The arch from below
A symmetrical ten-metre opening visible from the valley floor; the best photograph is from the trail before you climb, not from inside.
Martin Spamer — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Bill Boaden — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Peter McDermott — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Unknown authorUnknown author — Public domain
From the valley floor the opening looks like an arch a mason cut rather than a river: ten metres high, seven and a half wide, punched into a limestone crag eighty metres above the River Manifold. This is Thor's Cave, one of the most photographed sights in the White Peak, and yet it is about as far from a packaged attraction as England gets: no building, no ticket, no gate, just a hill, an arch and a path going up. The cave is privately owned and is not managed by the National Park; entry is by the landowner's permission rather than by right, and there are no opening hours. The climb is half the experience. You start on the Manifold Way, the surfaced walking-and-cycling trail that was a narrow-gauge railway from 1904 to 1934 and once had a halt named after the cave. A footbridge takes you over the river, then a steep flight of stone steps climbs for fifteen to twenty minutes; after rain it is slick and muddy. Then the mouth, and here is the warning that needs saying plainly: the cave floor is limestone burnished by generations of boots, as smooth as wet marble even on a dry day, and going deeper in is a genuine scramble in any weather, not a stroll. Plenty of people stop at the threshold and photograph the valley framed by the arch, which is an entirely respectable choice. Inside, a second opening called the West Window looks out over the valley from another angle. The history runs deeper than the view. Digs in 1864-65 and again in 1927-35 turned up human and animal bones, stone tools, pottery, amber beads and bronze work, suggesting people sheltered here from the end of the Palaeolithic and used the cave heavily in the Iron Age and Roman periods. The name has never been settled: it may come from 'tor', a rocky peak, or from the Norse god of thunder, and the National Park itself leaves both readings open. Treat it as a day trip from the heart of the Peak District, not a stop on the way: roughly forty minutes' drive from Bakewell and half an hour from Ashbourne, on single-track country lanes that clog in the summer holidays. Park in Wetton village's small public car park (toilets, and a signposted route to the cave), or at the free valley-floor spots at Weag's Bridge or the rough parking area where the Wetton road meets the trail; the Wetton Mill cafe car park is for customers only, and Thor's Lane itself is closed to vehicles. There are no facilities at the cave whatsoever, phone signal in the valley is patchy to absent, and the National Park's own notice is blunt: a rescue here can need several services and takes far longer than normal. Not for pushchairs or anyone unsure on their feet, though older children love it. Skip it in winter: the daylight is short, the steps are slick, and the whole point of the trip is the light.
A symmetrical ten-metre opening visible from the valley floor; the best photograph is from the trail before you climb, not from inside.
Stand at the mouth and shoot the green Manifold Valley framed in rock; you need go no further.
A flat, surfaced trail on an old railway bed, around 13 km long, ideal for bikes and families before or after the cave.
Wetton, Manifold Valley, Staffordshire DE6 2AF
Children of about eight and up handle the steps easily and love it; toddlers on shoulders and older relatives unsure of their balance will find the climb tiring and the cave itself hazardous because of the polished rock. The good alternative: anyone not climbing stays on the flat Manifold Way and sees the arch from below, which is no lesser view.
No. The steps turn into a muddy stream, the cave floor gets more dangerous, and there is little phone signal if you need help. Save it for a dry day, or swap it for nearby Dovedale, which is easier and safer to walk in the wet.