The Yorkshire Dales has two show caves: White Scar Caves (which I will cover in a later post) and Ingleborough Caves. In this post, I cover Ingleborough Caves, located on the southwestern corner of the Yorkshire Dales. In addition to the caves, Ingleborough is also known for its walking trails and waterfalls. Ingleborough Caves is a good cave to visit for dog walkers and people who struggle with mobility. Dogs are welcome, and the last tour to come out of the cave before I went in was a group of people with special needs in wheelchairs and with limited mobility.
For the average abled-body person, a direct trail has been created for easy access to the caves. This trail has a toll on it for all walkers using it, and it can be paid at the start of the trail or when you arrive to purchase your ticket at the cave entrance. The trail is not as interesting as it bypasses the waterfalls and other features, but it allows the most direct access to the cave. The start of the trail is up-hill with inclines, but the way back is very smooth and down-hill. Before the toll trail, visitors will see one of the impressive waterfalls. I want to come back here some time to walk the waterfall trails, but I did not do so this time because of limited time.
Nearing the end of the trail, a small brook with pasture and rocky hills runs along one side with a pasture on the other. It is very open on this bit of the trail, but the other part of the trail was through forest.
After arriving and paying for tickets, visitors put on helmets to protect their heads from the hard rocks in the cave. There were a couple of areas in the cave that were low and required stooping to access the next part of the cave system to see the fossils of ancient sea creatures on the cave walls.
One of the rock formations is known as the "beehive" because the minerals from the water dripped down over time to form the odd shape; it was formed in this manner as the water line was here, preventing it from growing more.
Other rocks have been created from the flow and dripping of the water in the cave system.
Pools of water create reflections to gaze at the rock formations growing on the ceiling of the cave.
This cave system also connects to other areas of the Yorkshire Dales, including the Gaping Gill, one of the deepest holes in Britain and the highest waterfall. Aparently, the size of the chamber is as large as York Minster. It is accessible through lowering into the hole or by diving through the cave system at Inglebrook Caves.
Unlike the other show cave in the area, Ingleborough Cave does not often flood because the stream is on a lower level, so the cave itself is an overfill. There are small puddles and a stream following part of the cave walkway. Overall, it is a good cave to visit and highly accessible. It has a couple low areas that require stooping, but it is more accessible that White Scar, which has several tight areas, stooping areas, and stairs, although White Scar is a much longer tour and visitors see more of the cave.
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