"Back in the day"

[paulo999]

How did you get this fascination with abandoned buildings? Or tunnels? Or anything?

Somewhere in the last decade, urban exploration has gone from an online geeky hobby, to being a recognised movement. This site got referenced by the Ecomomist

I got drawn in 20 years ago, but mostly retired now.

This series of posts is reminiscing. Anyone forging new lines, new stories - all power to you.


Millennium Mills - circa ???>?

I like industrial stuff. Big scale. A month or so later another explorer teams up with me. Telescopic ladder, waiting through dawn, we do get in:

More boring shit to follow

 

[paulo999]

back then - even if you were super-stealth - there was always the nemisis

CANE HILL

Arguably they were the hottest security ever (maybe West Park, erm). A friend had a route. Open a hatch, outside the fence, go underneath, pop in a ward. BINGO. Apparently this had been do-able for years. A month after we did it - bang shut. We'd never leaked it, but our contact was dismayed. She'd lost her safe route.

 

[paulo999]

Sometime later....

Word was: everyone was rinsing Rover. An immense mothballed car factory. The photos were gobsmacking. There were multiple week after week explores.

Neither of us had a car. Longbridge? Maybe we should just follow another tip (thanks Cybergibbons). A dormant government installation that was testing jet engines. Everyone else was doing Rover, so....

PYESTOCK - OH MY - Untouched...

 

[paulo999]

A few weeks later the tables turned. We HAD to go to rover, despite being late that party. Inversely, word started to get out about Pyestock. We'd been blown away but definitely no sense of ownership. Oh oh (so many people, so trashed)

So, ROVER, OH MY.

Looking down into the drying shed. maybe 500 or 1000 cars? All mint, just waiting for the paint to dry and be rolled through to a car dealer that, suddenly, didn't exist.

This was the Mary Celeste of industrial

 

[paulo999]

sometime in mid 000s I stumbled across an article the guardian. Didn't pay too much attention for a year or so,

 

[paulo999]

Maybe a year later I mentioned to the gang here. They sounded up for it. We really didn't know where it would go.

Well, me and a mate here got obsessed. Once we'd "done" (it's never "done") the GRS, off we went for the other networks.

FFS my exploring mate found it, I took the photo: The 16th. We'd found the sign reported in the news. And we then foiling the bar. My mate later saw it fully operational. Power, Signs

 

[paulo999]

A few months later. Feeling washed up. My French buddy that had helped with GRS said let's do some "stitching". It's where you go underground (mainly) - just surfacing for food and water.

We did Hennocque, Chauffours then went to Le Puiselet. Oh my. I got him to stand at the bottom of biggest cavern.

20?? Maybe 08?

Everyone should see Le Puiselet.

 

[paulo999]

Genuinely one of the weirdest WTF explores. Biggest peacetime explosion in Europe. A lot of petrol had gone bang. Really gone bang. Buddy gives me a call, she's scouterd all the exclusion zone CCTV. So perfectly accurately, she knew exactly which 100m of bastard brambles we had to get through.

Once in though - free roam in the apocalypse.

This WAS a big petrol tank. Tank number 12.

Some time later. Maybe 15 years I think?

 

[MrBurner]

This is fascinating. Thank you!

 

[mookster]

Oh damn, more old photos of 1) Cane Hill 2) Pyestock and 3) Buncefield are definitely required.

Keep these old posts coming

 

[HughieD]

Loving these archive posts....

 

[paulo999]

Fiiiiinally.

Now this was not at all our work. A very esteemed explorer (oh he cracked so much)... worked out how to do it. Hey R - we owed you so much.

The Midland Fucking Grand. That's it's official title.

Leaning off some scaff:

Alot of ladders. I mean more ladders than the overstocked superstore: "World of Ladders".

 

[paulo999]

Oh damn, more old photos of 1) Cane Hill 2) Pyestock and 3) Buncefield are definitely required.

Keep these old posts coming

Hey thanks.

I might have to limit Cane Hill - so many people did it so well. Our claim to fame was simply: Living in it for a weekend.

Pyestock (early days) was mint. All credit to a guy around these parts back then called 'cybergibbons'. He was first in, plotted out access, and gifted me and my GF with it. It was remarkable untouched. We did about 3 weekends, barely scratched the surface. Everyone else, at the time, was rinsing Rover - it was a month or later (3 fails) when we finally got into Rover, and realised why nobody was interested in our curious turbine facility. But then they came. First a trickle, then almost coach trips. Ah, the joys of mass urbex. Please leave via the gift shop.

Buncefield - A regular here back then: discokitten really nailed this. I will definitely post more. All her smarts. We had only an hour or so of light, but it was OMFG

 

[paulo999]

So, by (popular? singular) request: A little more Cane Hill. As I say, it's been well covered, so here's a different slant: LIVING IN CANE HILL (for a few nights eh)

We'd stumbled to a ward with a top floor to sleep for the first night.

Security and very barks dogs was our wake up call. Then we quickly realised: They are outside, we're in. We've got our own security detail.

So, breakfast and a view! (Thanks disco kitten - we couldn't have done it without you.)

 

[paulo999]

Our hotel: