O RLY?
February 2011
Eyeballs
Deep Ochre had been a target of mine for a while, although finding it seemed to consist of just looking for lids in a certain area. In all honesty, I didn’t know where I was meant to be looking or what I was going to find. A few hints had appeared on certain sites and by chance, I identified a lid that I thought would be it.
Prohobohemia 3.4
August 2010
One more left, then I’ll finally stop writing about this trip! Again, written from the road. The best bits are fueled by some 500ml bottles of Becks. Happy days. I write a lot because I think the trip was significant in a number of ways in terms of how I view ‘Urbex’ and the lifestyles we adopt to fulfil our aspirations within our means. Hopefully this will make sense.
The Stinking Fleet
January 2011
As ever the routine was followed. Park up, kit up, get down. We entered down concrete steps into an overflow chamber which had a drophole into what I assumed was the Fleet Storm Relief: from this we could climb into the sewer ‘proper’. The water was shin deep and although not bearing an overly heavy flow, was noted.
Overflow chamber Read the rest of this entry »
Glitches
January 2011
A series of glitches allows the infrastructure of Paris to be accessed through various portals. Along with our ever generous host Marc, I joined Brad and L’Ottoire for some Parisien place hacking, with Dsankt, Mrs Dsankt and Olivier joining us at times across the weekend too. I use the term coined by Brad as I felt that at times we were not exploring as such; the places we were accessing had been previously ‘hacked*’ and we were enjoying the fruits of the hard work of others. On the contrary, at times we immersed ourselves in the unknown and pushed for the new, when Paris’ delights are well known to many.
*To program (a computer [a place]) for pleasure or compulsively; especially, to try to defeat the security systems and gain unauthorized access to a computer [place]. Read the rest of this entry »
Playing on the Railways
December 2010
Upon finishing some Reading recces, I suggest to Gary that as we were at loose ends, we should maybe go play on the railways? The networks of rail across the country offer a lot of potential points of interest, from laid up trains, boneyards, disused tunnels and old stations in cuttings, where better to get stuck in than dicking around on some local tracks with a camera?
Target YouMissed, Manchester
January 2010
After sleeping in most of the day following a night of drinking and telling stories at Nckt’s, we eventually left the flat in the middle of the afternoon. YouMissed was the destination, a sizeable concrete box culvert that goes for a few hundred metres under the city. Compared to normal conditions, the rain of the night before had caused it to shit itself, in drain speak. We stepped into the flow and walked over the weir, carefully navigating our way past the gushing waters which threatened to push us over.
Bunker, Warrington
January 2011
Following a rainy day in North Wales, I met with Jim Gillette and Agour, notorious ne’er-do-wells of the North West. Clutching packets of 3 for £1 tesco sweets and already sopping waders, we bundled down a hill towards a brick outfall that turned out to be a 30 metre pipe to an open brook. Wow. Sticking close to the bank of the river, we moved down towards the real deal, Bunker. Read the rest of this entry »
Blood Creek
January 2011
‘Rivers of Blood’
It’s rude not to stop on a long journey and let a drain take you in. Blood Creek is a culvert through Stoke-on-Trent, named for the iron deposits that colour the water towards the outfall, where I entered. There’s a couple of hundred yards of anonymous pipe before concrete ledges appear, and eventually the pipe turns into solid RCP.
International Drain Meet
January 2011
The International Drain Meet was a celebration of drainors, and a great chance to meet parties from other areas that we haven’t taken the opportunity to acquaint ourselves with yet. Represented were London, Manchester, North East England, Paris, Canada, Brescia Underground and UE Kingz, and it was a pleasure to meet and spend time in The River Westbourne with all present.
Partake Read the rest of this entry »
Unnamed
December 2010
Some nights you just have to travel together to a disused conference centre, play some tunes and drink beers, then sleep in a part built hotel nearby that ran out of funds after completing no more than 4 rooms, but still hadn’t turned off the electricity . Then tip-toe 9 strong around a disused art deco hospital before being chased out by a secca. Participate in the Urbania.
Lightshow
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