Cheddar

Next stop was Cheddar. Home of the cheese, the gorge, and the caves. We ended up there by chance, having booked the closest affordable place to Bath. We were delighted.

We stayed at this youth hostel which had a most pleasant garden.
The nearby Cheddar gorge is well known in England for its dramatic limestone cliffs.
We saw dozens of cyclists riding up the gorge (pitches up to 16%) and several groups of rock climbers (the folks at the base of cliff).We took two wonderful hikes up the north side of the gorge, where steep trails brought us up to beautiful rolling grassland.
The rock walls were great. In places they were working to rebuild and preserve them.
This pony was super friendly and really appreciated the apple Mary brought along!
The sheep were also content.
Next we visited one of the popular caves.


Amazing stuff.

Afterwards we had tea and biscuits and strolled about the town. We also sampled locally made Cheddar cheese, which ranged from super stinky (old, cave aged) to mild (not so old, store aged).

After we "did" Cheddar we were off to London!