New camera, and a trip to fletchers. perfect!!

I have been looking to get a new camera for ages, now dont get me wrong there is NOTHING wrong with the fuji S5600 i have been using, its just i have outgrown it, SO i have aquired a NIKON D40!! and i must say it really is marvellous!!

anyhow the day after i got it i thought to myself hmmmmmmmmm where can i got to test it out?? ahhhhhhhhhhh fletchers of course!! and as peanuts hasnt seen it yet i organised a last minuite trip!!

now it must be said, fletchers has been done by myself before, and it really is a marvellous place, i had expected it being TRASHED afterall every explorer in the country has been now, but suprisingly it wasnt that bad and i STILL managed to find stuff i hadnt seen before even after 4 visits!! and i came out with 100 ish images, a small selection i will post below.
not too bad for a first outing with a new camera eh!!

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Padiham, memorial park air raid shelters 11/08

Visited with sparkuk and thenewmendoza

NO BATS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS REPORT............

i got this lead earlier in the week and after some online investigation i found there was an access wasnt too sure about it at first but i found this photo on geograph http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/755046 and it piqued my interest somewhat.........




the size and layout of the park gave the feeling that this place was BIG, but sadly it wasnt, it was a small double U shaped shelter with the main antrance in the middle of the U, it is worth noting that the building facing the entrance was a school at some point and the shelter appers to have been used solely for the school...


After a half hour of tramping round the park in the rain we found the way in, and after getting the equipment set up, we made our descent into the shelters. our first impressions were WOW this is cool, but we soon realised how small the shelters were, and ended up slightly dissapointed, it must be said, BUT we had come all this way and we wernt going to give it up as easily as this!!

the shelters themselves were of a formidable concrete and construction, and the tunnels were VERY narrow, nothing like the wide passageways of brinksway/dodge hill or bidston hill, this set us to wondering how people would have "sheltered" in there and we came to the conclusion that the kids would have sat on a narrow wooden bench down one side of the shelters with a toilet cubicle at each end of the long corridor. it has to be said it was VERY dry down there, probably the driest shelter i have EVER been in, and i couldnt beleive the light fittings were still in there and sockets were still on the walls!!




this for me is what exploration is all about, this may not have been a big site, BUT it was an intersting site, that i REALLY enjoyed seeing!!



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