've built lamps, pathways and stairs for us to march on through. 

The water that's flowing is continuous whether in rain or dry. The difference is when it's raining, the water flows more than usual.

This is a man-made tunnel made before the visit from Queen Victoria to the cavern. Because the normal path was usually by boat where visitors need to lie flat on their backs through out the way. So they think, a queen can't possibly lie on her back, so they made this tunnel.

This ramp was used for the rope makers to go to the river below. It's said to be in the film of Narnia. 

This is our guide, Max. =D

This is a statue of Santa. Not Santa Claus. More like this...

This is what they wore during the Semana Santa celebration (Resurrection of Jesus).

Afterwards, more photoshoot at the village. ;-)

While waiting for my friends to take some water for ablution and perform their prayer, we browsed around the local shops.

Where else can you find one of these?

After that, we drove back and found this spectacular reservoir. It's a private lake, so we can't go nearer.

The scene remind me of Harry Potter (when the other schools arrive at Hogwarts in The Goblet of Fire)

Duckies....

Selfie with the car, which I've missed so much.

The horsies need to be in blankets because it's chilly. 

Imagine Hogwarts at the end. =P

After that, we head home and search for food. It was such a lovely experience. Peak district is such a huge place, for the 2 days, we only managed to go to Buxton and Castleton. There's 5 more districts that we haven't seen yet. Maybe some other day.

Until next time....