Despi­te their name, Ryds Grot­tor (Ryd Caves) are not caves at all. In fact it is a lar­ge cleft in the rocks that has opened up.

Mas­si­ve dole­ri­te pil­lars have slid around 10–20 metres down the steep slo­pe. On the slo­pe and in the base of the cleft are lar­ge num­bers of mas­si­ve sto­ne blocks. The view from the edge of the pla­teau stret­ches for miles around.

The­se types of hol­lows, caves and pil­lars can be found along the dole­ri­te slo­pes in many pla­ces around Bil­ling­en. Dole­rite­is an igne­ous rock, which means that it was cre­a­ted from mag­ma from bene­ath the Earth’s crust. Around 300 mil­li­on years ago, mag­ma for­ced its way up through cracks in the sur­rounding lay­ers of rock. When the hot mag­ma coo­led and soli­di­fi­ed as dole­ri­te rock, it crac­ked, usu­al­ly for­ming hex­a­go­nal pil­lars, but also for­ming much long­er cracks. This is what gave rise to the distin­cti­ve appea­ran­ce of the mountain slo­pes, with their pil­lars, clefts, hol­lows and caves. During the spring and autumn floods, yel­low bog water from Blängs­mos­sen casca­des over the slo­pe at the near­by Guld­fal­let waterfall.

Remem­ber that this is hazar­dous ter­rain, so keep a clo­se eye on child­ren and keep dogs on a leash!

Hit­ta Hit

The Ryd caves are loca­ted in Rån­na Ryd natu­re reser­ve.