"Years ago, when the railway was here, before the reclamation, there was actually 3 ponds, a large pond and 2 small ponds that made up Woolfie Pond. To our right, you'll see along the left-hand side of the trail, there's a linear plantation. Alma colliery, one of the shafts was actually situated within that plantation.
"You'll notice that the trail does change colour to the red ash. Behind you there is a larger plantation and that was a massive tip of red ash, so to re-use it, it was used for the surface of the trail.
"As kids we used to find a lot of fossils in it, leaf fossils, so it probably was a waste product from the mining. And years gone by, in the early 70s, a couple of friends of mine, their fathers actually set up a steel rope swing that went right across, because on your way to Grassmoor, that used to be a cutting which has now been filled in. The rope swing was actually attached to one side of the red ash tip and down across the railway line and then down onto the banking on the far side of the railway and anchored to the fence. And, being young and brave, we used to actually use this as a death slide, actually going over it when trains were coming underneath us, which nowadays wouldn't be quite sensible! But you only live once."