Underground, Overground and the Fawlty Towers Tea rooms.

No I didn't go and see the Wombles, but today was my walking buddies birthday so instead of a walk she wanted to do the Castleton Caves.
We started of at Speedwell Cavern, which is basically an uunderground boat ride down a narrow former lead mining tunnel, the trip was notable for the engine of the boat breaking down and our guide having to "walk the boat"  I thought it was a gimmick bit no he assured me that there had been a problem. At the end of the boat trip is a natural cavern. The trip was quite informative but not that dramatic.
We then walked to Treak Cliffe Cavern but had just missed a tour and wouldnt have had time to wait for the next one and make the last Peak tavern trip, which was already paid for. So we had to head off to Peak or the Devil's Arse as it is known.
We arrived with quite a bit of time to spare so decided to visis the tearooms close by, me have been here a few times and it really is surreal. We know from experience that the guy who owns it doesnt like people to buy just a drink, which wasnt a problem as we wanted the cream tea. While we waited, an eldewrly couple walked up and sat down. The conversation went something like this,
"2 teas please"
" 2 teas and scones"
"no we just want 2 teas"
"No you have to have scones"
"can we have 2 teas and an icecream?"
" i dont normally, but just this once I will"
as an aside as the owner walks away the lady mutters "weird"
So the poor chap had to eat an icecream while drinking his tea.
Then came the time to pay, the bill was about £8. conversation.
"Thats a lot"
"well you could have had tea and scones for £11.50"
"its still a lot"
"get over it... come again"
"no chance"

well we managed to control our laughter and headed for Peak Cavern, this is a pretty impressive cave, where people used to live and make rope, we were treated to a demo of how it was done and the had a tour of the cave, a good tour although you have to use your imagination to see some of the rock shapes you are supposed to see.

After the tour we returned to the tea shop where i managed toget just a coffee, well I had bought scones a hour ago.  Outside we had a conversation with a guy who said they had just been there and had wanted 6 drinks and 3 lots of scones (about £20) he said the owner wouldnt serve them until they had agreed to buy 4 lots of scones.

Well it was a nice afternoon, and I thought the tea shop was a laugh, but it is possible that you might have had to be there to appreciate it.