40 Metres under

Yesterday we went en-masse to the fine historic town of Skipton, gateway to the Yorkshire dales.
We had a very pleasant wander round and then went into the castle. The Civil war enthusiasts were there re-enacting the battle of Marston moor back in the 1600's, all ten of them. The roundheads put up a brave fight but they were finally defeated when the Royalist captain sat on the roundhead leader's stomach. They all got up then,(even the pretend dead ones and went off for their snap.) you aught to have seen how far my little girl jumped when they set off the cannon,priceless.
Today we went to the National Coal Mining museum and I must say, for a free attraction you can't get much better than this one. We were kitted out with helmet's and miners torch and taken 40 metres down to the pit bottom in a cage. We must have been down there a hour and a half whilst the guide, an ex-miner showed us how coal was dug up in victorian times right up to the mechanised way they do it nowadays. I can certainly appreciate what the miners had to put up with just to earn a crust. Not a job I would have liked to do, that's for sure. On the surface , there's the museum itself, pitponies,nature trail,picnic area,train rides, cafe,the inevitable gift shop and a poor sod dressed up in a theme park style miner's costume. She must have been sweltering in that thing. The kid's started trying to avoid her/him but if you went around a corner she'd be there. All in all a five star rating. Go!