There’s a ridge in Wiltshire not far from Devizes, that has a gap in it, a place where the bedrock cracked, perhaps. A track (it’s a bridleway) passes through the gap. The sides are high, and trees grow on the chalky high ground.
It’s a spectacular route, particularly here, where a cave opens into the hillside next to a forest of long, thick roots (most of them beech). The opening is about 4 feet (~1.2m) high, from which I estimate the cliff to be roughly 5m high. (The access to the cave was wet and chalk-slippery, and I didn’t trust the soft chalk/greensand rocks, so I stayed in the open.)
Even better, the place is apparently haunted by a headless horseman, driving a coach and four pell-mell through the gorge. He wasn’t in evidence when I was there in January (I still hope to revisit the site while the leaves are on the trees).
More details on the location and its ghost can be found here.
Meanwhile, I find the extraordinary tangle of roots fascinating, and have made several drawings based on the photographs I took on my visit. This post collects the monochrome drawings together, all of which were done in Indian ink on kaolin-coated board.
