Cheddar Gorge and Jacobs Ladder.

In the 12th Cenury the historian Henry of Huntingdon Listed Cheddar Gorge as one of the Four Great Wonders of England.The Limestone cliffs tower 140 Metres above the road.The caves are at the lower end of the gorge where one of the largest underground rivers in Britain resurges into daylight, through 18 separate springs.This River the Cheddar Yeo has an average flow of one cubic metre every second.In the 16th Century it powered 7 water mills.Now the millls have goneand the water spread out in a lake and tumble down roaddside waterfalls.
Besides walking and driving in the gorge you can also climb the 274 steps of Jacobs Ladder to reach the top of the cliffs. This area is grazed by ferral goats.
The guide book tells us that each step represents 1million years of history.The climb takes you from the time Cheddar sweltered ina tropical desert through Dinosaur empires and the ice age to the 20th century.Human History is represented by a sheet of paper on the top step.Dinosaurs ruled the world for 150 steps!