"Cathedral Of Electrons"
Where to start..
Battersea, West Park, N.G.T.E [Pyestock], 3 sites that defined the UK exploring scene long before present day goons came along myself included.
This place for me tops it though, although I had a considerable liking to Pyestock, I'd never set foot in West Park as frankly I've never been a massive fan of soggy Hospitals.
There isn't many that haven't had fails/fun and games here, they were really on it back in the day, so much so numerous ways in were used; via the railway, through the tunnels and so on.
The classic route was via the no mans land, which was literally that, they knew it as well. Spent many a night hiding behind the pile of rubble where the gas turbines once resided waiting for that gamble of a run.
You'll have to make do with a later shot, as taking pics at this point back then wasn't an option.
Once inside it's like where now ?
It was largely stripped, barely lit with only the odd bit of 110v lighting in places. You had to climb the beams up to the gantries to even get to anything useful, it was proper sketchy.
By the time I got around to making an effort here, there was plenty of pics online, obv. the 'A' side control room was the money shot, getting to it was a right ball ache.
Directors Entrance
Lift
Shite phone pic- soz
'A' Side Control Room
Annoyingly, I had a few failed trips here before managing to see it properly due to security and running out of time faffing about, fairly sure I wasn't alone on that score.
The next target was the elusive 'B' Switch/Control room, I'd seen the pics and it was probably 2 visits or more before managing to find it clambering about covered in pigeon shit.
It was nice and shiny, with some age old switch gear, however it lacked a certain charm the 'A' side had to offer.
So yeah bit of a pain finding a way into this one, certainly had plenty of exercise up and down stairs and climbing about stuff that led to nowhere
I believe it's now some poncy cocktail bar ? I've seen a few pics online, I imagine the price list reflects the billions they have spent on the place
Now then, which one of these is the Kronenbourg tap
Another quirk here was the white room, basically a shit show apartment mock up to promote it's future to the wealthy
Consumed a few CANS in here on various trips once we worked out the P.I.R's no longer worked.
Rooftop scenes, I mean every man and his dog has this shot so why not.
Same with the chimney's, and no doubt the reason the building is so iconic. I'm not a fan of concrete, but these were a thing of beauty, new ones although nice, can get in the bin!
I used to enjoy climbing up the wash tower and standing next to the South West chimney at every available opportunity and stare across the City.
My next favourite subject was next door, the long since demolished No.7 Gas Holder at Nine Elms. This was another tough number to eventually crack.
I enjoyed sitting on top of the vent staring over at the Power Station, until unbeknownst to me, my 4 gas somehow fell out of my camera bag on top of the thing as I'd been draining earlier that evening.
I'd since had to make numerous trips and provide a Police statement over at Wandsworth station before I got the bloody thing back, suffice to say National Grid weren't too impressed when I tried to explain how it came to be in the first place.
I knew I'd never be done with this place though, ever since my good friend Stepping Lightly climbed the chimney back in 2008 he used to wind up at every opportunity about getting up there. Yeah rite!
It was truly something that was beyond my reach in them days as I wasn't that proficient with rope work. But you know every time I visited the place or passed by when in London it used to play on my mind. That itch you just can't scratch.
By this point I'd considered it too late to pull off such a stunt as preliminary work had started on site, there was now a whole load more cameras/motion sensors and multiple dog patrols about the place to deter the casual derper.
I'd normally do a bit more homework on the situation but as it happened Keitei was leaving the country in a few days so we had to literally pack a ridiculous amount of climbing gear
(as an in-case) and crack on, despite not needing the majority of it in the end
What a faff lugging all that crap and about 200 meters of rope through the site and up the scaffolding to the base of the chimney. Never again!
Wouldn't mind the scaffold setup had now been reduced by several meters losing us vital time on the initial ascent.
Without further a do, Keitei, GAJ and myself rocked up late one evening only to find a full on laser light show at the station and all 4 chimneys lit up like an Xmas tree, WTF!
Turns out it was in preparation for some promotional show or whatever, this was far from ideal, but it was now or never and we were fully prepared to take the risk.
GAJ was insistent on leading the climb, how he wasn't spotted I'll never know. At this point the chimney was also fitted with a fall arrest ladder, and if the Police chopper had shown up I contemplated shooting up that as a last resort, rather than go home empty handed.
It was now silly o'clock and Keitei decided to have a nap on the wash tower, it wasn't long before I nodded in and out also. Eventually from the rope it appeared GAJ was up, Keitei opted for the ladder and I literally fell asleep only to be woken again by the whiff of the Thames rolling in.
I had no energy by this point to commit and really wanted to go to bed, if it wasn't for Keitei I'd have gladly slept through the lot of it.
Anyway it was my turn, I gave my lazy bones a shake and clipped on. It was ridiculously exposed and so bait, I mean man in black against a white chimney ffs! All the school boy errors eh.
Luckily I had the foresight to un-clip the rope on the way up ready to rig a pull through to get off the bloody thing fast once done, good job I did as half way up the dog handler decided to show an un-nerving interest around the bottom of the tower.
I managed to swing round the other side long enough to get out of sight, I mean who looks up anyway.
From memory of my ancient GoPro footage it took my about 24 mins to ascend, including a brief rest on the final capping ring and the evading security saga. Not bad for an old fart lol.
I have to say, It was something else stood up there and something I really didn't think I'd get around to doing before it was too late or ever for that matter. Sure there are new chimneys and a staircase now, but nah, maybe I'll take the lift one day and reminisce.
Below is my final ascent before the last capping ring, Keitei grabbing me this epic shot. Note school boy error no.2; GoPro flashing away like an Xmas decoration
Traversing the last section un-clipped with age old eye bolts disintegrating and hauling my sorry arse up was something I wouldn't repeat in a hurry.
Once up I spent what seemed like an age taking it all in, I really did have to pinch myself, and how the hell we made it up and back down without alerting the authorities I'll never know.
We then proceeded to mooch about the experimental rig which had been installed to essentially pull the chimney down from top to bottom.
@The Lone Ranger will be along someday to enlighten people about his official experiences here
Managed to get this interesting shot whilst inspecting the inside of the chimney as you do.
I remember posting this up years ago and someone asked me which drain it was
We were now on borrowed time, it was around 5am and not long before sunrise, time to re-rig the rope and abseil off into the morning.
My experiences of Battersea Power Station will never leave me, and I'm sure that sentiment is the same for many, quite a unique
'explore' and never easy.
I'll make my way over to Battersea shopping center sometime for an up-to-date m00ch once the tourists calm down for a poncy drink over on 'B' side, that or I'll wait for a spoons to open here and enjoy a 1664 or three.
Finally I'd like to acknowledge a few people, as in some capacity this wouldn't have been possible without them..
Stepping Lightly for the inspiration and the relentless taunting, also his time and patience all those years ago teaching me rope skills and loaning kit; much of which I still have
Same goes for Userscott, Bigjobs, AndyJ (R.I.P) & The Lone Ranger who have all spent time back in the day teaching me skills and lending me kit ♥
Now lets see some more pics
