Coming to Pyestock felt like a right of passage. So here’s my report.
Visited with Gone and Millhouse.
For over 50 years Pyestock was at the forefront of gas turbine development and was the largest known site of its kind in the world. V bomber, Harrier and Tornado engines were all rigorously tested on site, the power of the air house allowed Concorde's engines to be tested at 2000mph.
This was the first part of our road trip and somewhere I’d been dreaming of for what seemed like an eternity. After months of desire a plan was finally hatched and after fighting off setbacks and delays, one cold winter’s night in November we finally arrived. A stealth mission through woods brought up some mega obstacles and left us all with wet feet. Getting ever closer in the darkness we could start to see the huge ominous pipes looming out of the fog. Then a final jib and a long sneak to our pre-planned resting place where we would gain small amounts of vital yet cold sleep amidst the wreckage for the following day’s adventure.
This place is like nowhere else. I was truly amazed by its massive scale, something pictures had never been able to convey. The fact that there’s a place like this sitting in some woods in the Hampshire countryside is absolutely mind blowing. Then imagining what used to happen here, standing inside Cell 4 trying to mentally grasp the physics going on when they were running engines to destruction is truly surreal.
Pics..
I know thousands of people have been here but this definitely felt like a full-on mission. It had all the best characteristics of a top explore but ramped up. Security was on the ball with regular patrols forcing us to hit the deck more than once.
We escaped that evening having spent around 14 hours inside and after making a treacherous detour to reclaim our sleeping equipment. We managed to see virtually all the good stuff and left feeling seriously chuffed, moving on to more sweet places in the capital.
Thanks for looking.
Visited with Gone and Millhouse.
For over 50 years Pyestock was at the forefront of gas turbine development and was the largest known site of its kind in the world. V bomber, Harrier and Tornado engines were all rigorously tested on site, the power of the air house allowed Concorde's engines to be tested at 2000mph.
This was the first part of our road trip and somewhere I’d been dreaming of for what seemed like an eternity. After months of desire a plan was finally hatched and after fighting off setbacks and delays, one cold winter’s night in November we finally arrived. A stealth mission through woods brought up some mega obstacles and left us all with wet feet. Getting ever closer in the darkness we could start to see the huge ominous pipes looming out of the fog. Then a final jib and a long sneak to our pre-planned resting place where we would gain small amounts of vital yet cold sleep amidst the wreckage for the following day’s adventure.
This place is like nowhere else. I was truly amazed by its massive scale, something pictures had never been able to convey. The fact that there’s a place like this sitting in some woods in the Hampshire countryside is absolutely mind blowing. Then imagining what used to happen here, standing inside Cell 4 trying to mentally grasp the physics going on when they were running engines to destruction is truly surreal.
Pics..
I know thousands of people have been here but this definitely felt like a full-on mission. It had all the best characteristics of a top explore but ramped up. Security was on the ball with regular patrols forcing us to hit the deck more than once.
We escaped that evening having spent around 14 hours inside and after making a treacherous detour to reclaim our sleeping equipment. We managed to see virtually all the good stuff and left feeling seriously chuffed, moving on to more sweet places in the capital.
Thanks for looking.
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