Look up the hill, you can see the winding and narrow road of Winnats Pass. This deep route runs between the two towering pinnacles of limestone on either side. The wind swirls and it’s no wonder that there is the legend of the pass being haunted by murdered two lovers.
When you head through Winnats Pass, it is difficult to imagine that this once would have been at the bottom of a tropical ocean. There are fossilised sea creatures in the limestone rocks which date back to 350 million years ago when this would have been a coral reef, the deep ravine forming when a large underground cave system collapsed. This cave system was created after melting glaciers wore away at the rock, allowing streams of water between the cracks as the limestone dissolved. These deepened the cracks and fissures, opening them up to create large caverns with thin roofs. When these collapsed, they formed steep sided valleys like the one here at Winnats Pass.
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