Day One

After solving the problem of fitting 11 bags into the minibus, we traveled for 3½ hours to Wales. Our first stop was Rhondda Valley Heritage Park. The old colliery, which first opened in 1870, has now been converted into an industrial museum. We started, after meeting our very Welsh guide, Howard, by tracking two families lives and how the coalmine had effected them. This gave an insight to life in the coalmines and a glimpse at their history. We were then taken down, or so we thought, into the coal mining tunnels. We learnt how the coal seams were blown apart, in order to be mined out, with a life like re-enactment, and the system they used to extract coal from each seam. We then simulated a ride back up to the surface, only to find ourselves at the surface the whole time; we hadn't been below ground at all!