Alton Towers Theme Park
There was a real party atmosphere as we entered the park. We couldn't wait to spend two days having fun and thrill seeking.
First we took the Sky ride, a cable car taking you into the heart of the park and offers you the best views. We decided this would be a great place to start as it would help us get the lay of the land from above. As we got off, we found ourselves at the edge of the haunted woods so dared ourselves to take a walk through in search of the Congo River Rapids. Along the way we met two talking tomb stones who were amusing themselves by telling each other ghoulish jokes and came across two eerie looking tombs which we quickly regretted looking in! When we got to the Congo rapids, we all got onboard a raft and rode the turbulent waters down to the end of the river. It was great fun and though we got a little wet we didn’t mind as we knew we would soon dry off in the lovely sunshine.
After the rapids we decided to step things up a bit and ride our first roller coaster, The Runaway Mine Train which was much faster and more thrilling than we had expected it to be. With our adrenaline now really pumping we headed to Mutiny Bay for some swash buckling fun! We jumped on board Heave Ho which gave us the sense we were on a real pirate ship travelling across the high seas in some very stormy waters.
Then we took a spin on Marauders Mayhem which left us feeling a little dizzy! We stopped for some lunch before hitting the big time as we offered ourselves up for sacrifice to the giant Wicker Man. The ‘chosen ones’ climbed on-board the Beornen’s works train passing further into their secretive world, splintering around a labyrinth of twisted track. The burning embers light the path as the train hurtles towards the six-storey high flaming effigy. Speeding towards the Wicker Man, he spectacularly ignites into flames as the train bursts through his chest three times. Wow! What a thrill seeking ride! After the Wicker Man had chewed us up and spat us out, we took a ride on Spinball Wizard, which turned our legs to jelly.
Next, it was time to take a ride on the world famous Smiler- the world’s first 14 loop rollercoaster. It’s twisting track combines the world beating 14 loops with a speed of 85 km/hr. Strangely this terrifying ride still has the ability to make you smile all the way around.
Day two and we decided we would not mess about as we were determined to ride on every one of the parks flagship rides as well as some of the other less well known ones. As soon as we arrived, we decided to head straight for Oblivion to get obliterated! So, we jumped in the queue and were soon 20 metres up staring down into the black, smokey abyss into oblivion. After a few terrifying seconds the ride was over, and we had lived to tell the tale!
it was time for another adrenalin rush so we headed over to the eye watering Rita (Queen of speed). This ride has an incredible top speed of 100kmph and pulls a whopping 4.7g’s as she flies around her 647-meter track. We weren’t about to slow down just yet and we headed straight over to 13 which as the name might suggest is a super spooky roller coast with an unexpected twist or two. The ride started and at first after a few thrilling twists and turns seemed much like any other roller coaster until it came to a sudden halt and we found ourselves in complete darkness. We then noticed we were surrounded by ghouls and ghosts everywhere we looked. This was just a brief distraction though as all of sudden the ride unexpectedly plummeted free fall of five metres down in complete darkness then suddenly the ride was flung backwards and hurtled around the track in reverse in total darkness before mercifully being released back out into the light again. 
After such a rush we thought we would calm things down a little and stepped into the imagination of comedian and author David Walliam‘s. We took a ride on Gangster Granny one of the authors best loved characters, which told the story of gangster grannies criminal capers which seemed quite in keeping with the Queens Jubilee celebrations this week as Gangster Granny stole the Queens Crown Jewels! ff and steadied ourselves for a choppy ride on Blade. It was then time for the big one! The most adrenalin inducing, intense ride Alton Towers has to offer….Nemesis!
This morning we decided to head to Matlock Bath home of the amazing Peak District Mining Museum. Inside we learnt all about the process of mining lead and how water was a huge problem when digging mines and how it was dealt with. We also learnt about what an incredibly hard and dangerous job the miners had extracting the lead out from deep inside the hillside as there wasn’t such a thing as health and safety in those days!
The museum was really interactive, and we had lots of fun trying out some of the equipment and even got to sit in an excavator cab and also dress up in Victorian clothing which was really funny.
For the second part of our visit to begin which was a guided tour of an actual lead mine! We met our knowledgeable tour guide and he took us up the hill to the entrance of Temple Mine which is relatively young, turning 100 years old this year! Mining of lead in Derbyshire dates back to Roman times where there was as many as 30 thousand mines operating in the area. Before going inside the mine we had to put on a safety helmet as the roof of the mines passages was quite low in places meaning we had to stoop quite low and needed to protect our heads from hitting against the hard rock above. As we walked through the mine, we learnt about the different kinds of minerals that could be seen in the walls, including calcite which is used in all kinds of every day products including toothpaste! We were able to see lots of interesting geological features including an ancient lava flow which appeared as a dark band heading diagonally down the shaft and naturally formed cavities in the limestone which have been formed over thousands of years by water eroding the rock. We were told about how the miners would have drilled and used dynamite to extract the lead out which would have been an incredibly labour intensive and dangerous process. We really got a feel for what a hard life the miners must have.
After we had finished our tour, we headed outside to try our hand at panning for gold which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it wasn’t real gold although the mine is said to hold rich deposits of gold. We were allowed to keep what we found and take it home which was a treasure to us as it will be a great reminder of our time at Temple Mine. 
When we weren't busy loop the looping we enjoyed chilling out in our on-site swimming pool and sauna or doing our best Robin Hood impression down on the archery range.
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