Caves: questions and Band 8 answers

Yes, a couple of times. The most memorable one was during a summer holiday to the Peak District with my family. We went on a guided tour through a limestone cavern, and I remember being utterly amazed by the huge rock formations and how chilly it felt inside.

I suppose it’s the sense of mystery and stepping into the unknown. Caves feel completely cut off from the modern world. Plus, seeing things like stalactites and underground streams up close is quite surreal, almost like visiting another planet altogether.

We did, actually, mostly in geography lessons. I remember our teacher explaining how rainwater slowly erodes limestone over thousands of years to carve out these massive hollow spaces. It really fascinated me at the time, seeing diagrams of how stalagmites form.

Definitely above ground. While subterranean places are fascinating, I get a bit claustrophobic after a while. I’d much rather be out in the open air, hiking up a hill or walking through a forest where there's plenty of natural daylight and wide open space.

To be honest, not really. Professional caving often involves squeezing through tiny gaps in total darkness, which sounds terrifying to me. I’m quite happy sticking to well-lit tourist caves with proper walkways, rather than doing any extreme subterranean exploring.