I’ve been following Peak District Kids, run by Jenny Lynn, for a long while on Facebook and seen lots of different walks in the Peak District we could do. We love the outdoors and regularly go walking but it’s always to the same places that we already know. It was time to get more adventurous (and more organised!).
We went armed one Wednesday afternoon with a packed lunch and a walking guide from the Peak District Kids website and off we went! I’ve seen lots of pictures of Thor’s Cave online and thought it would be a destination with a difference.
The walking guides are £1.50 each and are very detailed, with particularly helpful tips on where to park and where the toilets are etc. You get a pdf download which you can either save to your phone or print off; we did both as I was keen to get the girls to do the navigating.
Could we have got to the cave without the guide? Sure! But I wanted the girls to take the lead on the walk and the guide is incredibly easy to follow. They really appreciated the helpful step-by-step instructions and pictures which reassured them we were going the right way. The guide also gave us a great circular walk with lots of different views and scenery and, without the guide, it wouldn’t have occurred to us to take a torch with us for the cave (our phone torches weren’t that useful).
Also, I love following Jenny Lynn’s blogs (she also has a Travelynn Family blog for overseas travel) so paying for a guide is my way of supporting her and saying thank you.
We were blessed with dry weather all afternoon; if anything it was a bit too hot! At the start of the walk, the cave outcrop can be seen ahead of you so the girls were on a mission to get there quickly!
When we arrived at the cave, there were two families already inside but, once they left, we had the cave to ourselves for quite some time. I imagine that’s a very different experience to going in the height of summer when I’ve heard you can end up queuing to get in! I was grateful for no audience when I had to come out of the cave on my bottom; the entrance to the cave is very smooth and was pretty slippery, even though it was dry.
We loved exploring inside which was made much easier with the powerful torch we brought with us. The cave isn’t very deep but it’s easy to get into the pitch black part right at the back.
It’s the cleanest cave I’ve ever been in (which admittedly isn’t many)! Usually they are damp places with bird and bat muck everywhere. But not this cave – it was dry and spotless!
The view from the opening is absolutely stunning as you can see right across the Manifold Valley. I’d love to visit it in each season and compare the difference in the view each time.
We deviated from the walking guide slightly by walking up the path onto the area above the cave (it’s well signposted). The view from here was gorgeous and there was a welcome cooling breeze. It would be an amazing place for a picnic stop in good weather.
We then carried on with the route which took us to the bottom of the valley where we could look up at the cave from below and learn a bit about the cave from an information board.
The route then followed the flat, shaded Manifold Way path for just under a mile before the climbing started. It was quite a pull back up to the top of the valley but the views were worth it.
We were met with quite an obstacle at the end of the walk. We can see the funny side of it now…..We had to walk across a field next to a farm. What looked like a muddy field was actually a huge field of slurry which had a crusty top thanks to the strong sun that day. Mummy started walking across the “mud” and ended up shin-deep in muck! Much to the amusement of the rest of Team Wint, I couldn’t then get my foot out without Dom coming to rescue me.
After a pause to laugh our heads off, we had to navigate across the field by jumping from one tussock of grass to another. We got to the other side with quite a cheer. I dread to think what the field would be like if it had rained recently. The girls thought it was hilarious that Mummy had to strip off and wear Daddy’s waterproof trousers on the way home!
Despite the messy end, we really enjoyed this walk. It was great to be somewhere new, the cave was great fun to explore and we all felt better for the exercise, the views and the sun on our skin. We’ll definitely be picking another walking guide very soon!
