Blue John Cavern

We went for a walk to Castleton today - it was meant to be a bit of a stroll but ended up being a 12 mile hike as we had to do an emergency detour when part of the walk turned out to have a sheer drop on one side of a very narrow path. Other half is fine with heights but I unfortunately feel sheer terror at the sight of a sheer drop.

Anyway, whilst on the walk we went on a guided tour of the Blue John Cavern which took 300 steps to get to the lowest part (and yes, that meant 300 steps back up in addition to the 12 mile walk). Whilst in the cavern you get to see fossils, stalgamites, stalagtites and get to pick up barium!

The guy that took us into the cavern was probably in his late 50s and apparently still works in the part of the cavern that is a working mine. He pointed out a tiny tunnel that he has to crawl to to get to where they can access the blue john mineral.

I predict a very lazy and achy day tomorrow.