An earlyish start as the web site says that if there is a
tour of the mine it is at 10am and 3pm. So shortly after 08:00 we were on our
way.
Interesting
terrain with lots of “sink” holes everywhere. We understand it is
the type of terrain Karst which is limestone and has lots of caves.
This is the area that the name Karst came from.
A
white road then a skinny white road (dirt) but a good road. Made good
time and were descending the 10 switch backs into Idrija just after
9am. We find a park and bought tickets for the tour, just two men
with two kids and us. A short movie as introduction then into the
mine. The second oldest usable shaft in Europe.
The mine closed in
1995 and in the preceding 500 years 12,800,000 tons of ore were
extracted yielding 145,700 tons of Mercury. In that time
they supplied 13% of the worlds usage of ore. Over 700km of mine
shafts were dug. Once a pocket of ore was mined in levels from the
bottom it was back filled so the town situated above would not have
subsidence issues.
A
quick lunch in a nice restaurant better food here with Italian
influence. Next
to the smelter area across town. Another information packed tour. One
thing of note, It was common for miners to die before 30 years old so
lots of widows. When a new person took the place of a deceased miner
he also lodged with the widow and was responsible for her and her
children And often led to more children. It was not unusual for a
female to have 3 husbands. 
An
interesting idea.
A
yellow road then onto a white road shortcut to hope fully find a camp.
Stopping by an old Church in a lovely cleared area for the night. A
few people walked passed us on their returns from day walks.
It is common here that logs are dragged out of the bush onto the road side. These were only small but we got an idea of how they do it.
81km
81km