Caving and chipping continued..

So on Thursday--I was supposed to spend the morning in Nottingham, and in the afternoon, Mandy had a place out in the countryside for me to see. So I took the bus into the city center (after buying some postcard stamps you'll be happy to know) and looked around. I discovered BOOTS.. a HUGE drug and cosmetic store in the mall. And I wandered around the shops outside as well, until it started raining, and it wasn't just that persistant British drizzle--it was gully washing downpour. So I hid under cover for a little while--then donned my rainhat and raincoat and headed out again. I didn't get to the castle (though, I am informed it is more like a large house) and I was a bit concerned about missing the bus after the fiasco of the day before. So I stayed close to the bus stops. I did see a sandwich shop called "Peckish" which just cracks me up.

So shortly after noon, after having a sandwich and a biscuit for lunch (i need a separate post to expound on the differences between biscuits and cookies) we got in the car and took off for Derbyshire (prounounce it Dar-bi-sher). I did doze in the car--but when I woke up, the rolling green hills were lovely. Apparently, Mandy had dozed off too, and we ended up lost. Her and Adrian worked it out, and we found where we were going. We stopped first at Hartington--a little village of stone cottages and walls with beautiful gardens and a duck pond (but no ducks). Turns out Mandy's family went there on holiday when there were ducks. We stepped into one or two gift shops and poked a round a bit, and then headed back the car to our next destination.

On the way, Mandy points out to our left to a cave on the side of a mountain (or else a really big hill, I'm not sure which) and tells me that's Thor's Cave and we're going to go up there. All righty then. We park the car and set out.. down a country road. It leads us to the woods, where it winds up into a stone staircase. Keep in mind it has stayed drizzly for the day and these stones are wet--and muddy. But we gamely make our way through the wilderness--following Mandy's intrepid lead, with very optimistic encouragements of "we're nearly there!". By now, my breath is becoming short (Mandy assured me this is NOT because I'm out of shape but merely because the air is thinner up there, nice girl that she is) and I'm really hoping there's a well at the top of the mountain so I can take a nice long drink and a nap.

We finally emerge from the woods to behold Thor's cave. It's this humungous--like at least thirty feet, but probably closer to fifty feet (and my size estimates are probably way off--really big) cavern that you have to slip..I mean, climb your way up into (my long legs served me well here) and by gripping the walls for dear life and sliding in, we finally found a bit of a perch to sit and survey the world from high above. It truly is a spectacluar view. You can see the tiny sheep on the hills far below.

When we caught our breath, Mandy and I went exploring Thor's cave. She used to come to this place with her father and brother and they had named all the areas after areas of a house. She took me to the "window" (which has an immense drop just past the window sill, and is itself a huge gash in the side of the cave) and then back to the far corner, where there was a flat area that she told me would serve as a bed, so that was the bedroom. The other areas of the "house" were far back along the dark hallways, and we hadn't brought a flashlight, so we ended our tour there. There were children exploring it while we were up there, sliding round in the mud (though they had rubber "wellies" that would have been very handy)and yelling to hear their voices echo and I could just picture my brothers and I having a ball doing the same.

We returned to the opening (where Adrian was nicely holding our things) and after a brief rest, made our way out again.. hopping down the rock (being careful not to get too close to the ledge) and we climbed our way to the back side of the mountain where Mandy assured us that the way back down was a nice easy road. When we got to the juncture of said road (which resembled a mud pathway) she pointed up and said that the top of the mountain was just up there and it really was worth seeing. Okay. There was a path with stones for steps--how hard could it be?? Well, let's just say I was hanging on to the grass for dear life, praying that the next rock wasn't quite as muddy and slick as the last, and Adrian decided he was quite high enough and stayed at the bottom. Mandy was ahead of me, sending assurances that the top was just up here, yet there was always another little rise. Finally, and just about out of breath.. we reach the top. Wow. Talk about a great view. You could see for miles.

There were so many hills, I told Mandy that it reminded me of that part in the Bible where God owns the cattle on a thousand hills--because we could see a couple dozen or so--and a lot of them even had cattle on them. It just gave me real sense of God's power and his view point. He really can see everything--even me, a small little sheep in a flock on one little hill. It was very reassuring as well as humbling.

We then headed back down, wishing the whole time we had a taboggon.. to just sled down. I slipped on the wet grass--before it got either muddy or steep, and thought it was going to be a very long descent..but we made it. We also made for a very funny sight for the other family of explorers, picking our way down the hill, trying not to just land in the mud. We finally reached the bottom and with much rejoicing headed down the muddy path (which was also a little slick) to the country road. We had to climb over a stone wall to do this (so there was what's called a stile? a few little steps on each side of the wall so you can easily step up and then down the other side..) and it was quite a pleasant walk down the mountain, albeit our knees were sore and there wasn't much of us that wasn't covered in mud.

We also meet some very solemn cows on our journey and after we tried talking to them for a while they all came over to the gate to pose for a picture for us...I'm sure they thought were were silly tourists for finding a bunch of cows so interesting, but they posed for us just as well.

We finally and gratefully made it back to the car and then we headed back to the main road, with a clear purpose of both getting home and getting some real English fish and chips on the way home. Chips being french fries (or more like potato wedges actually) and the fish being fried cod, golden and delicious and all of it doused in salt and vinegar...and we ate it standing up in the parking lot.. with some fruity Fanta to wash it down with.. it was fantastic.