Down the mine

He's too young. You had to be 8 to go down the slate mine, 12 to be paid, 18 for a full wage. He's enjoying having a shot with the drill tho. 10 hours of lifting and dropping would have made one whole for dynamite - they needed at least 5! He enjoyed having a go at climbing the chains too. I hated the train/lift down and up - would have preferred the stairs. Claustrophobia isn't so bad when you feel you can get out if you want. The slate caverns were excellent. Expensive, but very very good. Projections in the caverns really brought it alive and brought it home what it was like down there in the dark. D was v chuffed when he got to split a slate.
We got the train from the station just by our cottage, it's a request stop so the boys were excited to hold out their arms to stop the train.