My Underground Exploration

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It’s about 12 years since this photo of me was taken deep underground. My friends and I got a rare opportunity to take a guided tour of a genuine Roman copper mine at Alderley Edge, in Cheshire. It was dark of course without helmet lights, but surprisingly hot. Some of the tunnels were narrow and very muddy, especially for wriggling through like worms. There was also a nerve wracking climb up a very high iron runged ladder. Our guides put safety harness on most of the group but my weight led them to advise me that if I fell they might not be able to hold me, so I climbed the whole hundred and fifty feet without a safety rope. Not for anyone both claustrophobic and afraid of heights. I have read a fantasy novel by Alan Garner called The Weirdstone Of Brisingham which features children trapped in the mine by evil elves – having been there, I see where Garner got his inspiration, but it was a truly fascinating place – all the more so given that it was first mined by the Romans over 1,000 years ago. Arthur Chappell