Blaenavon is a small town in the green hills of Wales. The surrounding countryside is a great place for hiking. I went to the old coal mine instead and took the underground tour. The tours at the Big Pit are led by ex-miners and take about an hour.

Before your visit underground, you get a sturdy helmet with a light in front. Off you go then, in the elevator 90 meters downwards. It's dark and cool. Water is dripping. The tunnels you walk in most of the time are just a bit too low to stand upright.

At one moment, our guide asked us to switch our lights off. It became as dark and scary as it can get. To hear that there used to run rats here and that children as young as 7 or 8 were employed under the ground, with no light but the odd candle, makes you really think ...