After having been sick yet again for the last two weeks we were looking forward to travelling again. This time we headed for Cheddar, about 40 minutes car drive or 1.5 hours bus ride from Bristol. As we are carless it was the bus for us. So we rocked up to the Bristol Bus Station for our 9.20am number 376 bus to Wells where we would then change to the 126 to Cheddar (Weston Super Mare is the end destination that you are after).
When we finally arrived at Wells the weekend market was on so we stopped for a coffee and sausage in a bun for breakfast. I also bought some extremely stinky cheese from the French Cheesemaker. This cheese looks fantastic but even wrapped in a plastic bag the stench is incredible! Note to self: not a great idea when travelling on buses and in confined spaces like the caves.
It was then on to Cheddar, the home of Cheddar cheese making and the gorge carved out by glacial ice flows in the last ice age.
When you get off the bus in Cheddar, get off on the second stop at Tweentown. This is the closet point to the gorge and the tourist area. We decided to take the Tour Bus option for 14 quid per head. This is a great option as the open top bus gives you stunning views as you head up the gorge. It also includes entry to the key main attractions, two caves, the prehistoric museum, Jacob’s ladder and of course the bus ride. If you find you don’t have time to visit all the attractions then your ticket is valid for 10 years so you can come back and continue at a later time. This is a great choice if you are staying in the area for a while.
The open top bus tour was very crisp up top but the views were fantastic and well worth the money. There were a large number of rock climbers out in the gorge and Steve is rather keen to return to do some climbs. The first cave we visited was Gough’s cave, the main one in the region and for my money, the best one. My favourite aspect was St Pauls Cathedral (as it is named) which has a “waterfall” of frozen calcite. With a small pond underneath as well it provided an incredible reflection of the staligtites and staligmites. Cheddar Man was found here in 1903. A fully intact skeleton of a past paleolithic inhabitant of the cave.
Next it was on to the prehistoric museum which was quite interesting and then Cox’s cave with the Crystal Quest. To be honest, this is incredibly lame and quite tacky with almost a disco feel to it. However, they do have the entrance to Jacob’s ladder which consists of two hundred and something odd steps up to a spectacular viewing area of the gorge and surrounding area. You can continue along the edge of the gorge on a 3 mile (5 kilometre walk) but we just didn’t have the time. We did climb the tower though for the best views of the area.
As we were starting to get a bit hungry by this time we headed back down into the main street and wandered through the numerous tourist shops. These were great fun with the cider shops, sweet makers and of course the Cheddar Cheese company. We bought some Cheddar Cave matured cheese which was stored in Gough’s cave to mature (as they have been doing since the late 1800’s). Of course we had to have some nice hot mulled cider to accompany the cheese. Let me tell you now, Cheddar cheese that we have grown up on in NZ holds nothing to the real thing. It is so much more rich and creamier, making your mouth almost tingle from the taste. Delicious!
We had a huge day and our legs were actually quite sore from all the walking given that we have been sick for 2 weeks. The weather was perfect and we greatly enjoyed Cheddar. This is another spot on our list of places to return to for either rock climbing or at the very least a picnic and walk along the top of the gorge.