UK is a country with plenty of huge green land, parks and mountains. No matter how packed a city is, you'll still be able to find at least a park, for instance, London has Hyde Park. It gets better at outskirts, where you get to see how people live happily and healthily. We heard good reviews about Castleton in Peak District, about an hour away from Sheffield by bus, and the reviews are true.
In our journey to Castleton, we saw a myriad of brick houses with huge backyard. I mean, HUGE! There was still plenty of space left after it accommodated a full-sized trampoline, playhouse and even an area for laundry!
The bus station located in Castleton was far from all the sights and sceneries. But it's okay, as I enjoyed walking pass through the small town of Castleton before reaching the caverns. Not many shops for a small town, only few cafes and small souvenir shops were available.
You will surely live longer by staying here as a permanent resident! One of my friends plan to buy a house here for retirement because the environment here was so comforting and relaxing! I wish I can have one too... *adding in my wishlist*
No skyscrapers, no air-polluting factories, no industrial development, just pure interaction with the nature. Look at the vast grass land, the continuous hill range and the white blue sky. Only interrupted by a two-lane motorway. Sheep and boars were kept in a compound, and my friend CS tried to get the sheep's attention by imitating the sheep's bleat! "有音的，你要跟", I wouldn't forget this sentence!
We finally arrived at Treak Cliff Cavern after a long walk. After a hearty climb to the entrance, a fee have to be paid to enter, where a tour with a tour guide will be available to guide you through the cavern and explains about almost everything in the cavern.
There was nothing particularly interesting about all the caverns in Castleton (which has about 4 famous caverns) except for one where you can have a boat tour on the small stream in the cavern. This Treak Cliff Cavern is not huge on the inside, but there's something the Treak Cliff Cavern produces - Blue John stone. It's a kind of shiny blue stones that can be processed into an ornament.
Stalactites and stalagmites! Calcium carbonate hanging on the roof of the cave. Looks gooey but they are actually solid matter.
After egressing from the Treak Cliff Cavern, we had a short, self-prepared lunch break before embarking on to the serious task - climbing the Mam Tor Hill! Mam Tor, meaning 'mother hill', it is called so because of frequent landslides in the past created few 'mini-hills' beneath it. I had the shock of my life when I saw the peak of Mam Tor because I had never climbed a hill this tall before, 517m!
 |
| This point is just the beginning of the climb! |
Although the climb is exhausting, the view was definitely rewarding, making the tiring climb worthwhile!
Finally at the peak of Mam Tor! What a great achievement xD
After a pretty long photo session, we descent using a steep short-cut. It's impressive to see sheep living and looking for food while maintaining their balance on the verge of a cliff.
The landslides around Mam Tor was so devastating till the authorities has given up repairing the road! What Asian do when we discovered a crack on the ground! LOL!
Sitting on the verge of a collapse road!
I've successfully climbed to the top of Mam Tor Hill!
NEXT: The unforgetable...
No comments:
Post a Comment