HIGH WYCOMBE ENGLAND

FROM WHEELCHAIR NOMAD DIARY... Jonathon drove our rental car confidentially to the hell-fire cave 150 metres deep, in West Wycombe. The caves were actually tunnels used to extract flint from the gypsum hills and are identified by a stone church style entrance. In the late 1800’s, the hell-fire club used the caves for having parties and intercourse, giving them the name and reputation. “When I was a little girl,” Andrea said, “I’d explore them with a candle, with my brothers. They’d blow my candle out, then run away in the dark. I’d be really frightened. The caves now have electric lights and they’re not nearly as exciting.” From the cave we proceeded up a steep lane, wide enough for a single car, shrouded in leafy gloom by the trees entwining over the roadway. “That’s typical of many of our lanes,” Andrea noted. “The vegetation joins above, creating a tunnel-like effect.” At the top of West Wycombe hill, we enjoyed a sweeping view over the town, and of a new luxury apartment complex. We wandered through a large hexagonal mausoleum, open to the public with statues and the urns of previous manor residents. We then proceeded to the home of the nineteenth century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, now a national heritage estate, spread over hectares of land, with Hughenden Manor still in use. ...

Google Video | May 20, 2006

Tags:. .dark. .nearly. .west. .land. .joins