Visited with Marc.

Our 3rd site of today and what a corker! I'd tried this with my housemates a couple of days earlier but we were thwarted by a horsey woman in a jeep who got very angry and told us to go back to where we came from. I don't think she had Brightonians before. We were all dressed as skeletons eating vegan cupcakes and playing Alisha's Attic very loud out the car windows.

Soooo.....me and Marc went back today and I was scared we would see horse woman again but she was probably out buying organic carrots for her horses. We found a way in very quickly which I really wasn't expecting and had a fantastic time! It was getting dark quickly so apologies for some wibbly dark pictures

Here's a bit of history about the school which only closed recently. The website is really sad, it looked like a really nice place to board

"Wispers School for Girls, which moved to Haslemere from Chichester almost 40 years ago and was founded in Midhurst in 1947, has announced its closure from the end of the summer term 2008.

The Governors intend to establish a Wispers Education Trust to assist girls' education through the provision of bursaries to pupils who would otherwise be unable to benefit from independent education.

Wispers has educated several thousands of girls from the ages of 11 to 18. It was described by the Independent Schools Inspectorate last year as having 'many strengths', giving its pupils 'a broad and effective educational experience at all phases of their school life'. It was also praised for its 'excellent links forged with the local and wider communities' and for the 'outstanding quality of relationships between staff and pupils'.

However, Mr John Parker, President, said "We are saddened that the difficulties facing small schools in budgeting for ever increasing costs has resulted in this decision to close. Wispers' small size has been one of its strengths because of the sense of community and friendliness which it fosters, but its size also makes it vulnerable when single-sex girls' schools are under increasing pressure from the trend towards co-education and when the demand for boarding is in decline."

Visited with Marc.

This was our last site of the day and definitely worth sitting in annoying traffic light jams for. Marc had been here before but he kindly didn't mind going again to show me how epic it was. I have a vague recollection of folks visiting this a while back but perhaps I was wrong because I can't find a trace of it. It was truly amazing with stunning projectors!

Originally named Boyce Barracks, but re-named in 1948 following the visit of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

This large barracks complex was built to act as the Depot for the Royal Army Medical Corps, who used it until 1962. From 1965 until 1970 it was used by Training Regiments of the Royal Corps of Transport. From 1970 until 2000 it was used by Gurkha Regiments.

Wooden hutted camp, with single storey barrack blocks arranged as 'spiders'. The camp could accommodate 2 500 men in peace time. This camp also included a numbers of stores and administration buildings, as well as a large parade area, gymnasium and cinema.

Site sold by the MOD and due for redevelopment as housing. The headquarters administration building has been moved and preserved at the Aldershot Military Museum.

Visited with SJW, Hula Hoops and Guntyface.

Beautiful place Jubjubs! In out, in out and shake it all about which is what we did and had a good time doing it. This little jaunt to Clapham went very smoothly with lots of photoing and a little bit of nudity. I'm not going to include the group shot....for obvious reasons

Here's a bit of information on the deep shelters under London. Most of them are now used as secure storage and therefore cannot be accessed.

The London deep-level shelters are eight deep-level air-raid shelters that were built under London Underground stations during World War II. Each consists of a pair of parallel tunnels 16 feet 6 inches (5.03 m) in diameter and 12,000 feet (3.7 km or 2.3 miles) long. Each tunnel is subdivided into two decks, and each shelter was designed to hold up to 8,000 people. It was planned that after the war the shelters would be used as part of new express tube lines paralleling parts of the existing Northern and Central Lines. Each tunnel is of a diameter much larger than that usually used for running tunnels, but smaller than that used for the platform tunnels, hence they were constructed at the stations that would have been bypassed on the high-speed lines. However, 16 ft running tunnels were used for the Northern City Line opened in 1904, since it had been intended to run main-line trains here (a plan not realised until 1976).

Visited with Adders.

Wow what a place! This is the 4th technical college I've explored now so there must be some kind of plan higher up to merge them all together like they do with old hospitals to make one big hyper college. The salons are always the most fun because of their crazy sinks and 80s hairdo posters.

I was so on edge in here as with all places which decide to keep the electrics on. Lightbulbs=sweaty forehead and stomach butterflies

I think we got round most of it but when we tried to get to the foyer, we started to hear beeping so we decided to cut our losses and scarper out the way we came in. If it was just intended as a deterrent or if it was actually an alarm, it worked either way to get rid of us.

An early start for this one as the Midland Troublemakers and I had been busy pubbing, chickening and climbing hay bales the night before. Everyone had to go to work so I headed off to Hinckley to see what was left of the dry cleaners. The answer was.....not a lot!

The demo team were in there as I was wandering around so it meant doing mad dashes between the buildings whilst the orange cherry pickers om nommed at the surrounding buildings. I wasn't going to bother posting any photos from here but looking back, I loved the dye and chemicals so much, I took quite a meaty amount of photographs to substantiate a report. I ripped my tights and leg open on the way in and had to walk around Brum for the rest of the day living up to my dirty skank reputation.

Visited with Starsplorer.

This was our second site of the day and my mini Midlands exploring binge trip. Dweeb had given us a text the day before and tipped us off about this one so we added it to the list that was already heaving with stuff and made our way to Wolverhampton. Lovely place and very much like a tardis in that it's enormous on the inside and deceptively small on the outside.

Here's a bit of information about the site from Wikipedia:

Sunbeam bicycles (always "The Sunbeam") were made in Wolverhampton from 1887 to 1937. As the factory was used to sheet-metal working and japanning (the Victorian equivalent of today's oven-baked enamel) the construction of cycles presented few problems. At first of similar design to other makers' machines, the company adopted a version of Harrison Carter's Little oil-bath chaincase in the mid-1890s. The cycle was re-designed so that the oil contained in the oilbath lubricated the bottom bracket, chain and rear hub, the only cycle so designed to date. The top model was the 'Golden' with alloy wheel-rims, epicyclic two- and three-speed gears and real gold-leaf pin-striping. The 'Royal' was of the same quality but had red lining and simpler equipment. These and other models were made at "Sunbeamland", Pool Street, Wolverhampton until 1937 and subsequently, to the same designs, by AMC and BSA until 1957.

Many John Marston Sunbeam motorcycle models were produced.The first was a 350 cc in 1912 followed by a range of 500 cc singles and some v-twins. In 1924 a new model numbering system was introduced; Sunbeam Models 1 through 11. Other higher numbered models were produced in later years. The majority had single cylinder engines developing relatively low power, though winning the TT races often, the last time in 1929. A hallmark of all Marston Sunbeams was the superb quality and finish in black with gold-leaf pinstriping.

Visited with Starsplorer.

Well I've finally got round to uploading at least some photos from the memory cards from last week so this is the first report I'm going to cobble together. One of the most annoying things about my D70 is that it's very deceptive about the quality of the photos on the preview screen so I was under the impression that the ones I took of this place were quite good when really...they were a pile of blurry wank!

Ahh well! It's a great little place, very unassuming and it look like it's going to be very shit from the outside. Once we were in though, we could see its old style tiles and mosaic frozen in time and covered with dust. There's very little in the way of vandalism as most of the decay has been caused by our friends....the pigeons

I laid down a complete veto on anything to do with the rancid basement so no photo of that I'm afraid but here's the ones I do have. ISO 10,000 FTW.

Visited with Speed and Alias and an egg.

Well isn't this a little hidden gem!? Well done Psychoville and well done to whoever tracked down where it was. We'd been to Springfield first but we were running late so it meant getting here when the light was fading rapidly.

We raced through Marble Arch and overtook a yellow Lambougini. At which point, Speed and Ron pulled up alongside us, rolled down the window and handed me "ONE WIN VOUCHER". It set the tone for the evening because later on, we stopped at some more traffic lights with a bunch of charvas on scooters side by side giggling. The lights turned green and Speed just did this massive wheel spin and raced after them SCREEEEECHHHH FLASH FLASH FLASH! Alias and his pimpmobile overtook him and the guys on scooters looked like they were going to get off and batter us.

Anyway, back to the college. It was rather bleak inside but still pretty impressive. It reminded me of a cross between the original St. Joe's and Balleyvourney College in Cork. The tower stands proud in all its gothic loveliness but don't be fooled because it's full of the most evil pigeons I've ever encountered that left me cowering on the staircases. We got our revenge though and picked up the eggs and chucked them off the tower....only to find them on the way back down with bloody pigeon foetuses (sp) splatted on the floor. Nice!

Visited with Rigsby and Speed.

I found another memory card full of exploring photos so I thought I'd post up some reports. We went here on a baking hot day before meeting up with Bubblehead to do that gun place. I passed out in the car in a McDonalds car park wearing too many clothes and woke up drenched in sweat. Rookinellas die in hot cars....apparently!

Stirchley baths has a superb amount of pigeons and pigeon poo which would not disappoint die hard bird fans. I'd probably give it a 5/10 poo rating

It was a nice chilled out place to kick off what turned out to be a rather eventful roadtrip. But still.....rather a rollercoaster than a smooth Jag in the journey of life eh?

Located at Bridgeton Cross, an east end district of Glasgow. The Olympia Theatre of Varieties was typical of the Edwardian Baroque style variety theatres which were being built at the time. It opened on 18th September 1911 and had a seating capacity of 2,000 in stalls and dress circle. The Baroque style exterior in red sandstone, with its corner entrance and elaborate dome was designed by architect George Arthur & Son. The interior with its lavish plaster scrollwork was designed by noted theatre designer Frank Matcham & Company. It was equipped to show films from its opening.

Visited with Speed.

I had a few things on the list for Portsmouth so when Speed said that he needed to pick up some car parts from the South Coast, we decided to do a bit of exploring at the same time. We had a mooch around Victoria swimming baths and drove past the empty nightclub on the seafront but it was so busy and looked a bit past it so we headed straight for the cinema.

I can't even put the stench of this place into words. I am of a fairly weak disposition anyway and would come first place in a winge and moaning competition so I made the most of this situation and had a big diva strop about the smell. It's like shit, dead animals, probably dead people, sewage, mould and piss all cooked up and simmered in a rotting space for a good long time. Blurgghhhhh.

Apart from the pit of despair, it was actually a "nice" cinema. We didn't get in all of it but if there's a way of going back in that doesn't include balancing on a dodgy ladder over a lake of death, I'd be well up for it.

I remembered that Aylesbury wasn't very far from Oxford so I thought I'd kill two birds with one proverbial stone and visit the Odeon cinema in the town centre. A quick call to OT because I was being a div and couldn't find it and I was in (thankyou! )

It's pretty smashed up inside but apart from that, everything is still there waiting to be looked at and rummaged through. The projector room is awesome with loads of negative reels lying around. I tried to photograph these but replacement camera No.1 was having none of it.

It's got a whole zoo of animals living in there as well. I'm 100% sure I heard rats scratching in the walls when I was taking photos upstairs. No sightings though.

You can spot the clocktower of St. Crispin's from a mile away and the drive through all the windy roads to get there was most pleasurable! My uncle lives in Northampton so I used to go here a lot (not the hospital). Dweeb climbed this a couple of months back and seeing as I was in the general area, I decided to check it out!

Half way up is this tube bit that goes up through the water tank which is just like the one at St. George's except it's completely dark at the top before you get out into the open air. A load of pigeons flew into my face, blurgghhhh it was disgusting It's a shame you can't see the clock faces from the inside because they are gigantuousss and would look really nice.

Visited with Rigsby on our Summer pottery extravaganza which I'm still trying to catch up on. We swung by Spode after a night's kip in a car park but seeing a load of workers on site, we decided to give it a miss and do J H Weatherby instead. Lovely Jubbly

Here's some information about the pottery taken from a big useful online pottery resource.

One of the last remaining family-owned pottery firms is to close after more than a century.
J H Weatherby and Sons in Hanley is currently being run down and is will soon cease trading after 109 years.
Its chairman, Christopher Weatherby, the great-great grandson of company founder John Henry Weatherby, today blamed cut-throat competition in the hotelware business for the firm's decline.

Visited with Rigsby back in June.

I think this was the last pottery of the day we visited before settling down for a night of disturbed sleep in an Aldi car park. I'm probably the only person who hadn't been to TG Green by the time we went because I just kept putting it off for some reason. Anyway, it lived up to my expectations and I can understand why everyone says it a great little site...well actually it's quite big!

You've probably read all the history on the site by now from other people's reports so I won't bother copying anything from Wikipedia this time

We had a great time and I'd give it a 6/10-yes yes highly recommmend.

Visited with the travelling Lego circus of thievery and corruption.

This was a nice little site! Loads of cool stuff lying around even if the building itself is a little dilapidated. There's lots of suicidal pigeons inside and arcade machines to make any gaming/gambling geek weak at the knees.

Here's a bit of history:

The Borough Theatre opened as a live venue in 1909, designed by Messrs J. Fleming Davidson and C.D. James. By 1930 it had 1,100 seats in stalls and two balconies, but this was probably closer to 2,000 when opened. Two years after opening the original architects returned to design a projection room at the rear of the lower circle, with an oriel window and emergency escape routes on the side wall. It was marginally altered again in 1935 and then refurbished and altered in 1949 by Percy L. Browne and Harding.

The Borough Theatre was taken over by Gaumont in 1928 and was renamed in 1946. On closing in November 1960, it was converted to Bingo and at some point reverted to the original name. Bingo ceased around the turn of the 21st century and the building has been largely derelict since. It is currently (2009) under threat of redevelopment.

Visited with Rigsby.

There's not really a lot to say about this place that hasn't already been said so instead, I'll tell you about how we ran into some cider-carrying kids there.

On a balmy evening not long before the Ides of August, two intrepids set out in search of a grand house infamous for its spontaneous combustion and keeping ill company. The daring duo filleted themselves through a small gap high above the creeping ivy and were soon treading the cracking floors mosaiced with windows that once were whole. No sooner had they progressed to the upper floors, an almighty crash shook the very rafters and light came streaming in through a newly made gaping hole. Brandishing planks of wood and cans of the blue stuff, they agressively questioned the two nomads as to their intentions within the towering structure and the explorers explained they were
"just taking photos".

Visited with everyone!

It had been an early start for everyone but we finally made it back down to Hartlepoole at around 5ish after a brief look at Wallsend Theatre. We nipped back to Chez Fox to grab more cameras and then set out again to this place.

Ushaw College is a cool little place nestled in the hills around Durham and guarded by mini ponies who had manical non-religious laughs. I remember seeing Crossy's report of this place last year and whilst thinking of places we could visit whilst up north, Ushaw came up in conversation. It's right next to the active seminary so we were all on our best behaviour.

It's a lot more "derelict" than I thought it would be which I guess has been caused by some abuse over the last couple of years from pikeys and the like. But none the less, it yielded a great couple of hours and plenty of sunny lens flare to keep by broken camera happy. Good times!

...I like big bridges and I cannot lie, you other brothers can't deny.....

Dinner was an insane amount of potato wedges. Company was Well Wasp, UrbanFox, Vivo, Rigsby and Speed. Entertainment was a carefully constructed giant legoman transporter vehicle (there's pictures somewhere I'm sure).

Anyway....a brilliant climby thing to end the day with! The weather was lovely, we saw some meteors and sat aboard this blue beast trying to remember the names of various British comedians and failing miserably. I haven't climbed anything big in a while and I forgot how much I loved it so this was just what the doctor ordered. The D70 didn't do too badly either coz usually my night photography suckkzorrzz. It was a great night with goods laffs! Thanks to the locals for showing us how it's done

Here's a bit of information on the bridge if you don't know it already:

The Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge (or simply Transporter Bridge) is the furthest downstream bridge across the River Tees, England. It connects Middlesbrough on the south bank to Port Clarence on the north bank. It is a transporter bridge, carrying a travelling 'car' or 'gondola' suspended from the bridge, across the river in 90 seconds. The cart can carry 200 people, 9 cars or 6 cars and one minibus. It carries the A178 road from Middlesbrough to Hartlepool.

Visited with Rigsby.

We'd had a super long drive the day before but me and Rigsby were relentlessly looking for something to explore so we left the others sprawled out in front of the telly sleeping off the night before. Our first stop was Tunstall Court but we spotted a white van in the grounds so decided to do it on the way back instead. So anyway, here's some photos of Doxford Shipbuilders which had some insane ferns growing out of filing cabinets!

Here's some history:

The Company was established by William Doxford in 1840. From 1870 it was based in Pallion, Sunderland, on the River Wear in Northeast England. The Company was managed by William Doxford's four sons following his death in 1882. It was renamed Doxford & Sunderland Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd in 1961 and Doxford & Sunderland Ltd in 1966. It was acquired by Court Line in 1973 at which time it was renamed Sunderland Shipbuilders Ltd.

During the 1970's a new all-weather Pallion yard was built which could build two ships of up to 30,000 tons deadweight side-by-side: the steel came in at one end, and the completed ship left from the other with engines installed and sometimes with the machinery running.

Court Line collapsed in 1974 and the Company was taken into public ownership. It was privatised in 1986 when it was merged with Austin & Pickersgill to form North East Shipbuilders. However within two years of the merger the Doxford Pallion yard had been closed down.

Visited with Alias, Siologen and Loops.

Well it's about time I got off my arse and posted up some stuff from the last couple of months and weeks. I remember photos from this place a good couple of years ago and then some more recent photos appeared so we thought we'd pay the old girl a visit to kill some time. Access was like being born again but more spiky (unless......vagina dentata...) There was plentiful sweaty thighed shoulder rides and I expressed my absolute hatred for apricots on the roof. Loops was eating dried apricots-I've gotta say I was unimpressed at this point!

Well anyway...the baths are fucked and I didn't really take many photos because I didn't have a torch. The roof was the nice bit though where we spelled out "CUNT" with our bodies to form a silouette in front of Canary Wharf. We could also see straight into the apartments below....wink wink...nudge nudge!

Here's what Wikipedia says about it:

Poplar Baths in the East End of London is a derelict site today. In the past it was thriving. Not only did people come to swim, they also came to dance (covering the swimming pool with a temporary floor).

Poplar Baths opened in 1852 from the statues of the Baths and Washhouses Act 1846. It was rebuilt in 1933. East India Hall was often "floored over" and then used as "a theatre (capacity 1,400), dance hall, exhibition room and sports hall".

Finally closed to the public in 1988, a bid to re-open the baths has been put together by The Environment Trust, Swan Housing Group and the 'Poplar Baths Steering Group'.

It has been a listed building (Grade 2) since 2001.

Visited with Alias and Speed.

Continuing the "Friday report dump from the last 3 months", here's Springfield Hospital! It's one abandoned wing of a live hospital which is a lovely building in itself and very large. It took us ages to get here because the traffic from Brighton was insane but we eventually pulled up in the car park to meet Speed and Ron. Ron's wheel looked like it was about to fall off and me and Alias ate Fruitella and some weird giant strawberry cable thing

Whilst doing a bit of research on the place, I've been finding loads of articles about dangerous patients escaping from here It seems they care just as little about people getting out as they do about folks getting in!

Visited with Rigsby.

Well done Dweeb the pottery king for spotting this little treasure. In a pretty run down neighbourhood but hidden behind a couple of walls, lies a mint little building full of china, porn and lingerie. There's also a little launderette on site which might explain the underwear everywhere rather than the dubious "pervert sex pit" theories previously expressed.

It's a lovely little place with all sorts of scary china animals. Smells a bit and we got covered in crap anti-climb paint. Paint fail!

Visited with Speed.

Well better late than never but let's hope the wait was worth it! Waterford was a last minute decision that paid off in full. Huge mills, epic industry and a boiling hot day in Spring We found these chocolat biscuits called "Elite" which was pretty funny so we made a video about it (I'll edit it soon, I swear).

We were in one of the top buildings and suddenly this rescue helicopter came zooming past the window really close to us. Snap snap photos! Apart from that, I don't have a lot more to say other than..wow!

Visited with Rigsby.

I think this was our third pottery of the day in a blitz to try and fit in as many as we could before driving down the Birmingham. We'd slept in the car in a Lidl's car park and set the alarm for 5am (whoops overselpt).

Tams Pottery is great, they must have made mugs for everyone because there were some really random ones ranging from Playboy to Pokemon. The place is realy colourful and we even found a working radio for a very musical explore.

Here's some history:

In 1864 John Tams and William Lowe were two pottery companies who came from a partnership "Tams & Lowe" which split up in 1874.

John Tams then formed the company on his own, in 1903 became John Tams & Son and in 1912 John Tams Ltd.

Tams Group Limited was formed in April 2000. It was a management buy in of part of the former John Tams Group PLC, which went into receivership in February 2000.

Tams Group Limited bought the rights to Tams, Royal Grafton and Grafton Living. Marketing these brands and still manufacturing in Longton, Stoke on Trent - in 2002 was the biggest ceramic employer in Longton and one of the biggest mugs manufacturer in Europe.

The company operated from the Crown Works on The Strand in Longton and also had the Blythe, Sutherland and Atlas works in Longton - and a warehouse at the former Monarch flatware site in Fenton. In 2006 the group went into receivership and finally closed.

Visited with Rigsby.

I love the smell of heavy industry in the morning....and the morning it was...6am to be precise. We hadn't gone to bed yet because of driving straight up from London the night before. I'm still not convinced this was not the cause of an on-going Rookinella lung problem because the dust and shit that we must have breathed in whilst exploring can't have been good. You know when your mouth feels gritty and earthen?

Anyway, it was an amazing place and so big. It reminded me of Beringen because of the tracks on the ground and the colours of the machines. It's due to be demolished any day now so I'd suggest getting your skates on if you want to see it. Cheers to Shadow for the info!

Visited with Rigsby and Loops.

I only originally suggested this place as a site to kill some time before we went and did some high stuff but it ended up taking forever because security were very present in the buildings

Me and Speed tried this last October because we remember quite a few people had been and it would be a nice hospital to round the day off with. However a lot of the old reports fail to say that this place was explored with the permission of the security guard so surprise surprise, when we asked, he was like "no, fuck off!" ha ha.

Well about 8 months later, we threw caution to the wind and the cameras and decided to give it a crack without permission holding ours hands. There were voices inside the building the whole time we were there but that made creeping around all the more fun. There's loads of cameras on the outside too but I'm not sure if they work.

It was a good afternoon/evening spent mooching around but it's nothing special which is a shame because it looks pretty good from the outside.

Visited with Turkey and Speed.

We went here as part of our two day Ipswichy trip back in the middle of May. I always thought this place was a bit like Royal Arthur until we got there and there was an enormously mint swimming pool and other cool stuff There's a museum on site as well which I think has 24hr security but other than that, we didn't see anyone. It was a most enjoyable trip!

Here's a bit of information I found on the interweb:

Shotley Point was destined to have strong connections with the Navy. Originally an Anglo Saxon settlement, Shotley Gate saw its first naval battle in AD885, when Alfred, King of Wessex fought off Guthrum the Dane’s invading army. It was at Shotley Point, that the wooden ship HMS Ganges, was berthed from 1899, and used as a cadet training ship for the Royal Navy. When the Ganges vessel was finally retired (and towed away to Chatham), the training facility, still named HMS Ganges, moved ashore (in 1905). The facility remained there until its closure in June 1976, when its training function moved to HMS Raleigh, Torpoint, Cornwall. More than 150,000 Navy recruits passed through the gates of HMS Ganges. It was later opened as a police training centre, but this too came to an end in the 1990s. The mast of the HMS Ganges still stands on the now-derelict site, which is proposed to be developed in the near future.

At high tea on the seventeeth of this fair month, three intrepids set sail on a bonny boat named "The Orange Pearl" for a voyage fraught with danger of every kind. Wild water beasties (woodlice), busking frenchmen, hidden ducks and a bunch of scallies moored up outside the shelter for waifs and strays.

The crew was made up of Captain Marmite who they say smells and tastes of twiglets and arrrr this is how he got his name. He was a man of many morals although fell by the wayside when it came to selling drawings of one particular famous pirate known as First Maid Brittania Spearsbeard. He was a bit of a loose canon, so he was, but full of spirit and a grand leader. Owner of The Orange Pearl and in charge of Roger the Cabin Boy who was a master at controlling the high seas with green river snakes to guide the ladyship. Lastly was First Mate Nelly Rookinellaaarrrrrrr who was a brave young thing who couldn't swim but they brought her along to carry the sweets. Folklore says that having a woman aboard was bad luck.....even a miniature one..arrrrr!

Roger the Cabin Boy was the first to test the waters paddling with a tupperware lid (or the 1800s equivalent). Captain Marmite fed the green river snakes out to Roger to test the length of battle-approximately two hours/knots/logs. Roger gave a tug on the rope and indicated that treasure lay beyond the arched caverns.


The three tired pirates sailed off under the bridge and into the sunset to meet crowds of rowdy supporters welcoming them home on their victorius voyage.

Arrrrghhh mission accomplished!

Visited with Looptheloop, Silogennnnfuckyeah and Witek.

This one was very easy to find thanks to Shadow who sent me the pirate map with the X on it It may also have been easier because it wasn't just some insignificant hole in the ground like some were (fan bay, I'm talking about you).

No rockets inside, not even those E number lollies sadly but Witek did find a little posse of pigeons who had no fear. My guess is that they've been hanging around with the arrogant seagulls you find in all coastal areas who don't even give a shit if you nearly run them over. It's cool, I like this place...especially the risk of certain death just as you get to the bottom. I was saying it's like when you're on top of a building and there's that 0.0001 percent of you that just wants to leap out to see what happens. Weeee!

Visited with Siologen, Loops and Witek (name on birth certificate)

Possibly one of the only sites yesterday that we found with any ease! It was Siologen's birthday so we thought a picnic and some tunnels would make a nice day of it. We started off looking for the Fan Bay thingy (could I remember where it was?....could I fuck...) We found lots of pea fields though and Witek ate lots of them We soaked up some sunshine on some random concrete structure and let off lots of party poppers and medals because everyone's a winner baby..that's the truth.

More pea fields later and we pulled up into the National Trust car park and swerved past the booth without paying (hardcore). Whilst waiting for Silo to go and move the car, me, Loops and Witek sunbathed and watched clouds in the shapes of noses and arrows.

Visited with Siologen.

We went here a couple of weeks ago before I left for Ireland and after we'd had an epic day of fail in regards to what we were looking for (although this paid off in the end because we found it eventually). The day started off so promising weather wise but whilst we were ambling along the coast, the heavens opened and splatted down a load of raindrops the size of golf balls. We got soaked and ended up squelching around Dover talking about the usual filth and asking locals for information.

So....as a last resort, we checked out the oil mills which were so murky that it made all the photos come out very misty because of the condensation. There was some interesting graffiti It was still a good recceing day and a great opportunity to (kind of) get to know the area...even though we still got lost a couple of weeks later.

In conclusion....Dover is full of black holes and conspiracy horses.

Visited with Aliarrrse.

I'll warn you now...this place is wank. However we checked a few leads in the area and had exhausted the little shop of its icecreams so we thought we better at least go and do some exploring rather than malingering on street corners. Access was comedy and although it's boarded to within an inch of its little life, it looks like it's been done over by a whole range of pikeys, animals...you name it.

The place is trashed but amongst all the debris and smashed lights, lies a rather nice main hall not too dis-similar to the ones we are all used to in the UK asylums. It was kind of its saving grace after we'd fannied around outside making silly videos and upsetting the locals.

Visited with Speed + two other Irish explorers who we bumped into.

As Speed said in his other report, we only had Waterford on the list as a stand by just in case we had time before catching the ferry back. As it turned out, these two sites turned out to be a big highlight of the trip. Access was pretty straightforward and nobody seemed to care or see what we were up to. I'd recommend the "I dropped my sunglasses the other side of the fence, can I go and get them?" tactic.

Visited with Speed.

The college is set back from the road running through the village of Balleyvourney but it can be seen very clearly as you drive past. This was one of the sites I was most looking forward to on the trip because I'#d watched a film a couple of years ago that was filmed here. "Song for Raggy Boy" is a film about abuse in boys schools in Ireland and it's got Aiden Quinn and a few other famous faces in (highly recommend it).

It's very bare inside but has an eerie historic feeling that I've only ever got in one other place and that was Eastmoor Secure Unit in Leeds. A lot of the rooms have been painted and fake walls put in for filming but apart from that, it's pretty much as it was left it seems. The dormitories are all upstairs and there's a hall on the middle floor.

Thanks to JDholic and Irishmanlost for information on this place as it was quite hard to navigate in parts with its sporadic boarding attempts. It was reminscent of popping in and out of tubes in hamster cages (not that I've ever been a hamster but I was empathising)

Visited with JDholic and Speed.

The drive down from the north to here was just stunning and pure pleasure. I'd say if you wanted to experience crazy winding roads through leafy areas, go for this one. The sun was absolutely blinding as we whizzed past fields of sheep and cows that for once, weren't black and white. The car stereo was booming out Supertramp and Placebo (odd mix but it captured the mood well).

We pulled up to Killeshandra with about 3 hours of light left in the day. The ways in previously used were all blocked up so we popped on our superhero outfits and got creative.

Here's a bit of history on the convent and the Sisters of Mercy:


For 60 years Killeshandra has been home to one of the world's greatest missionary endeavors. For 60 years young women left Killeshandra to bring education, health care and, most important of all, the Christian message to the African peoples. Through their courage, their total commitment, their dedication, they have made an enormous contribution to the development of many third world countries. The full extent of this contribution may never be fully appreciated or recognized. For these brave women, their journey began in Killeshandra. They were members of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, and their convent, the mother house of the order, was situated a few miles outside of the town. At its peak the order was the largest missionary congregation for women in Ireland. Throughout the length and breadth of Ireland the sisters were simply and affectionately known as the 'Killeshandra nuns'. To tell their story is to tell the story of some of the bravest and most dedicated women ever to leave these shores.

Visited with JDholic and Speed.

Wet Wipe Rating=4/10
Animal Count=2 (I saw some birds)
Climbability=moderate to good

The Milford Bakery is about two hours drive from Belfast in the north of the south (ya get meh?) right out of the way along lots of windy roads. JDholic couldn't take his van over the border so we all squeezed into the Rookwagon with all the roadtrip stuff in the back (quite uncomfortable). The bakery is quite sizeable and like every industrial site we visited, it was all still full of machinery. We mooched around here for about an hour and then motored onto the next site after a brief encounter with Security Horse.

Visited with Speed.

Wet Wipe Rating=5/10 (due to anti-climb paint)
Pigeons=4/10 (quite annoying)
Views=8/10 (pretty spectacular)

We spent the night before trying to rinse McDonald's WIFI with little success and slept in the car park of a Peugeot garage next to one of the main roads leading into Dublin. From an early start at Belvoir hospital via a bakery and a convent, we finally rolled into Dublin around 9pm. Morale was running a little low due to tiredness and extreme mileage so I attempted to boost spirits by singing for the full 4 hours drive. I'm unsure whether this helped or not but by the next morning, we were once again experiencing epic industry in the city centre.

Access was straight forward, blatant and we got covered in anti-climb paint which doesn't actually work so I've demoted it to "mildy irritating paint". We were in here quite a while but it was still very early because we got up at 6am so after a quick search for an asylum that wasn't there, we progressed onto Cork.

A little history found on a redevelopment site:

Bolands Mills has been a landmark in the city of Dublin symbolising the two great traditions of agriculture and commerce in its successful operation as a thriving flour mill and bakery for over a century. Its key strategic location thrust it into an important historic role when it was occupied by republicans led by Eamon De Valera during the Rising of 1916 which ultimately led to the emergence of the modern Irish State. Eamon De Valera was later to become Taoiseach and then President of the new Irish Republic.

Visited with Irishmanlost, JDholic and Speed.

I first went here exactly a year ago but I was on crutches at the time so quite a few of the buildings weren't possible but the bits that we did get in to were great.
Returning a year later with working legs and more opportunity for climbing + some local knowledge led us to some more wards and crazy medical contraptions. There's not much I can add to the other reports posted so I'll just go on with the photos. I really liked this place, it smelled like all hospitals should....empty.

Visited with Irishmanlost, JDholic and Speed.

We visited here on our first day in Ireland and we'd been up since 2am getting the ferry over from Pembroke and driving alllll the way up to the north. It's a small site because a lot has been demolished since it was first explored but there's still a mint lab on site. Lots of bottles of chemicals and tea towels lying around

We went and looked at one more small hospital after this and then went back Irishmanlost's house and had fishy and chips before zonking out exhausted. Massive thanks to the guys for showing us round and Irishmanlost for letting us stop over.

Here's the photos including some nice fishy fish eye ones from the lens that Alias lent me for the trip.

Visited with Alias, Siologen and Speed.

Bit of a special one for me as I've wanted to get here for about three years now (better late than never) and I'm glad I waited actually because it was really worth it. The age of rediscovering industry on this scale in the UK is over sadly but this monster still goes on ticking away its old age by the docks.

As we all know, Spillers is one of the giants of derelict mill exploring and sadly (or happily for us) they are all pretty much on their way out now. It's been used as a backdrop for countless films and television programmes, recently most notably, "Life on Mars" and "Ashes to Ashes".

There's not much more I can say that hasn't been said before so without further ado, here's my photos. It was a stunning day weather wise as well and the company was second to none as always.

Visited with Turkey and Speed.

Another industrial beast from our mini break to Ipswich last weekend. The weather was gorgeous and we'd found an awesome little B&B with a broken shower and no channel 5 (Robin Hood denied). It's more trashed than the Kiddiminster one and the silos seem smaller (maybe because we weren't climbing from ground level).

It's filled with that unmistakeable yeasty (available in lumps), burnt sugar and dirty industry smell that we've all come to appreciate so much. There's some areas that are like floating floors of syrup which made balancing quite interesting and the ladders up the silos are a sticky mess. Incidently, if anyone goes here soon, can you pick up a pair of red sunglasses that went clattering down about five sets of ladders after falling off my head.

Visited with Speed.

Now I know I'm kind of taking the piss with the timescale on this one but I found a load of photos that I'd forgotten about and since I'm stuck in quarantine, I decided to do a load of reports of places we visited last summer. This was part of the "Scotland/Lincoln roadtrip of 35 site including ROC posts epicness" we did at the beginning of July.

Mansfield General is a great one and vastly under-rated for a relaxed and interesting explore just for the comedy security measures. They have these funny phone that have punchy numbers in nearly every room (including the toilets).

Just as we left Annesley, Speed decided to reverse into a kerb and the clip on the exhaust came loose so we had to pull into a garage where they refused to help so we parked right in front of their door and fixed it ourselves! suckers!

Despite being into this gaff for quite a while now, I'd never taken a trip to see Paddock on the open days so when someone kindly offered a chance for me to help out for the day, I accepted straight away. Little did I know that this was the day my body decided to go into meltdown but in the true spirit of a trooper, I battled on through the day sneezing on the visitors and saying I had swine flu.

Trips to Paddock as you all probably know are organised by Subterranea Britannica twice a year (the other is at London open house weekend in September) Rather than copy and pasting some words here, I'll just include the link which will provide you with everything you need and want to know about this site.

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/s...k/index1.shtml

The weather seemed somewhat promising in the morning and we managed to survive the whole day with only a few spits of rain whilst we sat outside munching KitKats and discussing ROC posts. A big thanks to Dark Prince and everyone else at Subbrit, it was great to meet you all. Cheers also to Markr for lending me his tripod (perhaps a new CX mini is the way to go) and Alias for lending me his fish eye lens, without which, everything would seem flat and normal.

Visited with Alias.

We actually went here about a month ago but better late than never eh? It ended up being an explorathon because by the end of the night, I think I'd visited about 8 sites in one day (ooh get me).

I vaguely remember reports from Fuller's back in the day but I guess it got shoved to the bottom of the pile as new stuff was being explored. I was pleasantly surprised by this place and despite it being small-ish, I wouldn't mind a trip back there on a chilled out and sunny day. Perfect for a picnic

The light was a crazy yellow in there so teamed up with a Nikon, it produced really warm/beta-carotene photos.

Visited with Speed and the House of Flounce.

Wheelchairs? Talk to me! This is the place to go if you want a good dose of dusty wheelchair and patients' records. We went here about a month ago but here is my belated report because I ran out of space, patience, interest etc.

We dropped down into the tunnels at one point and we could hear someone moving around so we sat and waited for a bit and then just legged it. I think there are people on the site during the week as we spotted some guys in high vis as we were driving away but they didn't look too serious.

This place is defintely worth a look if you're in the area as it's got a few unique features and the basement is full of gawdy funfair signs and stands. Pin the tail on the donkey!

We decided to take a trip to Hellingly for Alias's birthday but soon found the Main Hall on fire so we quickly called the boys in red and took some snaps. What a sad sight but not unexpected as it has happened so many times now.

Just a follow up report to the swimming pool really that the Flounclings explored in March but at the time, we couldn't find a way into the main building. So a couple of weeks later, me and Danny go back to discover a blindingly obvious way in-bloody typical!!

It's very grand inside with lots of lovely stained glass and heavy wood panelling. Towards the end of its life, it looked like it was used as a summer school for international students (lots of Russian and Spanish graffiti everywhere).

Visited with Danny and some onion rings.

We orginally planned to go here a couple of weeks ago with a car full of us but it kept hiding behind motorways and forests and proved impossible to find. However, after some google-earthing, we eventually found it. I expected it to be a bit more interesting than it was so when we got there, I was surprised to see how trashed it was with natural decay. It reminded me of a cross between Firbeck Hall and Chateau Noisy with its staircases and falling masonary. There's lots of mirrors everywhere (hence school of mirrors) which have somehow managed to survive in one piece when every other structure is falling around them.

Visited with Siologen and Alias.

I'd been exploring for about 12 hours by now so I was pretty whacked but me and Alias drove up to London for what is becoming a regular weekly thing to do. We'd just popped to Fullers in Redhill to kill some time before meeting Mr. Westminster. This was on the maybe list for last night so it was a gamble whether we were going to get in or not but luckily it paid off and we managed to see an absolutely MINT swimming pool.

Hackney Council closed the well-loved Haggerston Baths overnight in February 2000, following 10 years of poor
maintenance such as checking fire extinguishers, keeping gutters clear etc. The reasons given were health and
safety eg flaking paint. The timing happened to coincide with a £multi-million overspend on the new Clissold Pool
in Stoke Newington.Despite a big community campaign to pressurise Hackney Council into reopening it, nothing
has happened. The pool building is deteriorating and, despite its Grade II listed building status, is on the Council's
list for disposals. Local authorities are reluctant to pay £6 million to refurbish it.

Visited with Speed and Rigsby.

This has been on the cards for a while but it's taken a while to find a time when all of us were available to attempt it. Today, we succeeded and the inside was not disappointing. It was like finding a hall round every corner and all the rooms, despite seeming quite modern, were pretty elaborate.

Security are supposed to be pretty hot here but apart from a few vans and cars, we saw no sign of them luckily. The tower is incredible and it was often said that there was no way in but we found it in the end. However, it's covered in aerials so the views aren't great but it looks great from the outside.

We got round pretty much the whole place with no problems and even tried the chapel which is separate from the rest of the complex but sadly, it wasn't meant to be.

Visited with the House of Flounce.

We set out at ridiculous o' clock with some of us having no sleep and having to storm on through the morning with a bottle of Powerade and lots of enthusiasm. The seven seater car was packed with blankets, pillows and bacon sandwiches and we were off! Recently, this has become the norm with exploring trips. No more living off skanky petrol station food and energy drinks for roadtrips because this is not just "Urban Exploring".........it's "Extreme Picnicking"

Our original plan went kerfuffle so we picked from the list of back-up sites and made our way to Ipswich. As if by some cruel twist of fate, we had picked one weekend out of like 50 that Speed wasn't going to be in the vicinity which was a bummer because of him being King of Suffolk and all things Essex really. We will return however and do all the other stuff avec Speed who was, instead, brushing up on his Franglais.

After what seemed like hours of driving, we finally found Ipswich Lido which liked to hide behind trees and pretend to be other things like trucks and bits of forest. Photoshoots and a bit of sunbathing/sleeping later, we were ready to go. Exhausted by such swimming pool stress, we then zoomed back down to Colchester and lounged in the health spa for 3 hours and ate sandwiches that were bigger than the county that we were in.

Here's a bit of history nicked from the Save Broomhill Pool website,

Ipswich has a long association with swimming, which can be traced back as far as 1329. Sometime in the year 1329-30 John, the son of William Owyth was found drowned in the quay at Ipswich after swimming with some other mariners. Its heyday was clearly the 1960's when we had 2 Olympic size outdoor pools and 2 indoor pools. Before the Second World War we could afford to heat the open air pools to 70F, today we are told we cannot afford even to keep one open air pool open.

Visited with Alias and Siologen.

A strange name for this one but I guess it does exactly what it says on the tin (although we didn't find any empty carriages). We did however find a dead mouse, a few dead birds and lots of rubbish. We mooched around the tunnels for a bit singing Blur's Country House and the theme tune to Round The Twist (have you ever...ever felt like this?) and mainly discussed mammary glands (surprise surprise!)

The tunnel itself is pretty impressive and looks like your average spaceship but is incredibly hard to light due to its size, hence the very dark photos. We then went on to do some other stuff but Alias decided to shake hands with some rusty nails and we were off to the hospital to get him stitched back up. We ended up sitting in casualty for a while telling all the nurses and doctors the stories behind the injuries. I nodded off on the hospital benches using a bag of Haribo as a pillow. So all in all, it was a wicked night and I think I eventually got to bed at around 5:30am with more bruises and cuts on my legs than a few hours previously. Cheers to everyone for a great...if eventful night.

Visited with Mofo.

Wow! This was a pleasant surprise! It looked great from the outside and it was just as good on the inside. Access was extremely comedy and I can't believe the rozzers weren't waiting for us on the way out but it must have been our lucky day! As the history below says, it started out life as a grand cinema and then eventually met its fate as all cinemas do and became a bingo hall. Lots of pigeons, lots of seats, lots of holes in the floor! Sorry the photos are a bit garbage, I seem to be having a bad photo couple of months-meh!

A construction for a local consortium, the Astoria opened with 'The Private Life of Henry VIII'.

It had full stage facilities and a spectacular Art Deco interior decoration scheme. An illuminated Compton 3 manual organ was installed.

The stage was infrequently used for live shows up until 1958 when the theater closed for renovations which installed a vast 70mm screen in front of the old proscenium, removed the organ, and curtained the impressive auditorium.

The balcony steppings were altered and a new projection suite constructed at (and into) the rear balcony.

Long runs of such films as 'Earthquake' ensued and the cinema continued successfully until just after the other ABC house in town was quadrupled in 1976. The Astoria closed the following year and became a bingo casino.

This lasted until approximately 1996 after which the Astoria has stood empty and unused.

It has recently been bought for around 1 million pounds and is due to be restored (not known if to original design) and reopened as a live (mainly concert) venue.

The Astoria is a Grade II Listed building.

Visited with the House of Flounce.

Our visit here was purely accidental because we were actually looking for something else when we drove past this place and decided to take a closer look. I didn't actually realise this was Bellersby until I found some paperwork and remembered it was reported a couple of years back. We didn't get into the main building but we'll be back when there's more light as it's really only just up the road.

The swimming pool is cool none the less so I've decided to pop a report up even though it is 5am-grrr insomnia! I've fully given up trying to take good photos because they just keep coming out shit! So just happy snappy shots until I can get back my mojo.

Visited with a packet of jelly babies.

The last week has been an amalgamation of sewing, knitting, hospital visits and burning myself with my new glue gun. I was pissed off with what I was making for the first time ever and decided some easy, local explores were what was needed for some relaxation.

First stop today was just down the road in Stockport and then I went on to have a mooch around the air raid shelters. Most Wankered did a special ghost hunt here so that particular feature has dominated most of the search engines when I was looking for some history to copy and paste into here....hence, no history.

I was just about to go into the mortuary when I looked over my shoulder and saw a contractor in high-vis with his back to me, getting something out of his car boot. RETREAT RETREAT!!!! In an exaggerated tip toe run across the forecourt, I managed to hide in a patch of trees until he was gone.

Sorry the photos are merde but franchement mon cher, je m'en fous The computer that I usually upload the photos to was all unplugged so I uploaded them to photobucket and edited them on there. Safe to say, I WON'T be doing it again.

When Girls Aloud sung their top ten hit, "The Sound of the Underground", they couldn't have got it more wrong. The Metro doesn't sound like five skinny girls dressed in shiny lycra outfits. It is grubby, screeching, rumbling and dark-oh and did I mention fantastic?

Over the four days that me and Scott were in Paris, we did all the usual things that couples do when going on a romantic mini break like hijacking the driver's cabs, dodging the third rail so as to not get fried, running down sewers in trainers and generally getting up to no good.

Our first experience of the hidden parts of the Metro were a breezy tunnel where trains ran about every two minutes which gave us just enough time to leave foreign coins on the tracks and then spend the next ten minutes trying to find where they landed when they got squished.

"Have you got any money for a drink?"

"No, my currency is all squashed"

The noise is just incredible and even when you are in the abandoned parts, it feels like a train is coming straight for you. It is very nerve-wracking and knowing that at all times, you are approximately two feet away from death is enough to keep you on your toes.

You also develop a healthy "metro glow" which isn't actually a glow at all. You come out with a face like a chimney sweep and black hands and you wonder why everyone is giving you funny looks as you stand innocently on the platform waiting for a legitimate journey home.

Our time in Paris seemed to whizz by and I can't wait to go back and experience even more of this crazy underground system. Jumping barriers, riding in between the connecting trains and sitting in the driver's seat is what gets your blood pumping-there's no doubt about that

These are photos of the first mission down the metro which included one abandoned station which I'm going to call Les Bananapouletpoisson because I can't remember what it was called or what region it was in.

Visited with Dsankt, QX and Le Dickhead.

We awoke to a morning of heavy snow which only worsened as we progressed north into Paris's gangster side of town. We passed cars with rags hanging out of the petrol caps waiting for the guilty party to return and send them up in flames. The security measures on this place, whether they still worked or not I don't know, were extreme which is what you would expect given its size, location and use. After a bit of climbing, we approached this gaudy pink/peachy power station and were soon inside its immense turbine halls. I have no idea why they decided to paint it the same colour as some cheap Spanish holiday villa because to be fair, whatever colour a power station is, it's still pumping shit into the air and causing visual pollution to those living next to it (personally, I wouldn't mind living next to one).

This power station in the ghettos is also home to some pretty good graffiti which just adds to the charm of the place. We dossed around here for a while and me and Scott filmed some videos on the new D90, QX climbed to the roof and swung around on the rafters and Dsankt swept the floor with his own self-styled sponge broom.

Incidentally, we rarely had a ticket and we also didn't care!

With the dulcet tones of Le Beatles still ringing in my ears from passing through the Lennon dedicated Liverpool airport, we set off in search of some ass-kicking dirty metro fun. Situated somewhere in Paris (traveling by metro only doesn't do wonders for your above-ground spatial awareness but were we bovvered?)

The green military paint and luminous wall panels echoed everything that I associate with air raid shelters/dark passages etc. So like true urban adventurists, we drew giant phalluses on the glow in the dark wall panels with headtorches to light our way. The tunnels are a weird half egg/Witley style shape and wind round to make the shape of a horseshoe where at the end, they meet a track and this is where the trains are stored.

Some of the trains are relatively new and used for training but other date right back to the 1930s and from their interiors, this just shows what little effort is made into differentiating first and second class nowadays.

Regardless of their insides, all the trains have been used as canvases to over-zealous taggers and graffiti artists and they look fantastic in that state.

Visited with Scott.

This was just a mini explore to add on to the other stuff we had done that day and seeing as it was only 3 miles away, wed decided to check it out. It's very small and most of the floors upstairs aren't suitable for walking on. It's placed in the middle of a new housing estate so when we rocked up in the Rookwagon, there were lots of men in suits walking around and talking loudly into their phones.

Chapel Allerton Hospital is an NHS hospital which includes the Chapel Allerton Orthopaedic Centre. It was established in 1926. In the building and grounds of Gledhow Grove mansion, a Grade II listed building which has now been converted to housing. The hospital now occupies buildings which were opened in 1994, across Harehills Lane from its original site. There is no Accident and Emergency department but the hospital dues boast a leading orthopaedic centre. The original site has since been redeveloped for housing. The location of the hospital borders Chapeltown and as such could be equally considered to be in Chapeltown.

Visited with Scott.

Well me and Dweeb had planned to go here a couple of weeks ago but traffic said "noooo". So seeing as it was near to where we were heading, I added it to the list of things to see that day. Gannex is your typical mill complete with pigeony goodness almost a foot thick in some places but it has some great treasures hidden away. The best thing being the old photos which I didn't get to look at as closely as I would have liked because we left pretty sharpish after getting into the other side of the complex.

The template room upstairs was great but whilst I was taking one photo, I think I felt the floor beneath me moving which was slightly un-nerving. There's lots of Gannex-branded things still left behind from embroidered labels to actual raincoats and shoe-mouldings.

Visited with Scott.

This was the first of a couple of places we decided to go on our trip north-ishwards. Dragging ourselves out of bed and armed with a couple of postcodes scribbled onto the back of an envelope, we ventured out into the thick fog. Driving conditions were undesirable with just ten metre visibilty to play with. The trip towards Leeds was over in no time but included a hefty "discussion" over the rules of the middle lane on the motorway-probably best left alone!

This huge swimming pool did not disappoint in its impressiveness even if it was very soggy. The pikeys and kids have got in over the last year and evidence of vandalism is rife. There's still lots to see though and well worth a visit if you're in the area.

Visited with Dweeb.

Worrying that I am slowly slipping into semi-retirement, I've managed to get my arse in gear and post some reports of places from the last couple of months.

This was a nice little place that luckily Dweeb remembered after we got stuck in traffic and had to change our plans if we wanted to make the most of the light on these short daylight hours. I wimped out on the tower because, quite sensibly, I valued my life more.

Visited with Userscotteroo, Dweeb and Sneak.

It's been a quiet start to the new year as big art projects have taken precedent over getting out there and doing stuff but here's to uncovering some epic things in the next few months! I'd been badering Scott for the last couple of days to take a trip down here so for the opportunity to coincide with a visit from our fluffy-haired midlander, it was the perfect day for it.

I don't know a lot about this spot and I think it has probably been extensively covered by the founders back in March so only photos from me this time I have just purchased for myself a shiny new camera (D90 FTW) and have been desperate to take it out for its first exploring trip so apologies if the photos are a bit hairy as I'm still getting used to the big buttons.

It was a textbook in and out with very few problems and a most enjoyable way to spend an afternoon before we sauntered along to our next site of the day.

Visited with my new purple Christmas tights and Marks & Spencer jumper

I've always wanted to climb a crane in the daytime because I suck big time at night photography so I seized this opportunity today. This is the construction for the new shopping centre and bus station they are building at the bottom of town. I explored the old shopping centre about two and half years ago and I think it's safe to say what is replacing it will look a lot nicer. It's being built with real fake bath stone

The sun was so bright, I could hardly see in front of me when I was climbing but once I got to the top, the view was fantastic. I slag Bath off all the time for being a boring city to live in but you have to admire the stunning Georgian buildings. I guess growing up there, you become immune to its charms and crave something more modern and fast-paced.

I only had an hour spare before I had to be back on Mummy Rookinella's orders so that I could help cook lunch for the mountains of grannies we had to feed today.

So here are some photos of the tower crane(s) in Bath. Merry Christmas everyone!

The calm before the storm...this is what it felt like today. On the eve of a day when most people will be desperately unwrapping unwanted socks expecting something much more spectacular and a gluttony of mince pies will be scoffed until the hosts lay comatose on a sofa designed only for two. I hate Christmas.

I was under strict instruction today to be back at 6pm for the festivities to begin. This time last year, I was working in a disgusting coffee shop and not out doing what all good people should do on Christmas eve......explore a paper mill

I was delving through the Dweeb Chronicles yesterday in search of some good industrial stuff to visit in the cold afternoon sunshine and this one came up trumps. It took us a while to find the exact location due to the plethora of derelict mills in the area (it was minus numbers outside and I didn't want to be aimlessly wandering around )

I think we missed quite a bit looking back at the old reports but the carding machine was a stunner to see. It is just like they stopped production "mid-spin".

I'm not sure why more people haven't tried this even though it is a bit shit. A good proportion of it has been demolished so I guess a couple of months ago, it would have been a minter. Keep up at the back!!

Anyway, so we did a recce the other night but we only had a mobile phone light between us and I kept treading on stuff that went CLANGGGGG. Exploring hospitals in the dark isn't the best idea in the world so we came back today for a proper nose around before moving on to Greaves Hall.

'd forgotten about this place until I saw the report the other day and remembered an intriguing water tower in its grounds. Realising it was only five miles away from where we were heading already, we decided to give it a bash.

We bypassed the hospital buildings because there were loads of dogwalkers and it looked like hanging death to be honest. So here's the water tower and our convoluted way of climbing it, It's a beaut!

The Severn Bridge (Welsh: Pont Hafren) is a suspension bridge spanning the River Severn between South Gloucestershire, just north of Bristol, England, and Monmouthshire in South Wales, via Beachley, a peninsula between the Severn and Wye estuaries. It is the original Severn road crossing between England and Wales and took five years to construct at a cost of £8 million.[1] It replaced the Aust ferry.

The bridge was opened on 8 September 1966 by Queen Elizabeth II, who hailed it as the dawn of a new economic era for South Wales. The bridge was granted Grade I listed status in 1998.

It was a toss up between this and another old cinema in regards to what we did with our evening but in the end, we both thought that a bit of scary high dangling was what was necessary for a Tuesday night. It had been a steller day weather wise with very little wind so ideal bridge climbing conditions.

So it was Superman style, trousers over the harness again just like we did for the Clifton Suspension Bridge a couple of weeks ago. I had a mad search for some discreet climbing attire but all I could find was a jumper that was brighter than the sun.

Visited with Scott and Yaz.

We were mooching around toon looking for art galleries and record shops but couldn't walk pass some of the local sites without a quick jaunt inside so here's the Ramada Hotel (not as nice as Palace and no shoe buffers to nick) It's pretty high until you look up and see City Tower and then Beetham futher in the distance. Year of the boat? Month of the Hotel?

This bridge has been on my to-do list for a while now but I usually dismissed it because there's a lack of people mad enough in the Bristol area but tonight, we decided we would go for it. We did a drive by recce on the way to Toys R Us earlier in the day and after spending the afternoon building stuff out of lego, we put on our serious faces and went to do some ninja skillorzzz climbing.

To say that this bridge is covered in cameras is an understatement. There are 22, plus two guard huts and 15 people resurfacing the road but not one of them noticed us A couple of chicken run up attempts were needed to test the waters but then we went for it. It swayed a SURPRISING amount. Just as we suggested not using our safety lines, the wind blew and the wires spun-ermmm now would be a good time to clip on....

Once we got to the top, we were a bit disappointed to find we couldn't get on the roof of the towers but by that time, I think we had pushed our luck so we came shuffling back down.

This bridge was a risky one to say the least because of the number of suicides off it per year so they take any trouble quite seriously.

Another one ticked off the Bristol list I had been eyeing this up ever since I moved to Bristol trying to think of ingenious ways in but never really having the balls to do it on my own. This was our third attempt because we had always been put off by the swarms of police and drunk people as it is in the busiest part of Bristol.

I remember visiting the Imax when I was about 14 to see the Matrix in 3D and feeling very sick and having to close my eyes. Apart from Imax cinemas being very expensive, I personally think they are a bit gash...maybe other people thought that too and that's why it closed.

Along with the cinema, there is the "Wildwalk" which is some kind of ultra scientific nature trail where you can press buttons and twizzle nobbles etc. It smelled like a mouldy greenhouse although not as bad as I thought it would. I was half expecting noxious gases from all the dying stuff in there-it looks gross from the outside. I remember the gift shop being AMAZING though-pity that wasn't still there

Once inside we rushed around taking as many photos as we could because we were pretty sure we were going to get caught and this was not the kind of place you would want to get shafted. After running round seeing as much as possible, we decided to leave and not push our luck.

Back outside, we see at least 15 police cars and an armed response unit because of some domestics on the waterfront (not for us thankfully). We make a swift walk/jog back to the car and slip back into the night, not quite believing what we just got away with.

Visited with Scott, Clebby and Da Mop (previously recced with Monstar, Markymark and Kinger)

Well, this was a bit of an eventful trip but those are always the most enjoyable in my opinion. We had tried to get in here the day before but the psycho car park attendant chased us through the city centre "don't look now" style. However, seeing as it's only 35 miles away, me and Scott met up with the Gloucester Boys the next day to get it done.

Access was pretty straight forward and led us to the good stuff. One side of the college was full of workshops with all the workbenches and machinery still there. The tallest building of the site was pretty empty apart from lots of fire extinguishers and strip lights.

Visited with Userscott.

It was our third night of adventuring and Sunday had been particularly eventful but we weren't finished for the day so after some chips (numberrrr 69), we set off into town to find these mysterious barges that Scott had recced whilst I was at work the previous evening.

Like professional ninjas, we parked the car in a very obvious place (also somewhere that some pikey tried to nick it last time-ERROR) and made our way to the point where we would dangle like spiders until we reached our way in.

Some bits of the barge was filled with manky water and the rest with rotten canoes. There were kitchens, bedrooms and loads of odd stuff lying around which indicated that it was once used as some kind of Scout HQ.

Visited with Speed-the exploring drug of choice

We were both keen to have a look at this place because we're SlabFans (TM) and it was kind of close to where we were exploring the day before. We had a bit of a wander round the rest of the hospital but it wasn't so great so we stuck with the best bit-the mortuary. I wouldn't mind a return trip to have a further look around and to get some more Hackney plastic animals.

Visited with UkMayhem and Speed.

What a gorgeous day to visit! Sunshine always works well with Nikons it seems so I was quite pleased with the results I got photography wise. My 10-20 broke AGAIN half way through this explore and there was no Vivo to blame this time. Sigma are "apparently" sending a new one....eventually.

There's not a lot more I can add to this report as UkMayhem pretty much covered the history of the site in his report here. I'd urge anyone to go and have a look at this place because it was such a big company and one that has suffered hard in the whole "let's remove industry out of Britain" thang. Apparently, there used to be around 100 chimneys here.

Visited with Speed.

The Radcliffe Infirmary was a hospital in central Oxford, England, located at the southern end of Woodstock Road on the western side, backing onto Walton Street. The Radcliffe Infirmary, named after physician John Radcliffe, opened in 1770 and was Oxford's first hospital, and closed on 27 January 2007.
In 1758, the initial proposals to build a hospital in Oxford were put forward at a meeting of the Radcliffe Trustees, who were administering John Radcliffe's estate. £4000 was made available for the new hospital, which was constructed on land given by Thomas Rowney, the Member of Parliament for Oxford.
A number of pioneering moments in medical history occurred at the hospital. Penicillin was first tested on patients on 27 January 1941. The first Utah Array (later known as the BrainGate) implantation in a human (Kevin Warwick) took place on 14 March 2002[1].

Visited with Scott and Yaz.
Harpurhey! Birthplace of tehhh famous Anthony Burgess and home to some rather odd locals. We'd had a late night the night before due to dancing girls, Morgan Freeman, chocolate coins and a stolen helium balloon. We rocked up to Harpurhey at around 3ish and bought some cakes before quickly making it into the baths. This place was in much better condition then what I expected it to be which was a nice surprise. We didn't spend too much time here due to extreme poltergeist activity and the fact that we had to get to our next site before it got dark.

Visited with Yaz and Scott.

This impromptu visit was part of a bizarre trip to Manchester for many reasons including nearly getting beaten up on a roof by a bunch of Polish guys and dancing girls by the plenty. This was my third time here but it's been nearly a year since the last visit so it seemed like a good way to fill some empty hours. I don't care if the word "epic" is falling from favour-this place IS epic. I wanted to see the famous rows of sinks but like every time, I forget where they were.

St Joseph's College, Upholland is a Former Roman Catholic seminary, situated at Walthew Park, Upholland, Lancashire, England. The foundation of the large building was laid in April 1880 and college was opened in 1883. The buildings have recently been deconsecrated.

St Joseph's College was founded in 1880 by Bishop Bernard O'Reilly to be the Seminary serving the North West of England. The college was formally opened in 1883 and was situated in Walthew Park, Upholland, the geographic centre of the Diocese of Liverpool.

Visited with Speedio.

We went here as part of the big northern extended Scotland road trip. I think we went here after Firbeck Hall but I may have got the days mixed up. Cheers to Sixxfingers for the location info

Nocton Hall is a historic listed building in the village of Nocton, in Lincolnshire. Originally constructed for the Ellys family, it burnt down in 1834 and was rebuilt in 1841 for the first Earl of Ripon, who lived at the steward's house in Nocton while the house was being built. The US Army's 7th General Hospital was based at Nocton Hall during World War Two.

Visited with Dweeb, Speedio and Turkey Lurkey.

I've FINALLY got round to posting up some reports of the sites we've seen on various road trips recently. Broadford Works was the best site of the road trip in my opinion so it's taken ages to decide what photos to show because I took so many. After an ace night out in Aberdeen with the emo kids and Agatha, Gorecki's mum fed us bacon rolls and sent us on our way. The size of this place is insane. Imagine Bamberbridge and multiply by four It was my two favourite things rolled into one, wool and exploring=heaven.

Visited with Speed and Rigsby.

I'm a bit slow posting this up but we went here last weekend as part of our south coast adventure day. This was my favourite site of the weekend. The size and full-on decay really blew me away, I can understand why people went on about it so much. I'm not going to bother with its history because it's probably been done to death but here's my photos of spectacular industry on a massive scale.

Visited with Speed and Rigsby.

This was site number one of our "Let's do 4 sites on the south coast in 12 hours" road trip. At silly o' clock after a night in the car, we approached Graylingwell like 3 knights each armed with a weapon. One with a maglite, one with a tripod and one with a stick. I had the stick-it wasn't very effective We popped in with no major problems apart from a close shave on our way out. The hall is spectacular and the corridors a lovely combination of brown and grey. Predictably, I was poorly pete so we rushed off to Mcdonalds so I could die quietly whilst the others ate EggMcMuffins and laughed at unfortunately breasted wives in green T-shirts

Visited with Rigsby and Speed.

We found it with no problems and recced it that evening before settling down for a short night's sleep and getting up super early to do Graylingwell and then doing this place afterwards. It seemed like it was partly converted for a short while into some kind of government administrative job centre thing but the remains of the school were everywhere. Lots of labs and art classrooms upstairs. Even the gas for the bunsen burners was still on

Visited with Rigsby but extra work done by Scotty and Tumbles.

So here are the photos of what was down there. I had to fight my way through the cobwebs and dead stuff just to get down the staircase which proves no one has been down there for a good 5-10 years I'd say.

Visited with Scotty and Tumbles.

We think it was originally a railway tunnel and then converted into an air raid shelter that catered for a large number of Bristol's residents along with the Clifton Rocks Railway. Once the war was over, some time after, it was used as a shooting range/rifle club. Evidence of both its uses are apparent throughout the shelter. The original toilets are still there and so is a lot of the corrugated walls but some of the ceilings have been suspended by the rifle club.

Visited with Vivo, Speed and Winchester on our Summer Eurotrip.

Vastness and amazingness is not enough to describe this place. Every aspect of this place made it a wicked explore to end the trip on. We were knackered but I'm glad we made the effort to do this on the way back from Berlin. I think this is a popular destination for the European explorers and I can see why. I don't know a lot about the history of the place.

Visited with Speed, Winchester and Vivo.

The day we visited here was so sunny and hot, we'd nearly doubled our icecream consumption by lunchtime which may have contributed to the manic mood we were all in by the time we arrived at Beringen. First, we wandered round the museum part and Hans led us into the back room of the bar and down a dark passageway before emerging with four strawberry Cornettos. It was all very strange, we laugh nervously at the barman who looked like a viking and the old fella who knew EXACTLY what we had come to Beringen for. Outside, we basked in the sunshine lobbing stones at eachother discussing how we were going to go about getting into the buildings whilst Hans and the viking looked on with increased interest.

The golden age of coal production started right after World War II and lasted until the late 1950s, when cheaper energy sources were made available elsewhere. The last coal mine in Beringen closed its doors on October 28, 1989. The remaining slag heaps and mining buildings are still very obvious around the city.

Visited with Speed, Winchester and Vivo.

Beelitz-Heilstätten, a district of the town, is home to a large hospital complex of about 60 buildings including a cogeneration plant erected from 1898 on according to plans of architect Heino Schmieden. Originally designed as a sanatorium by the Berlin workers' health insurance corporation, the complex from the beginning of World War I on was a military hospital of the Imperial German Army. During October and November 1916, Adolf Hitler recuperated at Beelitz-Heilstätten after being wounded in the leg at the Battle of the Somme. In 1945, Beelitz-Heilstätten was occupied by Soviet forces, and the complex remained a Soviet military hospital until 1995, well after the German reunification. In December 1990 Erich Honecker was admitted to Beelitz-Heilstätten after being forced to resign as the head of the East German government.

Following the Soviet withdrawal, attempts were made to privatize the complex, but they were not entirely successful. Some sections of the hospital remain in operation as a neurological rehabilitation center and as a center for research and care for victims of Parkinsons disease. The remainder of the complex, including the surgery, the psychiatric ward, and a rifle range, was abandoned in 2000. As of 2007, none of the abandoned hospital buildings or the surrounding area were secured, giving the area the feel of a ghost town. This has made Beelitz-Heilstätten a destination for curious visitors and a film set for movies like The Pianist from 2002.