Blue John cavern

For the first time in my blip life, the weather has driven me underground! I'm not very creative around the house, neither am I good at wet flowers so I went to the Blue John cavern at Castleton in Derbyshire, a 15 minute drive away.

It wasn't easy. I arrived and had forgotten my flash. I returned home and then was undecided about going back. In the end, Mrs. Bob, in desperation to get rid of me, persuaded me to return. Once there, I was told they do not do groups of one. Should I wait? I waited about 20 minutes, no others arrived, but as I went back to the car, a few arrived!! The trip was on!

Blue john is a semi precious fluorite. It is mined here as the only source of it in the world ( I believe almost anything I'm told, especially at tourist attractions!). There were 8 seams but 7 of them are now exhausted. What remains in the last seam is mined and turned into jewelry and ornaments, which are largely sold in Castleton.

Antique large ornaments fetch many thousands of pounds if they come up for auction.

It was difficult to take shots which showed scale. The blip is a shot taken into the roof of the first cave. They were formed by water from melting glaciers about 80,000 years ago. I liked the colours:)

Enjoy the weekend, fingers crossed the weather improves everywhere.

DEFINITELY WORTH VIEWING LARGE!

I was most impressed with the flash and high ISO performance on my camera, it was a real test as it was quite dark. The ceiling of this cavern was about 200 feet above me.