52 New Things - Week Twenty Three

I'm a big fan of cheese. I would have it with most meals if I could, but it hasn't always been that way. When I was a kid I would only eat the mildest cheddar cheese available. Even though over the years I've moved towards stronger cheese, cheddar has a special place in my heart. Therefore it seemed only fitting that I went to visit the birth place of cheddar, Cheddar in Somerset. Stuart and I jumped in the car to begin our uneventful 2 1/2 hour drive. Finally we reached the outskirts of Cheddar, and as we approached the small village we were busy glancing at all the tea rooms lining the road when we realised it had become very bumpy. We put this down to old streets but finally we had to pull over, just in case there was something wrong with the car, and, yep, we had a flat tire!

Now, neither Stuart or I had ever changed a tire before, so we didn't know if this whole thing would ruin the day, but after reading the car manual, a bit of teamwork and a couple of helpful locals our spare tire was safely popped on. We were a little behind schedule but luckily we wouldn't have to go to a garage or get the RAC out! 

We continued through Cheddar and parked at the top of the village. There was quite a lot we wanted to fit in and our first stop was the Cheddar Caves. There are a few caves around Cheddar and we headed to Gough's Cave. This cave, or system of caves has an awful lot of history in it. There is a cave drawing of a mammoth, thought to be around 13,000 years old and the remains of 'Cheddar Man' Britain's oldest complete human skeleton was found there. And that's just human history. The geolocial history dates much further back.

It is full of stalagmite and stalactites, and as you head deeper into the cave you are greeted by even more spectacular formations. 

The highlight for me was the cave named St Paul's Cathedral. My photos don't do it justice and it's difficult to describe but when you walk into the chamber it is easy to image how Richard Cox Gough, who discovered the chamber back in the late 1800's, felt. It's very dramatic, yet serene at the same time. Carved out through thousands of years erosion the whole place is a geologists dream, with beautiful colours lining the walls.  

The tickets we brought for Gough's cave also included entrance to other attractions including an open top bus tour, a look out tower and Cox's cave. However I really wanted to walk to the top of the Gorge to check out the view. Luckily the tickets are valid for 10 years (!) which meant we didn't have to rush through everything and could take time to enjoy our cheese picnic.

We brought some of the cave matured cheddar from the gift shop at Gough's cave. This is cheddar that has been matured in Gough's cave for up to a year, and to compliment it we went for some garlic cheddar. The garlic cheddar was lovely but I wasn't blown away by the cave matured cheddar, it was okay but had a bit of a bitter after taste. In fact, later on in the day we popped into another shop, the Original Cheddar Shop, to pick up some cheese to take home, and I much preferred their cheddar. I think there must be some stiff rivalry between cheese sellers in Cheddar as the shop keeper was quick to tell us that they've been selling cheese the longest and are the original cheddar shop in the area. They do not mature their cheddar in Gough's cave but have their own cave they use.  Obviously tourists (like myself) like the stamp of trying a cheese that's been stored in a cave I've just visited but if you do visit do try the Original Cheddar Shop, I found it to be much richer, strong but not bitter and a little creamy.

After our picnic of cheese, pickle and pork pies it was time to start our trek up the Gorge. There are two sides to the Gorge. The one with the lookout tower included on your cave ticket or the National Trust side. We decided to go the National Trust way. I am a fair weather exerciser and this was the first nice day we've had this year, so it was my first time really exerting myself and, dear lord, I was knackered. Later in May I am going to try and attempt to walk up Mount Snowdon so this was a small warm up, and I have so much work to do in the next few weeks! It didn't take us too long to get to the top but I was exhausted, however the view made up for all the hard work.

Once at the top, we decided to take the long way down, walking along the top of the Gorge and then, once we reached the bottom, following the main road back to our car. This was a more leisurely walk compared to the hike up the hill and I really enjoyed myself. It was lovely to see blue skies, feel the air on my skin and take in the fresh breeze. The way down was a little muddy, but that just gave me a chance to test out my new hiking boots. 

Once we reached the road there was still quite a distance to walk to return to the car, but with lots to see. We saw some of the famous Cheddar wild goats, some with kids, as well as people out with their climbing gear scaling the limestone walls. Finally we arrived back at the car. As we knew it would take us longer to get home with our spare tire we decided to wander round the town before heading off and grab some tea. After a very British day out the only way to end it was with fish and chips (or sausage and chips for me!).

I really enjoyed Cheddar and will be heading back, both to try out the attractions still left on our tickets, and also to see if I can get up that damn hill quicker!

52 New Things - Week Twenty Two

It's been a pretty grim, cold, rainy week so to add a bit of excitement to the weekend I decided I should head to Portsmouth to see my friend George and play a game or two of Bingo!

First stop though was cake. Originally George and I had discussed a cake crawl of the best tea rooms Portsmouth & Southsea had to offer. The first location we went to was crazy busy. We decided that the queue would be gone by the time we finished a game of Pitch and Put but we were wrong, it was just as long. So we headed to our second destination only to be disappointed by the range of cakes on offer. Finally we found ourselves in a tea room on Southsea Green and settled on a monster slice of Red Velvet cake (me) and Reeces Pieces cake (George). In hindsight, a cake crawl isn't the best idea we've ever had, it was quite lucky we didn't have cake in the first two locations as after one slice of cake and we were both stuffed, any more and we would have had to been rolled to bingo.

So full of tea and cake we headed to George's to prepare ourselves for the evening ahead by drinking more tea. Our destination for the evening was to be Crown Bingo in Cosham. 

Now, as 'Playing Bingo' was on my list on '52 New Things' it goes without saying I have never played bingo before so I didn't know what to expect. I was imagining teams of hen do's mixed with little old ladies in a damp derelict hall. I was pretty wrong. The hall we went to was huge! It used to be a theatre and tables were set up where the dress circle would have been as well as in the stalls area. It was clean, bright and really busy, but not with hen do's.

We arrived at 7 pm and the first game started at 7.30 pm so after signing in, purchasing our books and dobbers (the pens for ticking off our numbers) we headed to the bar/canteen to get some dinner to set us up for a busy night. The food totally lived up to my expectations. I wanted cheap yellow food and that is exactly what we got. Even though they had a fully stocked bar I stuck to a soft drink as I didn't want booze to hinder my chance of winning big.

And then before I knew it the games had started. At first, even though George said she told me the layout, I couldn't figure out the play slips. The numbers were coming thick and fast and I couldn't keep up. After one or two games though I suddenly realised there was some logic to the way the slips were laid out, and from then I started to enjoy myself. It was different to what I was expecting though. I suddenly realised why there were no hen do's - this game needs concentration and quiet. When the numbers were being called no one dared to speak, unless of course you had a line or full house. As soon as someone called out a win the whole hall would start to murmur. 

After a few rounds there would be a 10-15 minute break, a chance to nip to the bar, or toilet, or just have a gossip. But then it would all start again. There were some great prizes on offer. Most games had a jackpot of £400, and there were a few linked games where you could win up to £2500! These were some pretty high stakes, and that could explain why the hall was so busy. As we were coming to the end of the night I finally won something. I had two lines which gave me a prize of £30. That was probably more than I spent on the evening so, all in all, pretty darn good. I did enjoy the evening and would totally go again. Perhaps not every week, but I might check in once every 6 months to see if I can better my £30 win.