Within four days of flying at 35 000 feet at 500 mph from Rome to London (see previous blog) I was half a kilometre inside a mountain called Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales
The cave is well lit and has a good path which makes it easy to explore.
Ingleborough is made from limestone and for over a hundred thousand years the water passing down through the rock has created the cave and many features such as stalactites and stalagmites which “grow” down from the ceiling and up from the cave floor respectively.
In places stalactites and stalagmites have joined together to form columns.
Water flows through the cave and makes a stream. As it flows over some rocks it forms structures known as flowstones.
The Rippling Cascade Flowstone
The Mushroom Bed Flowstone
I was not alone in my journey but in the company of some of the younger members of the family who also thoroughly enjoyed their time underground.
The troglodytes relax after their journey into the mountain.
You may like to compare this cave with the Postojna Cave in Slovenia in our Natural World photo gallery which Tez visited some time ago.
In this link you can also see how to “grow” your own stalactites and stalagmites by reading pages 10 and 11 in The Real Scientist: Stuff : Materials and how they change.
In the same book on page 9 there is an activity which shows you how to make your own caves, potholes and gorges in a mountain made of sugar lumps!
Here are some children investigating how sugar lump mountains erode by putting tea spoons of water (rain) on them.
