Edge of England: Walking the Wild Rim of Cheddar Gorge

You crest a narrow lane and the world opens: a raw, limestone throat cuts into Somerset’s green backcountry, sheer cliffs folding down into a ribbon of road and river. Wind finds purchase along the rock faces and carries a scent of wet earth and grass; from certain angles, the gorge looks less like a geological feature and more like an argument that the land had with ice and water—and lost. This is Cheddar Gorge, England’s most dramatic cliff-lined chasm. You can feel the scale underfoot: cliffs rise roughly 400 feet above the valley floor, and the rim walk rewards every steep step with panoramic views that stretch to the Mendips and out toward the Bristol Channel.