Kitted out with hard hats and headlamps, our rucksacks filled with flasks and sandwiches, we head up the Nent Valley between barren mounds of spoil. An arched opening burrows into the hillside, the dark adit (passage) of Smallcleugh mine. Any fears I have about travelling deep underground evaporate in the shared excitement of our party led by three guides.
We’re immediately plunged into a different world. Lights flicker over the tunnel’s sandstone blocks, wellies splosh through water and the smells are of damp stone and earth. Delicate white stalactites hang from the roof, their tips glistening with droplets. As the walls become rock-hewn, they are rust-coloured, with pockets of minerals gleaming in hollows.
