Yesterday I had a lovely afternoon walking to and around the Grassington Lead Mines. The mines operated from the mid 1700s to the late 1800s and processing of the spoil tips continued until 1963. In its heyday it must have been hell amongst the heaven of the Yorkshire Dales. Yet now all is peace and in only 50 years, nature has reclaimed its own. It was wonderful to realise that if we stop screwing up nature, she will recover. How we stop is a much more complex issue of course but I am, for now, optimistic :-)