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.

More about the city again

The 10th of August marked the departure of all my relatives from the East of England and my cousin's boyfriend. They spent the morning and a part of the afternoon packing their belongings, finally leaving around 2:00pm. My aunt and uncle from Nottingham, my brother and I were not present when they departed, though, as we had left for the centre of Nottingham around midday (we did, of course, say goodbye before we set out).

Our primary reason for going to the centre of Nottingham a day after my brother and I went there the day before was to find new pairs of walking shoes for us (mine were wrecked from the mud jump, and my brother's were falling apart and in need of replacing). We visited a handful of shoe stores before coming a place called Millets, where we found shoes that suited us in every way - they looked decent, were durable, comfortable, and not too expensive. It was a relief that it only took us half an hour to shop for shoes, rather than an entire afternoon, as has happened before.

With the main objective out of the way, we had a small lunch at a Caffè Nero. We then went to the local Hotel Chocolat outlet, followed by going to another small store to try our luck at the £148 million pound Euromillions jackpot (the same one that Gillian and Adrian Bayford won). With several hours in the afternoon still ahead of us we went to the City of Caves (known colloquially as the "Nottingham caves") to learn about the vast cave network located underneath Nottingham.

I found it fascinating to learn that over one thousand years ago the people of Nottingham built and lived in underground caves. A few hundred years later, around 1500, a tannery was housed in the caves; this led to the pollution of the city's drinking water when the animal skins were washed in the cave water, which led to the river. In the 1800s the residents of Drury Hill, a neighbourhood, lived in basements within the caves; the basements were often one-room dwellings, and the cramped conditions combined with the poor sanitation led to a number of diseases affecting the inhabitants. The most recent use of the caves prior to their conversion into a tourist attraction was during World War II, when they were utilised as air raid shelters.

After we had completed the tour of the City of Caves, we walked over to Nottingham Castle:

My aunt, brother, a cousin and I visited the outer gate to Nottingham Castle last year, but we chose not to enter because of the high cost at the time (I think it was around £10-£15 per person); with it being less expensive on this second trip there (about £5) we did decide to visit the castle. I'm glad we did, too; the castle itself was primarily a museum, containing local artifacts and information about the city's links with other parts of the world, but in my opinion the best part about the castle was the main balcony on its grounds, offering amazing views of Nottingham:

I have seen pictures of Nottingham taken from this vantage point, but I never realised until then that they captured from Nottingham Castle. Can you spot the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station in the first picture?

This is the Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem - also known as The Trip to Jerusalem Inn - the pub we visited after leaving the castle's grounds. The Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem claims to be the oldest inn in England, but this label is disputed. Disregarding the supposed age of the building, it was a quaint little place to have a drink (I had a Coke), and I found it interesting how the building is built into the cave system (in the lower section dust from the sandstone often falls from the ceiling and into food and/or drink).

After a refreshing drink in the Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem the early evening had set in, and so we returned to our grandparents house. Our family members from the East of England had long departed Nottingham by that time, and were probably even close to home. Those of us still in Nottingham went to Nando's for dinner that evening; I had two "yes!" moments in the restaurant when I correctly guessed the names of two of the waitresses without looking at their name tags.

Our grandparents took us back to their home after the meal; with that day over, only one full day of the trip remained.