Going underground

One of our friends is an experienced caver and ex-miner and he took us down an old lead mine in Matlock Bath. A really remarkable place, and amazing to think that this was men's place of work for so many generations. The whole experience was completely new to me. I've been down plenty of show caves but this was much more rough and ready with abseiling, climbing and squeezing through narrow gaps all thrown in! Just brilliant! This is a shot of one our group putting on their abseil harness.