Limestone Pavement

A walk this morning in Gait Barrows National Nature Reserve. It has some
most impressive areas of Limestone Pavement full of Clints and Grykes.
The Grykes are the holes in the stone created by the effect of acidic rain dissolving the limestone over millions of years.

Plants are able to grow in the bottom of the Grykes and we were looking for some rather special ones like Dark Red Helleborine. We were unlucky in our searches this morning. But my extra shows Asplenium ferns growing in this way.

For old men with a balance problem this is a hazardous environment. I can recall the time when I could safely jump from one Clint to the next with no fear of a broken ankle.
Now I am forbidden from taking such risks. But I must be positive and be grateful that I can still negotiate the rather tricky paths which let me see and photograph these natural wonders.