Thor’s Cave

I grew up in the North East of England and the Lambton Worm was local folklore.  So a few years back when I watched an appalling Ken Russell horror film called the Lair of the White Worm, I understood the association with the Lambton Worm, but I wasn't really impressed with the interpretation.  I was, however, intrigued by the cave they used in the film.  So I did my research and went to see it – it is Thor’s Cave in the Manifold Valley in Staffordshire.

The film is set in Staffordshire (or at least the cave is), but is it based on a book by Bram Stoker which was set in Derbyshire.  Bram Stoker based his book on the story of the Lambton Worm which is all about County Durham.  Why change the location?  I never understood that.  At least they used a version of the Lambton Worm song (from Country Durham) in the film.

The last time I did this walk, a mere 9.5 miles, was back in November 2014.  It was really nice to do it again.  I was with a friend who was with me in November 2014.  Sadly the other friend with us in 2014 has passed away.

Climbing into the cave is quite tricky – getting out is even harder.  I have been in once – but as I get older I think I might just live on the memory of that “once”, and not bother trying to climb in to it again ;-)