As a family we love to go out and explore, there is just one rules set by our Adventuring little man No roads, No Tarmac!
He absolutely hates walking where there is a laid out path, not sure whether its his adventurous spirit or the fact he doesn't like the feel underneath his feet, whatever it is it makes for some adventures. This one was no exception!
A little bit about the Cave
Cathedral Caves or (quarry) is in Little Langdale which is nestled in the heart of the Lake district. It is a serious of small tunnels and caverns but by far the most spectacular is the "cathedral" a 40 foot tall chamber which is flooded with light from an opening and the most spectacular rock with juts up in the centre of the cavern (which is actually there to hold up the cavern.
Interestingly enough the quarry was once owned by Beatrix Potter!
How to get there
We used the postcode LA22 9NZ from there we drove through the village, just beyond there is a sign that said car parking for Quarry. we took a chance. It is a piece of farmland and the farmers are charging £3 but we risked this rather than park on the side of very narrow country lanes, like some people.
Our Walk
From there we walked down to Fitz steps where you will come to a gate that leads to a public footpath on the right. This leads down to Slater bridge. which is truly stunning! made from the slate that was mined in the quarry.
From slater bridge you turn right up a slate gravel path to a style that goes up hill after which it's just a small walk to the tunnel (clearly signposted) which leads you into the cathedral cavern.
The cavern itself is breath-taking even our little adventure let out a very audible "Wow" following on from the main cavern you can make your way through and with a little bit of a climb you can appear in the cathedrals "window"
From this point you can go down or up the up path was definitely more defined so of course the 9 year old chose to go down and into a dark tunnel. Note to self: bring torches on all adventures!
The tunnel spanned at least 250feet and was pretty much shrouded in darkness, so very atmospheric. Luckily nowadays everyone has torches readily available on their phones so we could at least illuminate the immediate path in front of us in case there was any steep drops or low rocks etc.
Once you reach the end of the tunnel you are back on what we presumed to be the perimeter of the quarry. so back in we went and back to the Cathedrals window for a spot on lunch!
Anywhere would be ideal for stopping for lunch, but there is no bins so remember to take your rubbish with you. sadly we did notice some people who obviously don't know the countryside code (Thank you Cubs)
Around the Caves there are plenty of areas to adventure round. We even found another cave with a very ominous note scrawled onto the rocks....
We adventured around for around 2 hours and then headed back along the path, this time going over a different bridge and back up to the car (it was still there)
Overall a great day out adventuring and well worth the drive all in all this trip cost us around £10.00 with petrol, which in my book is fantastic!
We would definitely recommend this to anyone who lives near or is going to the Lake district for a day out/holiday!
Why not have a scroll through our slideshow of the day...
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