Gone

The Watchtower, The Beach

2012-02-05T17:11:00.001Z

Not some mad climb or sketchy explore but I'll put a few words none the less. The tower above was built by a local bloke who lived on the coast, it once had a wooden walkway straight from the end of his garden to the top of the tower.

His wife was dying and had trouble walking down the steep stone stairs to the beach. After building the tower he then added a pulley system lift that he could control by hand to take her down to the sea edge.

It's probably been a fair few years that the old guy and his wife passed away, the next time we're local a BBQ and a few beers will be purchased for a chill in the beach hideout.

I can't remember the name but we had a poke about in an old hospital too.

Out.

Trails, North Wales

2012-02-05T16:58:00.000Z

It's been long overdue for a trip back to Rookie's in Wales, after climbing around on a couple of bridges and kicking about in some old buildings we headed into the hills to ride bikes and dick about in the snow.

Shouts to Rookie for the good times!

35mm Seventeen

2012-02-05T16:48:00.000Z

In my pocket, so wherever we went.

...

London Road Firestation, Manchester

2012-01-26T17:15:00.000Z

Well, yeah I finally managed to get inside London Road. It’sbeen three years since I moved to Manchester and not a day went by when I thought how sweet it'd be to get inside.

Many moons ago before every set of windows were chickenwired and nailed shut I tried this place with Rookie. Half way through a flip window I lost my balance and itlooked like I was heading for the ground, as luck would have it inside thebuilding. After Rookie acted as counterweight we soon learnt that a good littlefriend of ours sat down the hallway, a peach of a PIR.

From then on we climbed pipes, ledges and frames to find anew access point but had no luck, even J.G and Urban Solider had triedunderground but had come up against one of our little friends and this time setoff the alarm.

One morning I set out with killer1479 and Oddball_UK andended up here, Mayfield. Everyone knows it so I won’t go into detail.

After giving the lads a heads up on the place we walked intotown and had a wander up to the old Ramada rooftop.

We eventually parted ways, I headed into town for a few bitsbut had an hour or so to burn to wait for some film dev, a short walk around broughtme back here.

Unfortunately a double decker bus had crashed into the frontof a pub opposite the fire station, I don't think I have ever accessed a building before with that many Police officers outside.

I know this place was bought out by Britannia Hotels butthey have been and continue to use the building as a storage facility, today was noexception as I peered through windows to see an LDV Van with its doors wideopen and a forklift truck sat out back, I soon found out where the drivers werehiding.

A good wander brought me through the top two/three floors,over the inner balconies, up into the smaller tower and eventually into thelarger tower. As I came back down I sat for a minute and could faintly smellsmoke.

A cheeky look over the balcony brought things intoperspective, one of the security/loaders was stood below me having a smoke andtexting on his mobile, best keep an eye out eh.

There is only a few from me I’m afraid but I saw some of the things whatI wanted to see, one of them being the stations spiral-staircase tower.

I dare say it but this building is a slight love affair withthe Manchester lads, hopefully one day it won’t be so tight and we cancheckout the whole place slightly better. Peace.

Croda Chemicals, Bromborough

2012-01-26T01:32:00.000Z

This site was a real belter, if you're into your derp then even better.

'Croda a global manufacturer of speciality and oleochemical products supplied to formulators in personal care, health care, home care, crop care, lubricant additives, oilfield, polymers and coatings, polymer additives, and textiles applications. The site had been open for over 150 years changing hands numerous times, the latest being croda after acquiring previous owners uniqema. Closed down in 2009 with a loss of 115 jobs.

A US firm that specialises in reviving redundant industrial land is planning a £35m makeover for a former chemical works on Merseyside. The scheme includes creating new space for businesses that could attract 2,000 jobs and building' - MaybeNot1330.

Shouts to Nick for driving and for being a general dick. Gone...

35mm Sixteen

2012-01-21T18:42:00.000Z

Some more wanderings for you'ns.

A nice lady gave me lots of rolls of expired Superia, so it's all on that...

Westwood & Browns Folly Mines, Wiltshire

2012-01-20T16:55:00.000Z

To be honest I've never been big into mines but I really enjoyed these two, the snap above is from the second we visited; Browns Folly. I didn't bother with the DSLR and just took my compact 35mm.

After sitting in the car for an age we arrived in Wiltshire, well as far as I know that's where we were, for the whole trip me and Nick had no idea. The first quarry we visited was Westwood with about 25 others, all southerners.

'Quarrying activity increased greatly in the last quarter of the 19th century when the large underground quarries that we know today were created. This substantial quarry was owned by a quarrymaster called Godwin while another local firm became part of the Bath Stone Firms Ltd in 1887. In the 20th century quarrying continued while older underground quarries were used for other purposes. From 1934-1949 parts were used for growing mushrooms underground before operations were transferred to quarries in Bradford on Avon. The company that became Royal Enfield began using the quarries as an underground factory in 1941 for war work and continued until 1969. At the same time other parts were also used for the storage of material from national museums from the latter years of the war until 1957.'

After disappearing in the early hours to take photos everyone split up and headed into different sections, I spent 25 minutes or so getting a few and then headed back to meet the others. After the decision was made to head back to base we headed off, whether it was the fireworks that had been set off or some weird mist we couldn't see a thing.

Ten minutes later a long strobe light headed towards us through the mine, turns out it was Tweek and that he had been lost for the best part of an hour alone. ahaha.

We hit the sack and woke up freezing, unbelievably freezing cold. Luckily some genius was on the stove and handing out bacon rolls. We clambered out, jumped in the car and headed to the nearest McDonalds, that shit is a life saver. A Big Tasty sat in the warmth, covered head to toe in filth. A cheeky drive around Bath brought us to Browns Folly, massive thanks to Styru for leading us to the entrance!

Big thanks to everyone involved, don't ask me which parts of the mine is which because I couldn't tell you or even begin to start. Gone...

35mm Fifteen

2012-01-18T01:50:00.001Z

Some more business on some old Superia 200.

Trust Nick to crack his head when a sign warned him first, he fell over on tram lines a week ago while telling me not to fall over em. Legend. Bought a mju-ii to replace my AF-10 so it'll be good to see the results, my uncle dropped by with a ton of film, an EOS 100 and a few other bits so its happy days.

Baptiser & Moonwalker Drains, Birmingham

2012-01-18T01:07:00.000Z

After having very little to do at home because of the weather we blipped down the M6 to Birmingham to have a pop at some drains, we were pleasantly surprised at what we found.

Tall concrete box sections littered our route but every so often we ran into bricked arches, small staircases and open air sections; the large penstock door was also a nice feature.

I have to thank Adders for the information as I couldn't find out where which drain started and where others stops, shouts to Millhouse and Rookie for getting on it too!

After checking many of the old favourites and meeting up with Tweek who got burned with train fares we soon learn't that Birmingham is not a fruitful as it once was. I don't think there is a loss of explores, it's just finding time to find them all.

Walking/Driving around brought us back to this old faithful, Snowhill development. I'm not too clued up on the place but I think some sort of office, apartment and leisure site is on the cards. Laters...

35mm Fourteen

2012-01-18T00:56:00.000Z

Another for the snap shot moments, Fuji 100 & 200.

Gone.

John Summers & Sons, North Wales

2012-01-18T00:53:00.000Z

After the demise of my Olympus I decided the time was right to move on, I did and bought a Pentax. I'd not had a chance to try it out before I had Nick on the phone asking me about where we could go to waste a day or two.

John Summers was in more recent years used for airsoft, mostly made up of twenty fat kids thinking they're playing COD or whatever it's called. Oh and that's why the stairs have been wrapped; shown in the photographs below.

John Summers & Sons started life in the late 1800's as an iron and steel produced. As far as I know this place remained under the same hands well up until 2007 when it was taken over by the giant Tata Steel. The snap below is from Pool Parc hospital, which to be 100% with you was pretty rubbish.

End.

The Pres, U.K.

2012-01-18T00:40:00.000Z

I'd been to this place quite a while back with Nckt and some funny Frenchman. This time after meeting the guys in Salford we drove out to here to get a couple of snaps of what is on offer.

I don't wish to say much about how we got inside or how we crept about because we didnt after about five minutes.

Just a short one and more for the photographs, Peace!

Inverkip Power Station, Inverclyde

2012-01-08T21:10:00.097Z

Yo! Yeah, so I havent abandoned this or anything I've just been mega busy. I guess it's a few months back now that Myself, Millhouse, Sho, NickUK, HiddenShadow, Tweek, Fishbrain and DrHowser completed the mission of a drive up to Inverclyde for this little peach.

As far as Inverkip goes, it's always been unreachable or we've done something else instead. Tales of explorers being arrested and spending hours in the nick circulated in the van, but the doubtfulness was redeemed when HS fell out of his car on the ice.

Inverkip power station was completed in 1971 at a cost of £200 million. Other oil fired powerstations were proposed, but today it remains the only Oil fired powerstation constructed. The original plans boasted a powerstation able to produce around 2500MWs of power, to me and you. Fucking loads. This originated from three 676mw Parsons Turbo Alternators, Each 'turbine' has its own allocated boiler which fits up with everything else inside the place, large and when you look at things slight OTT!

In 1973 an oil crises was declared, it turns out that some countries didn't really like the U.S supplying the Israeli military and set out to hike up the prices of oil worldwide. From '73 till the mid 80's Inverkip was never really pushed in terms of power and what it could produce. The 80's arrived along with the miners strike, this blew some life back into the powerstation as you might have guessed from the lack of coal available.

However it was short lived and 1988 saw the end of Inverkip, it was officially declared as a strategic reserve. From 1988 to the present day the place received no further use, although maintained in a mothballed state.

After arriving in the dead of night and sneaking about for hours we arrived inside the control room piss wet through. A short sleep ensued and we woke up to this mammoth photographed above. The day was spent dodging each others shots and chilling out covered in oil & filth.

Later on in the afternoon we were all sat down, pretty restless and wanting to head out. This leads me to the photo below, the chimney. After browsing the net at home, we found out that the chimney is non-accessible or so we thought. After a short discussion myself and Fishbrain headed out into open space surrounding the chimney and managed to worm our way into the base, as far as we could tell nobody had used this route as you'd have to be a thin bastard to fit.

Photo; Fishbrain

After climbing for what felt like forever we sat at the top, 778ft above Scotland. One of the best things I've seen to this day.

Gone.

Una Gita al Lago, Italia

2012-01-01T01:01:00.003Z

Me and A spent a couple of days in Italy, thanks to Ryanair for their Megabus fares that get everyone around the world for virtually nothing.

That's all. Happy New Year and take it easy!

The Old Hippodrome, Manchester

2011-12-08T21:25:00.000Z

After further rooftop antics we didn't want another run in with India 99 so we scouted for something to do at ground level. We also wanted to escape the rain for a few hours, a quick car journey brought us here - Grand Junction Theatre & Floral Hall, Hulme Hippodrome or the Second Manchester Repertory Theatre.

This place is not in too bad of a state as long as you don't count the roof, when it rains it's raining everywhere. After some persuading we were allowed to take a look inside and left to our own devices which in itself is pretty rare.

If you care to read further into the history of the place take a look at this for a short description.

Gone...

City Tower, Manchester

2011-12-08T21:04:00.000Z

It was pretty odd up top this time around. Last time I explored this alone and it was sketchy enough, we rolled 7 deep this time with some precision timing.

The lifts in the place send you everywhere apart from where you want to be. Some tower of terror shit right there.

You don't want the ground cause you're caught and you don't want a random floor because contractors are swarming the place.

Big thanks to NickUK, Millhouse, AndrewB, LiamCH, Tweek, Fishbrain for Scooby-Dooin' and Bugsuperstar for eyes on the ground...

Lots Road Powerstation, London

2011-12-07T21:24:00.000Z

After floating about in Camden and pissing in the wind up on Cromwell Tower we proceeded to fail at finding somewhere to sleep and in the morning ended up here.

We watched the security guard do his rounds, turns out he leaves the site to check the other side of the building. This was our cue to vault the fence and get inside before he came back!

This place is stripped fairly bare but I'd recommend a visit just for the sheer size, the roof was a nice chill too.

'The station was built end-on to the Thames, on the north bank of the tidal Chelsea Creek. Construction started in 1902 and was completed in December 1904, with the station becoming operational in February 1905. The station burned 700 tonnes of coal a day and had a generating capacity of 50,000 kW. At the time it was claimed to be the largest power station ever built and would eventually power most of the railways and tramways in the Underground Group.

The station played a part in the birth of commercial radio in the UK. When the first two radio stations, LBC and Capital Radio, opened in October 1973, the site for their medium wave transmitters was not complete. As a result, a temporary 'Tee' antenna was strung up between the two chimneys (transmitting LBC on 417 m (719 kHz), and Capital Radio on 539 m (557 kHz)), until the permanent site at Saffron Green was ready in 1975. Some years later the site was used again, on 720 kHz (for a low power MW relay of BBC Radio 4's LW service) which was in use until 2001 when the radio transmitter was moved to Crystal Palace.

In the 1990s, it was decided that rather than re-equip Lots Road, it would continue to operate until the machinery's life was expired. It remained in operation until being shut down on 21 October 2002. Since then, all power for the tube system is supplied from the National Grid'.

Thanks goes out to Fishbrain for the driving and Millhouse & Rookie for being on it!

The SNC Mega Meet!

2011-12-07T17:12:00.001Z

Good times, good laughs. This is what it's all about! The top snap is from Millhouse, I didn't really bust out the camera.

Shouts to Millhouse, Sho, NickUK, Tweek, Fishbrain, OneByOne, Sui, AndrewB, LiamCH, Abby, Bigjobs, Bugsuperstar, HiddenShadow, Stacey & Joel. Lets see another happen sometime soon!

Cromwell Tower, London

2011-12-01T17:31:00.001Z

After navigating these weird ass tunnels under what seemed like the whole of the city we were soon sat on the top of this little beauty. These Londoners having some sweet as fuck buildings for rooftopping, a 400ft high spot with fantastic views over the capital that can be accessed 24/7.

Props to AndrewB for meeting up with us, the northern city rooftops are not even in the same calibre as yours. Gone...

John Rylands Library, Manchester

2011-12-01T17:20:00.000Z

A friend of ours asked for a few photographs in the JRL down in town. Turns out that after some sweet talking our tripod guide (Someone who follows you around, tells you when you can/can't use a tripod) managed to get us down below for an un-official tour.

Cannot really say much about the grain except I was using someone else's camera and I couldn't use a tripod for the better sections as I might trip someone over. Jokes.

If you like all that arty photo shit then this place is definitely worth a look, costs £0 to visit...

Camden Catacombs, London

2011-11-27T21:50:00.000Z

After last minute plans for a trip to London we filled the car with gear and headed out. Different plans circulated with this being one of them, after all we had packed a single person dingy and some oars. After being shouted at by a little girl for hiding down a pit of rubbish while blowing up the dingy Fishbrain and Millhouse finally set sail - rather sketchily too.

A few dingy trips later brought us to these arches pictured above, the place is pretty vast considering that some of it is bricked up. Everyone got their desired photos and began to pack up, this is when the 'new' raft idea came about.

We found a huge piece of polystyrene that looked like it would float with three of us on it. We launched it and got cracking on trying to reach the centre of the Regents Canal. A successful docking got us onto dry land with the dingy being used to return our faithful raft back to it's original spot.

Oh and this stuff fuels me to navigate Britain's waterways, Gone...

Boombox, Bradford

2011-11-27T21:29:00.000Z

The regular SNC associates met in the centre of Manchester for a trip over to Bradford, as Nick approached us he looked fairly laden with gear. Turns out he'd packed in a Sony Boombox so that the trip through Bypass drain would not have to have the boring slosh of water echoing in the background.

Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate for myself, Morse, Millhouse, Tweek & Fishbrain Nick had only struck a single CD in before he left home. This happened to be Cypress Hill, with this particular beat dominating throughout the night.

As you'll see from this video we soon became tiresome with the thought of the walk back to the car so we popped a manhole in the Uni campus and left to take a couple of rooftop snaps...

The Pepsi Max/Big One, Blackpool Pleasure Beach

2011-11-24T23:55:00.000Z

I rode this about ten years ago and I had 'the fear' back then, climbed the beauty but still had the fear. After dodging invisible dogs and ghost security we sat at the top pretty uncomfortably.

Not uncomfortable in the sense that the stairs make your arse look like a bowl of cheerios if you sit on them too long, it was more because of the wind. Everytime I visit Blackpool it's fucking windy, needs this.

Shouts to Sho, Millhouse and Morse!

Redbarn Drain, Manchester

2011-11-20T04:23:00.000Z

As far as a plan was set, it was loosely based around drains. The usual crew we're out along with this weapon photographed above; Jimmy.

Bellies in and a squeeze through the grill gets you underground. Delve into the darkness and you'll soon encounter bland 7ft RCP, this is soon remedied when you wade into 12ft tall brick chambers but then quickly taken away from your mitts with hellish 4ft stone pipe stoops.

Thanks for returning, Gone.

35mm Thirteen

2011-11-20T01:26:00.007Z

Yet another lot of photographs from recent wanderings. The man above is AOS, a good friend of mine, he happens to like bridges too.

If you ever need to look under a door use a teaspoon. Scrap that, always carry one. Just incase.

Surprised we got to this sign to read it, all terrorism legislation sadly keeping my feet firmly planted on this side of the fence.

Out.

Murray's, Manchester

2011-11-18T02:11:00.001Z

It's been a while since I left my flat and explored whatever we could find and see, this night brought it back for me. I met with Oldskool, Fishbrain and Tweek to hit some old favourites as well as a finding a few undiscovered creepers.

The photograph above was taken above a complex of former cotton mills just off the Rochdale Canal up in Ancoats. The mills were built for brothers Adam and George Murray who ran one of the largest cotton-spinning firms in Manchester and eventually the world. Little Mill which was completed in 1908 was the first of it's kind to run off mains electricity in the city.

End.

Co-Operative Headquarters Build, Manchester

2011-11-12T18:25:00.000Z

The way into this site is an odd one, you're that close to a camera it wouldn't surprise me if it knew your eye colour. When we climbed the cranes it was pretty dead.

It not a particularly tall building we soon reached the giant steel arches sat on the rooftop and got to work getting some photos and climbing the endless scaffolding sections and arches.

Manchester has housed the Co-op group since 1863 and in 2013 will celebrate 150 years here, they have 8 buildings across the city with the most noticeable being the CIS tower.

Before building could commence extensive digging was carried out as the site was a former work horse in the city packed with steam mills and slum type housing, Friedrich Engels has extensively written about this. I remember the cranes slowly being erected on the site, the process was severely late as remains of a young woman were found wrapped in a large beer mat/towel/piece of carpet on the site, the era of the clothing found suggests the burial was before the 1980’s.

Again this stuff was on 35mm and one or two shots were through FB’s 11-16 Tokina, thanks to Millhouse, Morse & Fishbrain for the laughs...

35mm Twelve

2011-11-12T18:05:00.000Z

Back to the Chinon these days but the AF-10 is too trusty to not pack inside my rucksack, bought a 28mm so everything is wider. Shot on Fuji 100, 200 & Kodak 100...

"Mark Brooks Wasn't Help't", Got washed off the next day. The guy doing it was wrecked.

More updates on the way! Gone.

The Rest, France & Belgium

2011-11-12T17:43:00.000Z

Since photographs are building up on my P.C I figured it was best to get these out, they are the remainders from the 1300 miles we drove...

Where next?

Forgotten Snaps, Three Sixty Five

2011-11-04T22:23:00.000Z

You know it, you get home from an explore or a sick weekend and pick out what you thought were all of the best photos you'd taken. I've just flicked through the last year of photos on my PC and have found all of these beauts hidden away that I didn't look at first time.

I'd watch out for that NickUK, word is he jacks Maserati's...

NGTE Pyestock/35mm Twelve

2011-10-31T21:23:00.000Z

After a morning of being an unfortunate I swapped to shoot film and off we went, the photo above is of myself stood on top of the last Parsons generator drafted into the site. It was used as a backup for Number 9 exhauster as well as providing further exhausting capability within the site, something that I'd not seen on my first visit to Pyestock.

Airhouse

Cell Three

Looking out from Cell Four

HS, N & FB

Cell One/Two

Cell Four

Airhouse Rooftop

Monk's Tunnel

Gear

Exhaust

Hatch

1969

Secca Evaders

Test Engine

Crew - AH roof

Plant House

I think the exploring community have this website and photographer SC to thank for all of the information on this place. Thanks, Gone...

Tour Descartes/Tour IBM, France

2011-10-31T18:42:00.000Z

As it goes. Myself and OBO started checking van rental prices online for a small trip around the U.K, after learning we could get a SWB transit we decided to travel a bit further. It was a kip in the van/cheap hotel for a night or two trip and it went well!

This little peach is an office type skyscraper based in the La Défense business district situated west of Paris. It was built in 1988, stands at 430ft spread over 40 floors and was used as the French headquarters for IBM until 2010.

Shortly after this we bumped into a man who was previously asleep, however a couple of minutes later we were back in the van...

35mm Eleven

2011-10-29T23:18:00.000+01:00

This stuff is mostly from three rolls that I put through in France/Belgium with a few odds & sods from the start/end of each roll.

All shot with my trusty snap and go with poundland Kodak 200.

NOTE: Owen along with my fisheye met the hard concrete floor of Pyestock today from about 60ft, expect a ton of film rolling through for a few weeks...

Ushaw College, Durham

2011-10-26T18:39:00.000+01:00

Everytime I go on a Sunday explore with Nick we're up at 5/6am. There is nothing wrong with this apart from finishing work at 2am.

'Ushaw College (St. Cuthbert's College, Ushaw) is a Roman Catholic seminary, founded at Douai as the English College, Douai in France in 1568, which moved to Ushaw Moor, four miles west of Durham in England in 1808 and became a Licensed Hall of the University of Durham in 1968. It is independent of the University but offers courses validated by the University. Both Church and lay students study at the college.'

'Some of the college's buildings are no longer used, but some have been converted into a conference centre. The main college buildings are grade II listed, however the College Chapel is grade II* and the Chapel of St Michael is grade I. The College Chapel and Refectory were designed and built by Pugin. The original college buildings (1804-1808) were designed by James Taylor.'

It was a bit of a bitch getting into this place but if you give it five minutes everything will become clear. After jumping back into Nick's hotrod we headed down to Durham City Baths where we bumped into some weird characters.

God help that one chick who was with the four blokes inside, walk with your back to the wall. We headed home only stopping off for a brief stint at Steetley.

Anyhow I gets another bell while I'm in work, weak eh. Millhouse and the boys are out in town so I rode to meet them. After two minutes Manchester's finest undercover coppers pull us in town, turns out they are fucking dicks to Millhouse and Nick who are snapping away up on the roof of a car park

For all the times you've never caught us, Gone...

35mm Ten

2011-10-12T21:35:00.000+01:00

From thick fog to swimming baths and person sized holes, this roll covered it all.

AF-10/Kodak 200, Cheers for looking!

The Central Library, Manchester

2011-10-11T01:55:00.000+01:00

After watching a tonne of lonely blokes walk home from 42's (dutty birds anyways lads) myself and Millhouse stood infront of the giant fencing that surrounds the library, fresher’s were being pushed out of clubs left, right and centre along with a constant stream of taxi drivers passing by.

With only slight difficulty the fence was bypassed and we swiftly legged it to the scaffolding,

a cheeky dive over some poles and a sprint up the stairs got us to the roof.

Once up top we climbed the last piece of half finished sketchy scaffolding, planted our arses and got some snaps!

Cracking.

Errwood Plughole & Woodhead Tunnel

2011-10-06T20:44:00.000+01:00

So yeah, this is an overspill for the Errwood reservoir. More commonly known as a 'Plughole' similar to the one in your bath, when the water level at the top reaches a certain height it floods over the walls and down into the Fernilee Reservoir.

After picking the worst night in about two weeks to abseil a plughole we finally got everything set. A 60m bunched rope sent straight down the hole, a ropeladder at the outfall as well as a safety line also at the outfall.

The wind and rain had certainly picked up it's pace and as Morse disappeared into the darkness we looked left to find the coppers sat watching us with there urber bright roof lantern. We needed to get all of seven of us down but it wasn't looking good at that point. After a short pause and everyone thinking it was game over, they drove off.

Three from Morse, Cheers man!

After clipping in I was just over the railings as Nick said to me that they were driving back, I didnt hear much after that except that they had stopped and had asked for the kit to go away & names/addresses to be taken.

We headed off, popped out of the bottom and gathered all of our gear expecting a police presence at the top. Luckily they had gone and had been fine with the other guys, next time we'll get all 7 of us down it!

A cheeky big mac and a strawberry milkshake got us back on the road but Bigjobs, Nick, Sho and SB had said there farewells. After racking our brains and the internet for something to do that wasn't outside, Myself, Morse and Millhouse ended up here. Woodhead Tunnels.

Back in the 60's a couple of blokes figured instead of building pylons and stretching the cables out over the moors which was hard enough in itself, they would bring them through the empty Victorian rail tunnels.

I don't really like reading the facts behind this one as 400,000 volts run through each of those black hefty cables, if I'm not wrong some of them are also oil cooled.

Photo:Morse

Got home and near enough hung myself up to dry, they were some wet explores. Laters!

It's October, N/A

2011-10-04T03:54:00.000+01:00

And this is what has been happening over September, lulz. Big thanks to Bigjobs and Millhouse for the knowledge/kit, Dan for the bike and Herbert for a place to kip in Liverpool and the good times!

Cheers!

35mm Nine

2011-10-03T19:26:00.000+01:00

Can't go wrong when you're armed with a trusty AF-10 and a couple of rolls of expired film.

Over & Out.

West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, Menston

2011-09-21T22:47:00.000+01:00

After a late afternoon phone conference/finding out if Morse was in the county we were off in the car to this place. Nick had a few routes in for us but after a while we came up trumps with our own.

Photo:Millhouse.

We'd already been inside the trap corridor that security use to get you inside the building then they run around and meet you back at the window when you realise you cant get through.

After giving up hope we realised that if we just walk near enough up to the security cabins nothing can be lost if we are turned away. This work in our favour as firstly; no security saw us and secondly; we got inside the main admin block!

Photo:Millhouse.

It was good to see Morse again and to plan some further SNC adventures. To many more, Gone...

Group, Liverpool

2011-09-16T20:39:00.000+01:00

As everyone is heading out this time of year 8 or so of us disappeared into the centre of Liverpool for a skate and a general dick about, All these were shot through a 8mm Falcon & 10-20 Sigma...

Peace!

To Hull and Back

2011-09-16T20:21:00.000+01:00

The explore was fairly different from the ones of Del Boy and Rodney in the 1985 Christmas special of OFAH to Hull and Back. The boys get stitched into diamond smuggling for Boycie and Abdul but the deal turns sour when Del gets locked in the trailer of Denzil's lorry. They end up in Hull and have to call in Uncle Albert who follows the Zeebrugge ferry to there destination.

The bent copper Slater intervenes with the deal in Amsterdam and takes the diamonds for himself, just as he goes to leave he is tricked by his fellow officers and gets swiftly moved to a British nick.

Anyhow, this place is Huntsman Tioxide and it's pretty dope.

After rinsing it over the hills with Millhouse and Nick at the helm of his new car we arrived here. We hid the car behind some trees and a spec of 'the fear' was beginning to show, once the razor wire was attacked along with some hefty sprints across no mans land we were soon covered head to toe in pigment bi-product.

From what we had read there were frequent patrols within in the site both on foot with dogs but also in vehicles. To be honest for the whole time that we spent in/around the site we didn't see/hear/bump into a single soul.

Millhouse's info - 'Huntsman is a large scale global company, incorporating a Pigments Division which specializes in the manufacture of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) - under the brand name Tioxide. The pigments are designed to “add brightness, whiteness and opacity to thousands of consumer products; from household decorative paints and industrial coatings on ocean liners, cars and steel-framed buildings, to computer housing, sporting equipment, printing inks and cosmetics.” Huntsman Tioxide has been producing titanium dioxide for over 75 years.

The Grimsby plant was closed due to it being the company’s oldest and least economical plant, combined with the economic state at the time'.

Back to the sprints and fence hopping, a couple of minutes later we were in the safety of the car and off down the road!

After a few of these ↑ and one of these ↓ later we were in sunny old Hull.

This is Rank Hovis. it's pretty knackered and is nothing on it's former self, none the less we had a poke about. After watching the rain roll in from the rooftop we headed back down with Nick/Millhouse thinking that the shadows were axe wielding pikeys.

After starting at the Mersey, bumping into the Humber on the other side and then a fat trek home twinned with a KFC it was a long trip for us all. Worth it though!

35mm Eight

2011-09-06T19:33:00.000+01:00

Some more from my AF-10, expired AGFA/Kodak 200. Quite a few rails...

Thanks for returning!

Stromovka Park, Praha

2011-09-06T19:15:00.000+01:00

We had a few hours to burn before flying home so we jumped on a tram and headed out to Stromovka Park, this place was odd as fuck. The main exhibition building was empty along with the majority of those surrounding it however a care taker style guy was wandering in and out of different doorways. The paving was strewn with weeds poking through and the grass overgrown, a couple of people were sat at a small cafe within one of the ramshackle buildings. We walked down towards Lunapark, an eiree Czech music played from what sounded like a record player. A few amusement rides remained at the bottom of the park with one or two barely in use, give me a sketchy building over riding one of those things anyday.

It was just our luck that there was a transport strike the day that we had to leave, fortunately we got to the airport without any hitches...

Thelwall Viaduct, M6

2011-09-06T18:50:00.000+01:00

We explored both of the viaducts over the MSC over two years ago so it was good to get back to them. After arranging to meet Millhouse earlier Sui & OneByOne would meet with us later on, easy enough. As I pulled up behind Millhouse's car a guy was stood right next to it, I dropped the window expecting a foreign or some sort of slurred drunken accent. I was badly wrong, it was a copper. Weak.

I told him what we were here to do, he walked down with me and saw that we weren't up to no good. He said to us that many of the farms locally had been the victims of burglary and so any suspicious cars get reported. We explained to him that we'd done this before and there won't be any worries, I wished him the best of luck with the weather and off he went.

Everything ran fairly smoothly apart from the rope biting when we tried to drop it, none the less it was a good few hours on the ropes again. Thanks to Millhouse for his mass kit collection that he's now built up, laters...