I wasn't going to up this so soon but quite a few showed an interest so figured I would spare you the wait...
The Sagrada Familia. Probably Barcelona's biggest tourist spot with a hive of people day and night. This was supposed to be a 'normal' holiday with the girlfriend but then I figured this is pretty normal for me and couldn't define it any other way. Originally we were both going to climb it but she hadn't done a great deal of high things and not knowing the laws or consequences of climbing Spains Church of the Holy Family and a UNESCO World Heritage Site we decided that we shouldn't ruin both of our holidays should the shit hit the fan. So... this was to be a solo affair for me. I usually enjoy exploring with others more... it's safer, easier to keep track of who and whats about and generally just 10000% more fun. I surprised myself at how much more alert I was by myself and how conscious I was of every little noise. With that said, climbing this by myself was an incredible buzz. It was reminiscent of that feeling you had when you first got into exploring and that derp at the end of your road was high on your hit list.
Deciding that the best time to climb it being in the early hours saw me start the hours walk to it just after the last service on the Metro had finished. It was 1 o'clock ish when I arrived and as I guessed, still far too busy to make the climb over the fence. After waiting another hour and a half for the foot traffic to gradually calm down I decided to jump the fence and cure my anxiety and boredom, However not in the spot I had been hoping as there were a group of people randomly hanging round a moped that had been having a casual chat for the last hour. Perched on top of the fence with a leg dangling into the site I suddenly heard a deep angry voice and a flurry of silly sounding words of which I had no idea what they were! Brilliant.... anxious all week and waited over 2 and a half hours to finally attempt it and Mr. Shouty had already clocked me before I even had a foot on the grounds. I jumped back down and dissapeared into the next block where I then proceeded to angrily weigh up my options. Deciding I had come far too close and traveled too many miles to have let it slip away, I found my legs carrying me back toward the site at my first access point albeit this time feeling somewhat dejected and slightly more vulnerable than the first. The gaps for opportunity were still few and far between and the chance of Mr. Shouty waiting on the other side and or being slightly more vigilante were at an all time high... especially now that he knew what I looked like and what I was after. Realising that my cover of darkness cloak was wearing thin if I waited any longer and knowing that the climb up itself would take a fair bit of time saw me jump over again at the next available opportunity premature or not. This time no shouting Spanish security guard and nothing but a clear run to the bottom of the scaff ducking in and out of the workers materials where possible. One thing I did wonder, was why there was such a huge lack of security in terms of cameras and PIR's etc. I thought perhaps because it was such a touristy spot it's security is in a way the onlookers or maybe Mr shouty and crew did a good enough job. Nope... It turns out that European scaff is the biggest building defence mechanism. This stuff is rickety and clangy as shit emitting 120db clangs every time you so much as touch it. The climb up took slightly longer than I had hoped for but with the roof level finally reached I could feel slightly more at ease and work on the next target... the crane.
Fucking typical.... Locked
And unlike our shitty fisher price cranes over here, there wasn't a single weakness or gap in this one. I was pretty disheartened to have not got to the top of it and had to climb back down with sad panda face but reflecting later on I realised It wasn't so bad. I tend to spend a lot of time up cranes and not prancing about on the actual roofs themselves but with this, this was the sort of roof that warranted just that. Gaudi truly was an incredible architect and the attention to detail and design was mindblowing. I didn't get as many shots as I could have as I was running out of time but I will try to get back out and get up it again sometime soon. I know others might be interested too, hence the reason this is NP for now.
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History & info
The Sagrada Familia. Probably Barcelona's biggest tourist spot with a hive of people day and night. This was supposed to be a 'normal' holiday with the girlfriend but then I figured this is pretty normal for me and couldn't define it any other way. Originally we were both going to climb it but she hadn't done a great deal of high things and not knowing the laws or consequences of climbing Spains Church of the Holy Family and a UNESCO World Heritage Site we decided that we shouldn't ruin both of our holidays should the shit hit the fan. So... this was to be a solo affair for me. I usually enjoy exploring with others more... it's safer, easier to keep track of who and whats about and generally just 10000% more fun. I surprised myself at how much more alert I was by myself and how conscious I was of every little noise. With that said, climbing this by myself was an incredible buzz. It was reminiscent of that feeling you had when you first got into exploring and that derp at the end of your road was high on your hit list.
Deciding that the best time to climb it being in the early hours saw me start the hours walk to it just after the last service on the Metro had finished. It was 1 o'clock ish when I arrived and as I guessed, still far too busy to make the climb over the fence. After waiting another hour and a half for the foot traffic to gradually calm down I decided to jump the fence and cure my anxiety and boredom, However not in the spot I had been hoping as there were a group of people randomly hanging round a moped that had been having a casual chat for the last hour. Perched on top of the fence with a leg dangling into the site I suddenly heard a deep angry voice and a flurry of silly sounding words of which I had no idea what they were! Brilliant.... anxious all week and waited over 2 and a half hours to finally attempt it and Mr. Shouty had already clocked me before I even had a foot on the grounds. I jumped back down and dissapeared into the next block where I then proceeded to angrily weigh up my options. Deciding I had come far too close and traveled too many miles to have let it slip away, I found my legs carrying me back toward the site at my first access point albeit this time feeling somewhat dejected and slightly more vulnerable than the first. The gaps for opportunity were still few and far between and the chance of Mr. Shouty waiting on the other side and or being slightly more vigilante were at an all time high... especially now that he knew what I looked like and what I was after. Realising that my cover of darkness cloak was wearing thin if I waited any longer and knowing that the climb up itself would take a fair bit of time saw me jump over again at the next available opportunity premature or not. This time no shouting Spanish security guard and nothing but a clear run to the bottom of the scaff ducking in and out of the workers materials where possible. One thing I did wonder, was why there was such a huge lack of security in terms of cameras and PIR's etc. I thought perhaps because it was such a touristy spot it's security is in a way the onlookers or maybe Mr shouty and crew did a good enough job. Nope... It turns out that European scaff is the biggest building defence mechanism. This stuff is rickety and clangy as shit emitting 120db clangs every time you so much as touch it. The climb up took slightly longer than I had hoped for but with the roof level finally reached I could feel slightly more at ease and work on the next target... the crane.
Fucking typical.... Locked
And unlike our shitty fisher price cranes over here, there wasn't a single weakness or gap in this one. I was pretty disheartened to have not got to the top of it and had to climb back down with sad panda face but reflecting later on I realised It wasn't so bad. I tend to spend a lot of time up cranes and not prancing about on the actual roofs themselves but with this, this was the sort of roof that warranted just that. Gaudi truly was an incredible architect and the attention to detail and design was mindblowing. I didn't get as many shots as I could have as I was running out of time but I will try to get back out and get up it again sometime soon. I know others might be interested too, hence the reason this is NP for now._________________________________________________________________________________________________
History & info
