This morning I headed to the town of Cheddar. Yes, this is where cheddar cheese was invented! However; I did not go for the cheese but for the caves. The town of Cheddar rests at the end of the Cheddar Gorge. A popular hiking area and the largest gorge in England, Cheddar Gorge was created during the last ice age. Waters melting from the ice sheets mixed with CO2 and ate away at the limestone rocks. With limestone usually come caves.

There are two caves that you can enter, Gough’s Cave and Cox Cave. One nice part is that you pay for one ticket and it gets you into most everything the town has to offer. Both of the caves were opened at about the same time to the public in the late 1800’s and catered to the ever expanding tourism economy that was popping up throughout England.

I started my morning at Gough’s Cave, which was the bigger of the two. The walk through the cave is very easy. There are also free audio tours available which give excellent explanations of the cave, its formation and how the cave was excavated.

Cox Cave was just a short walk down the road. While it is smaller it is also a bit better lit in places than Gough’s Cave.

For lunch, I hit up an Italian restaurant for a change.

After the caves, it’s nice just to wander around the town.

After I had finished up what I had wanted to see in Cheddar I headed to the town of Axbridge to see their historic building in the center of the town.

Tomorrow I continue my travels north and my new lodging in the Cotswolds.