The Winchester

The usual assumption about the Antwerp Pre-metro within the exploring community is that the ‘pre’ represents the fact it hasn’t opened yet. Not correct. The Pre-metro is actually a properly dug and operating metro system, which is just not running metro stock yet. During the IDM weekend, we followed Patch, Site and Jess down into the live network for a look around. Read the rest of this entry »

December 2011

Buk put together a long awaited explorer gathering and dubbed it Londonsplore. With the derelict location and expectation of an all-nighter , the event echoed other enticing social urban experiences from the previous 12 months or so. Somewhere along the line somebody had said that having more parties would be a good thing and everybody seemed to gain an experience from this one. I don’t know what kept us waiting so long really – complacency maybe? Read the rest of this entry »

When it snows, go in Drains. A few Gentlemen and I decided to participate in COTS in December 2010, having seen a few delightful pics of the system online. This section of Collossus of the South was everything I was expecting it to be, more impressive even than Hastings’ Stinger storm drain, with a deliciously different feature; the plughole that leads down from the Victorian sections.
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Much to Otter‘s chagrin, ‘Verticality‘ has entered the vernacular of the current London ‘UE’ Set. Discussed at length on Placehacking, where Brad first coined the concept, it sits alongside ‘Edgework‘ and the much derided ‘Prohobo‘ as a term that wouldn’t neccesarily mean a lot to anybody else, but is in somewhat regular usage among this group of individuals. Read the rest of this entry »

February – May 2011

When Brad left London in February 2011 he left behind a set of keys and a note. The keys were for his flat in Clapham and the note said to enjoy ourselves. We ended up with almost 4 months of this London base, and enjoy it we did. Read the rest of this entry »

July 2011

“Are you from one of those groups?” the police officer asked me. “You know, Anarchy?”. Quite evidently, he didn’t have a clue what 8 of us were doing on a rooftop with a barbecue, but his perception of our intentions was grossly wide of the mark.

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June 2011

Talk of climbing stuff had been getting louder over the last few weeks and a set of floodlights was made a target. Nowhere in particular, just a classic floodlight pylon, a metal frame with a ladder and a row of shining lights at the top. The advent of modern stadia has diminished this provincial staple and I feel it’s not going to be too long before these die out, a relic from the early 20th century and the boom years of football. Read the rest of this entry »

March 2011

With the thrill of Molitor being the presiding memory from our Paris adventure, the desire to tap the keyboard over our  night in the 14th arrondissement was nulled perhaps. London was reminded what it was missing in the  few days proceeding our return and it seemed like business as usual with visitors such as Steve Duncan, Brick Man and Urban Fox arriving at the Brad:pad War-room to partake , other adventures fading into the memory. Read the rest of this entry »

March 2011

Metro Chien sat patiently while Maitre-Chien chatted with Marc, disbelieving everything he was being told. “You came down the tunnels? Pas possible!” Claire Elise translated although I don’t think any of us believed that 5 minutes of scattergun French could boil down to a single sentence. Myself, Statler, Gary and Patch sat in the tunnels, backs to the wall, confused at everything that was going on. Read the rest of this entry »

February 2011

So far this evening we’d played hide and seek with both blue lights and track workers. A curtain twitcher is known to reside in an adjacent property to the access, and has called the police on ocassions. (Robbing the Cash Converters? Don’t make me laugh!) Read the rest of this entry »