The Devil's Arse

On the map there are quite a few attractions around Castleton. We visited there a few years ago one Christmas. At the time we went for a walk following our guide book. This time though we decided to check out the caves and if we had time, walk up Mam Tor which is an impressive large hill.

We started by visiting Peveril Castle which was built just after the Battle of Hastings in 1066. It is now a ruin but you can enter the keep.

By the time we left it was lunch and we decided to grab a sandwich at a nearby deli/cafe. They had a cabinet full of cakes and starring at me was a huge custard slice with icing. The custard was over an inch thick! I had to have it and it was delicious.  And Zoe thought so too.

We ventured over to Speedwell Cavern and went inside. We had to put on hard hats and descend 106 steps down to a small boat. Eight of us got in the boat and the guide led the boat down a very narrow and low 400 metre man-made tunnel. The tunnel was mined 200 years ago as lead mine.

Next we went on to the Devil's Arse or rather Peaks Cavern which is a natural cavern and caves where rope makers lived there their entire lives making, erm, rope. I volunteered to help make some rope, which seemed very simple and I got to take the rope home.
The Devil's Arse got it's name because the Victorian's believed that caves lead down to Hell and there's a small area which when it gets flooded as the water drains away air gets trapped and for about 10 minutes you can hear the devil farting! It got renamed to the Peaks Cavern because Queen Victoria paid it a visit once and there was no way the Queen would be seen in the Devil's Arse.
We liked this tour. The cavern and caves didn't have the best structures and there weren't any stalactites but the guide was brilliant and very informative and some of her stories were amazing.

On the way back we went through Winnats Pass which is a very beautiful rocky gully. The road was a bit steep and I had to rev the nuts out of Herman in 1st gear to make it up.

By the time we got back to the campsite the wind and rain had picked up and our neighbour's awning had been completely destroyed. There were poles bent and scattered everywhere and the canvas was torn and flapping wildly in the wind.