Dartmoor is a large upland expanse, centrally placed between the Bristol and English Channels, in the south west of England.
The landscape of Dartmoor is of gently rolling hills (mainly uncultivated) and valleys, punctuated in places with exposed outcrops of stones and boulders, and occasional larger towers of weathered rocks, known locally as tors.
Over millenia the frequent rainfall on the high ground in this area has formed patches of boggy land and occasional pools. Watercourses, draining these pools, have eroded channels through the weaker features of the rocks, some of which are extremely hard.
One such tiny stream is illustrated below as it tumbles downhill through a narrow channel.
Within a few kilometres a weakness between the rocks of the picture above has widened, and deepend into a mini canyon. The image below sets the scene from nearby, where daylight is still able to penetrate, and support moisture-loving vegetation.
As it descends further, and enlarges its route, the stream earns the title of 'river'. In comparison with most well-known rivers the Lyd is tiny, and after a few more kilometres it loses its identity, as it merges with the river Tamar.
The deep valley takes its name from a nearby village: Lydford. At the head Lydford gorge is a chasm, just a little wider than arm-span. The stream is now a turbulent torrent. The deepest, narrowest, section is known as The Devil's Cauldron. It is difficult to imagine, or even photograph, because of the access and inability to record, visually, the scene at its deepest and narrowest.
Lydford Gorge, the Devil's Cauldron, and a very tall and graceful tributary waterfall, are all owned, and managed, by a private trust. Admission to their grounds is either by membership or daily entrance fee. The funds are used to maintain the site and various facilities such as wlkways, a bird-watching hide, car parks and tea rooms. There are numerous descriptions and illustrations on the Web.
Further upstream from the Gorge, by a few kilometres, towards Higher Dartmoor, there is a 'pixy bubblebath' (my invented name!), which has been chosen as the photograph for our set of lyd.busy.cards. These cards are named after the river Lyd purely for our convenience, and your pleasure. The name hasno other significance). We have produced other educational cards, all named after rivers. They (as this)have their own websites: eg – usk.busy.cards, eden.busy.cards.