Polska Sowiecka – August 2010
‘Poster’
As we sat on the ferry back from our December adventures in 2009, we jokingly said we’d go to Poland and explore the Soviet military bases there. Hit another country, new places, new people, new adventures right? I decided the best way to do this was to integrate it into our summer roadtrip, and lo and behold, after a week in Belgium and Germany, we found ourselves passing the Border into Poland, past the freshly rusting border crossing from the days before the EU.
Prohobohemia 3.2
Our third sleeping spot was set up in Stadtbad Duisberg, a sports centre on the outskirts of the city. We found a perfect room, adjacent to it was a flushing toilet with paper, that at least three of the group utilised. A flat floor gave us a reasonable night’s sleep, and we explored the buildings in the morning. Both a sports hall and a swimming pool were bathed with light from the high windows, but the rest of the site was vandalised.We found a footpump which served us well for the rest of the trip.
Standard.
Prohobohemia 3.1 – Belgium, July 2010
Prohobohemia seems to be the adopted name of this alcohol fueled, 3,400 mile trip and it initially seemed to ring true. At the point of writing, we’d slept in 4 different locations and they were all widely different. A train depot in Belgium, a steelworks in Luxembourg, a sports centre in Germany and a Soviet base deeper east.
Prohobo
Prohobohemia 3.0 – [Soon, we’ll leave for Europe] – July 2010
Europe beckons again. The tick tock of a monotonous life of work, rest, and occassionally play has born fruit, and the fruit this time is two weeks off in a hirecar, with Statler, Gary and Brad.
On the last prolonged homeless tour, we all wanted to immerse ourselves further into the ‘lifestyle’ of urbex. With our basic needs met within the crumbling walls of the buildings we explored; sleeping and eating in these spaces seemed perfectly normal, as did finding spaces in courtyards to build small fires upon which we could cook. Should the apocalypse come, our survival would only depend on our ability to acquire prepacked sausages from the Carrefours and Aldi’s scattered across the continent.
6 nights was the length of the last ‘long’ trip, a couple of weekenders thrown in for good measure at the start of the year are good fun albeit brief. This time, we’ll be away for 12 nights, spread across 4 countries. We’ll hit Poland for Soviet Military bases, the Ruhr for mining, Berlin for general dereliction, Belgium for the last few bits on the official ticksheet, and Luxembourg for some heavy industry.
Prohobo 3.0 here we come!
Deep Level #1 – City Road
Covered in soot and tube dust I emerged elated from City Road tube station, my companion Danny following me out into the cool and quiet London night. The past two hours had been a nervy affair, our first deep level tube line and abandoned station. The site was scoped out a few days prior, the night we returned we were fully prepared and were soon in the tunnels beneath.
Novotel – June 2010
Having realised that June was a very quiet month for my nocturnal expeditions, I guess the last night of the month was the best one to top up the explore count with. Originally meeting for a couple of beers and some of the finest grub mr JD Wetherspoon could muster, we discussed our recent lack of high stuff as we walked past the local Novotel, realising that maybe we could get up on the roof there.
The ‘Stinger – June 2010
Elvis Presley’s ‘It’s now or never’ belted out from the car stereo as we roared down the A21 into Hastings, swigging cans of Monster in anticipation of the challenge ahead. A drive coming on three hours had seen us arrive at the entrance to the Hastings Storm Relief Sewer with local boys Patch and Davey greeting us at our arranged meeting point. Previous recce’s had resulted in the knowledge that an entrance chamber led down three sets of poo and condom encrusted ladders into a short infeed to the main tunnel, but time was needed to explore the main tunnel itself. That time was today.
A night in The ‘Don – May 2010
We just can’t stop ourselves, we keep going back: Every time we visit London we pass a crane on the A4 at Brentford, a big red bastard we can see for miles before. We practically go underneath it, but we never pull off and stop. Always other things to do, places to see.
Battersea Powerstation – Dec 2009
You can’t ignore it from the Chelsea Embankment. A brooding brick hulk decaying since the 1980s.
Quest for the Westbourne. May 2010
Wednesday
Having got accustomed to the ways of the drains, we prepped for the Westbourne as best we thought possible, with a handful of maps printed from google. With a rough route highlighted along the roads the underground river allegedly followed, we trekked through Knightsbridge in our civvies, heading south towards Chelsea through mews and terraces.
