Going Underground

If it at first you don't succeed try again!

We went to the Rhondda Heritage Park yesterday with Richard to try show him a little of the history of the Rhondda and it's coal mining past, but the tours were fully booked, so we came back this morning to try again. It was just a bit quieter.

The underground tour was still pretty good, our guide seemed to have a bit of Monday-itus and we kind of whizzed through, but it is essentially the same tour as it has always been. The guides are all ex-miners from the Lewis-Merthyr pit, so are quite knowledgeable. The trouble was, when you did the underground bit you used to get two rooms which were the story of mining in the Rhondda as told in a multi-media type experience thing. This no longer happens. Which was rather disappointing. Also the end of the pit experience used to be a run away tray ride back to the surface, which was a bit of fun. The fact you now walk passed it covered in a tarpaulin kind of sums the place up. Rather like the industry it is supposed to showcase the museums best days seem to be behind it. It is a tired and feels a little unloved. It left me feeling quite sad, as it was a real jewel in the Rhondda Valleys crown.

But then again it was on £3.50 for the pit experience, so no real complaints there. Also the mining disaster exhibition was rather good. I hope someone can come up with some money and the bits that are now closed can be re-opened.

As we were there for a lot less time than we anticipated we decided to go down to the Welsh Folk Museum for the afternoon. Rather like when I was there a few weeks back with Bevosity it was a glorious afternoon. We had a cracking few hours having a wander around.

It's the last day of Richard's stay tomorrow, before we allow him to escape back to Lincolnshire and ultimately Perth, Australia.