Feel Like The World Is Caving In On You With The News?
Rather than stick our heads in the sand, maybe it's time we took up spelunking!
Mark Raynes Roberts
We are only a month into the craziness of Trump, and if you, like me, need to distract yourself, may I suggest spelunking?
I’m joking of course, as I’m no spelunker!
Still, there is something comforting about going underground - literally - to escape what we’re encountering on the surface.
The thought did make me wonder if Nova Scotia had any underground caves suitable for exploring. I’ve visited The Ovens in Lunenburg Bay, but these are sea caves which although very beautiful aren’t below sea level and are very similar to the rugged coastline caves found in Cornwall, Devon and Dorset in England, and used in olden times by pirates for smuggling.
My earliest subterranean expedition was a local school trip to the Blue John Cavern, (named after the semi-precious mineral Blue John) which is one of four caves located in the Castleton area of Derbyshire, (Peak District) in England. I was only 9 years old at the time and have to admit to being totally freaked at the time, even if it was only 90 meters deep! (300ft underground)
The scenic beauty of Castleton in the Peak District of the Derbyshire dales, hides the semi-precious treasures of the Blue John Cavern.
Why you may ask?
Well, that Christmas, (1970) I had watched on TV, “Journey To The Centre of the Earth” (1959) a film starring James Mason, Pat Boone and Thayer David. For any child at the time, this movie interpretation of Jules Verne’s classic novel set between Edinburgh University and a volcano in Iceland was an exciting yarn as the troupe of geologists descend into the earth’s core - an unexplored abyss.
Jules Verne certainly knew how to keep children on the edge of their seats. The movie garnered three Oscar nominations so it obviously resonated. I think the reason for its success for children and adults alike was that we simply didn’t know very much about what was under our feet at the time, (and still didn’t 10 years after its premiere) much like the ocean floor, where there are still many unknowns.
In some ways, it’s not unlike the world we are all encountering now - a world of unknowns, where we’re in the dark and there doesn’t appear to be any light to show us a way out.
The entrance to the Blue John Cavern descends steeply into a world of stalactites and stalagmites.
Whatever my own limited experiences have been in descending beneath the earth’s surface, I can honestly say that spelunking will never become a hobby of mine. There’s something I find claustrophobic about being underground. Even as a Pisces, I’m no Jacque Cousteau either, but greatly admire adventurers who push the boundaries of plummeting the depths on land or in the sea. The times when I have made the effort to go against my gut feeling of claustrophobia has been the potential reward of seeing some magnificent glistening quartz.
Come with me below to a few stunning places that can’t be seen from the surface.