More about Matlock

The last complete day of the trip to Nottingham took place on the 11th of August; for that day we visited the Heights of Abraham in Matlock Bath, Derbyshire (I incorrectly referred to the place as Matlock in the initial post about the day; Matlock Bath is a village south of Matlock). The people in the group consisted of my aunt and uncle, two younger cousins, an older cousin, a friend of my older cousin (whom we picked up on the way), my brother, and me.

Upon arrival in Matlock Bath we were in the mood for a light meal. We went to a place called Pancake Cafe, and my uncle and I ordered omelettes while everyone else had either pancakes or crepes; the pancakes and crepes could all be considered "light", but the cheese and onion omelettes that my uncle and I ordered were huge. Neither of us were able to finish our meals and were full for the rest of the afternoon.

The Heights of Abraham is only accessible via a cable car; there was a time when it could be reached via stairs, but this this route is now overgrown and fallen into disrepair. While I would have appreciated a walk up to the park it was good to experience a ride in a cable car. Once at the top we took the tour through the Great Masson Cavern - a former fluorspar mine and one of the two caves located at the Heights of Abraham; my favourite part of these caves were the rock formations that appeared to resemble animals, such as the "rhino" and the "lioness".

After a walk around the park we then visited the fossil shop (actually, it was more like a gift shop), followed by the canteen; my uncle and I were the only people in the group who didn't eat anything, as we were still too full from the omelettes, despite the walks. I did, however, eat an ice cream cone with nearly everyone else when we passed the ice cream stand half an hour later. Four of us then went to the Great Rutland Cavern, the other cave system at the Heights of Abraham; this tour was much shorter than the first one, and at the end it contained a presentation about how the miners went about their work.

The other members of our group had travelled the cable back down to Matlock Bath and had gone to The Midland, a local pub. We joined them and had a drink before heading back to the car park. I swapped vehicles on the way back, opting to travel with my uncle, my older cousin and his friend for the journey back to Nottingham.

I only took a few pictures while at the Heights of Abraham and most contain family members; here are three that are suitable:

Taken from the Heights of Abraham, this is a view of Matlock with Riber Castle visible on the mountain to the right. As I mentioned in a recent post, Derbyshire truly has some of the United Kingdom's most beautiful landscape.

Another view of Matlock in the distance, taken from our cable car as it descended back to Matlock Bath.

A shot of another cable car while it and ours were descending.

For dinner that night my uncle, aunt, brother, and one of my younger cousins went to the Red Hot World Buffet, a buffet restaurant with a multicultural food selection. My older cousin, his friend, and my other younger cousin from Nottingham did not come with us as they already had plans for the evening. We returned to my grandparents' house after the meal.

The journey to the Heights of Abraham was a grand way to spend the full last day of the trip. It gave us the chance to see more of the United Kingdom, make a new friend, and most of all enjoy ourselves with family. While I did experience a feeling of "oh no, it's over" when I said goodbye to my aunt, I comforted myself in the knowledge that the visit had been a week well spent, with new memories and an overall great time for everyone.