A comedy boat trip, putrid slippery mud and shoals of crazed fish lay below the stairs.

Stories of cranes, trains and model planes…

Object of desire: an intact headframe with cages jammed in place above a flooded mine shaft.

After many years of patient waiting, the great steel door was finally opened and the construction of the monument revealed.

It turned out that a bit of jiggery-ropery could have sorted access a decade ago.

We were coming to the end of our Spanish road trip, and it was clear that at some point, a bull would have to be climbed. The Basque Country was fast approaching, meaning the supply of accessible bulls would soon dry up and I was beginning to get worried. Then we spotted this one, pulled onto a dirt road and went hunting for a way to reach it. As the heavens opened I dashed from the car to climb it, while Jane took the picture through the car window.

Afterwards, nothing would quite be the same again…

Finding this place took a long time, entry required an ingenious combination of talents, and the reward was one of the most interesting and varied tunnels I’ve ever seen with countless straw stalactites and a treacle coloured floor.

Abandoned London tube station. Thanks to those who went before.

All that glisters is not gold;
Often have you heard that told:
Many a man his life hath sold
But my outside to behold:
Gilded tombs do worms enfold.

The Merchant of Venice (Act II – Scene VII) Shakespeare

Half a mile into the Frome culvert we passed a mud beach on which a gigantic otter lay. The creature led us all the way down to the Stonegate screen.