bungle666's urbex adventures

bungle666UE's photostream

2011-04-15T00:46:00.001+01:00

Go take a look folks! call it a best of site if you like! LOL....

Oldham Werneth and Central rail tunnels.. JAN 2010

2010-07-13T22:22:00.007+01:00

As everybody knew the Oldham loop line was closing for conversion to metrolink, i had my eye on these even before the line closed!

The line itself opened in the 1860s for the lancashire and yorkshire railway. the werneth tunnel and the oldham central tunnel stand between oldham werneth station and oldham mumps station. werneth tunnel measures 471yards and central is 449yards long. the 2 are seperated by a short cutting.

the line closed for conversion to metrolink trams on the 3rd october 2009.

it closed in october, so what took you so long i hear you ask? Well other stuff just kept coming up, and these wernt going anywhere!! Anyhow i got a call off thenewmendoza "fancy doing them tunnels in oldham??" "yea why not" i replied, so off we went!!

Its a pretty un-nerving feeling walking in a railway tunnel with the tracks still in situ, you find yourself constantly checking for the noise of an approaching train, despite the fact that you know none will come!!

These 2 shots (above and below) were taken from inside the short cutting that joins the tunnels together, it was a really quiet and settled place to be despite being just off the town centre in Oldham!!
Internally the tunnels were no different from any other i have seen except to say there are no air vents within due to the short lengths of the tunnels, the curve was also very noticeable on the central tunnel which added to the place i think!!

Thanks goes out to thenewmendoza for a top night.

for the forum based report then visit HERE for the report on 28dayslater

The dust settling.....

2010-06-19T08:06:00.005+01:00

Its funny how a major upheaval can get you back into doing something you love so much, in my case EXPLORING!!

im not going to start posting my pics up on here, mainly cos im lazy and CBA!! what i will do however is link to my public reports so you can go see for yourselves, TBH anything i posted on here would be no different really!!

anyhow here we go!! these were all done a couple of weeks ago.

Bank mill, oldham

borough mill, oldham

a revisit to big butts, Rochdale

and a visit too Tygaflor Ltd, rock nook mills, rochdale

enjoy!!

In other news, as the dust settles on the big urbex/nwex split the desperation on the part of Gibbo continues. It turns out that Gibbo has actually paid for a camera for Romanian1 using forum donations!! I find this absolutely disgusting, the members have donated to pay for the site and here is Gibbo using it as, essentially bribe money!! Youll be pleased to hear however that R1 has now left NWEX (albeit with the camera), so the bribe FAILED HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Thats all for now folks, i might post some more later in the week!

B..

hmmmmmmmmm why are people so gullible.....?

2010-04-28T14:29:00.005+01:00

A continuation of yesterdays post really. i have been sent the contents of a massive thread gibbo has posted on NWEX all about the reasons why we have left. Now it stumps me why? someone else would try to write a thread on behalf of other people??!! the thread that has been written is biased, full of half truths, riddled with glaring omissions and if im being honest has been written to make the sun appear to be shining out of gibbo's arse!!

im going to pick up on just a few of the things gibbo mentions in that thread..

gibbo said "Sadly, the members of the committee and the admin staff were increasingly less starting to see eye to eye on certain matters. But rather than try and talk it out and come to some agreement, the section was deleted by Bungle."

The first part is true, we just weren't seeing eye to eye. But the second part... HMMM. Yes the section was deleted by myself, but gibbo FAILS to mention that the section was deleted after a discussion with ALL the staff members and the decision was unanimous amongst ALL 5 of us. gibbo included. So to put that all onto me is somewhat unfair.

gibbo then says "This was then shot down and it was suggested that NWEX be downsized to an urbex only forum, getting rid of the abseil, bricks and other “leisure” sections. I disagreed and said that any such changes should be put to the members. It had been proven by the comments that this kind of stuff was well received. This was immediately dismissed by Mendo and Bungle."

thats not QUITE what was said. I said that the forum should be a little more focused, and all the shit sections are doing us no favors. gibbo asked me what i would do about it and i replied that the walks + heritage, Bricks, and kayaking would go. shit and banter in threads would clamped down on, and "chat" threads would be deleted after a day or so. let it be clear i NEVER mentioned the rope section and other stuff!! on top of this it wasnt just me and mendo doing the dismissing ;)

gibbo says "I put these points to the staff, and countered them with more recent claims of people unhappy with Mendo’s behavior to other members, but this was ignored."

This is laughable, as the only people that i thought had a "beef" with mendo constantly denied it in front of me, and others. when challenged about this gibbo COULD NOT produce a list of names and/or documentary evidence of the mendo hating. myself and spark have repeatedly asked for this and as yet, nothing has been provided!!

gibbo says "At lunchtime yesterday, Mendo made one last snide comment, deleted his posts and then deleted his account. Bungle did the same shortly after. I didn’t delete their accounts, nor did I force them out in any way. They simply couldn’t respond to the points I put across."

It isn't that we couldn't respond, we HAD been responding for 4 weeks, but it would have made NO difference, considering gibbo had either refused to listen to everything we had said for the last few weeks. OR glossed it over in some vain attempt to look righteous. Mendo's last comment wasnt snide either it simply read "fuck this, im of somewhere to do something. it was fun while it lasted. M :) " i fail too see the snideyness in this post, but following that we left i deleted both accounts along with all our posts, threads and PMs. bringing a very sad end to something that I started 3 years ago.

the last point im going to going to use is this.

gibbo says "I now hear that there are lots of things going around by email and on Facebook slating me, and for some odd reason, Sallybear (who has absolutely nothing to do with this, nor does she have any say in how the forum is run, nor will she ever). This just reinforces the snidey nature of certain people if they feel they need to resort to such tactics. I shan't name names but you know who I'm probably referring to if you've seen it."

and in a different post says.

gibbo says " especially making personal attacks on Sallybear (she has no say in how the forum is run, nor will she ever, and she doesn't even get to see any of the private staff-only areas).

That is just low and is doing nothing to help your case fellas. I'm tempted to say "Mendo, control your woman". Oops I just did!

I was on facebook the night things were "supposedly" said, and i didnt see any snide digs at sallybear by ANYONE. gibbo's naming of sal as the culprit just proves how low he is willing to stoop to get people onside. but even i didnt think someone would stoop THAT low..

the last thing i have to say about this thread on nwex, is about the underhandedness of it all. only someone with a point to prove would stoop so low as to publish a thread like this KNOWING that myself and mendo cant respond in the same environment, desperate?? i think so!! but not quite as desperate as this ban amnesty!! that to me is the icing on the cake!!

As you can see, while the thread is loosely based on the truth, a man desperate to justify HIS actions has left big holes, omissions and used embellishment throughout to further his cause.

anyhow, you know the truth now so im going.

if you want to know more or have any issues then please, do not hesitate to contact me at the following address bungle666@live.co.uk

B..

NWEX - The end of an era??

2010-04-27T12:09:00.002+01:00

Ok you lot, its time i updated this blog. as many of you know i have been forced to leave NWEX. the website i gave birth to and re-birthed after the first split has finally had to be given up.

Irreconcilable differences with Gibbo, and his obstinate attitude, along with his refusal to listen to his staff, has meant myself and the 2 moderators (sparkuk and thenewmendoza) have been forced to leave the leave the site forever.

If im being honest, im gutted, i had invested an AWFUL lot of time in that site over the last few years. Too see it floundering now , with a good proportion of the regular members leaving in sympathy for us is in some ways heartbreaking, but the texts and e-mails in support of the move have been overwhelming and are keeping us in a good mood.

soooooooo what next i hear you ask?? well for the moment, its the established forums for me. you can catch me on 28dayslater or derelictplaces a bit of facebook thrown in for good measure and well see what the future holds. im still going to be exploring, im still going to be posting on forums and hell i might even fire up this place once again to fill it with tales of daring and dereliction!!!

If you have ANY issues or just want to get hold of me for a chat, then there is an e-mail address at the bottom of this site.

B..

Megatron Drain, Sheffield oct 09

2009-10-24T01:23:00.003+01:00

Hmmmmmmmmm Sheffield, a place that is made of fail for me, EVERYTIME i explore something in steel city SOMETHING goes wrong. BUT luckily today that wasnt to be and we had an enjoyable 3 hours in MEGATRON a place that truly lives up to its name!!

B..

LIVE INFIL- Lafarge cement, Hope, Derbyshire, 06/09

2009-06-12T11:20:00.006+01:00

This industrial giant, hidden in the hope valley, has been begging for an explore for AGES. it has been talked about and talked about for as long as i have been expolring for!!!

Well finally after a drain fail (rain and high water FTL :( ) we decided to go to hope for a snoop round!!

well after a few comedy moments, and some stealthing around dodging from shadow to shadow and from tree to tree taking pics as we went, we decided to have a go at the chimmney. we could see what we thought was the walkway so we went for it!! anyhow we were MAJORLY dissapointed to find this walkway didnt go to the platform, BUGGER. it was preety late by this time and not wanting to outstay our welcome we were off into the darkness, laughing like a pair of hyenas!!

anyhow, im only going to post 5 images, the rest can be seen on this thread http://www.nwex.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4404

I have to say Thanks to lafarge for giving us the opportunity (without realizing they have) too see this ;) and thanks to mendo for the reccy's and stuff!!

LIVE INFILTRATION FTW!!!

OASIS concert, manchester, 06/09

2009-06-05T00:37:00.005+01:00

Ok, not posted on here for AGES, mainly due to the problems posted in earlyer posts, but i couldnt resist posting this. one shot taken from the air of the OASIS gig in heaton park manchester.

sorry for the watermark, i think its OBVIOUS why i have done it. if you require a copy then e-mail me please, the address is at the bottom of the blog!!

just click for some big pic action folks!!

B..

Blogger problems..............

2009-01-14T02:18:00.001Z

Alot of my regular readers will have noticed that i havent been posting many of my recent explores.........

they may have also noticed the problems with the photographs in the last posts, despite being set to small they display HUGE, so that most of the pic is cropped off.......

well this is pissing me off TBH and its why i havent been posting much recently, if anyone knows the cure ( i use photobucket links BTW) then PLEASE E-mail me on the adress below!!

thanks!!

B..

The Works drain, IT WORKS!!

2008-12-16T20:57:00.006Z

After looking at pics of this place for ages, i finally decided to get off my arse and explore it, and before long i was meeting with peanuts, lil-lilly and andyj23uk,

we made our way towards the outfall only to be met with a symbol of this area of manchester that no only made a nice forground to this pic but provided a handy access to the river!!

anyhow the precarious river crossing safely completed we were staring at the outfall to "the works" a lovelly mix of brick and stone which heightened our anticipation of what lay within.

the works is only around 400yards long, and most of the features are near the end, the twin pipes are the first feature you come accross, with the drain fairy watching over you like a guardian angel!!

the last 50yards is much like the first 350, BRICK!! untill you come to the giants steps, these have to be seen!! as they are truly awesome!!

well, the only was is up as they say!! your met at the top by the twin pipes that come from the otherside of the overflow chamber above, its the attention to these little details that gets me, and i find them stunning!!

the finall set of steps (to the left of the above pic) takes you to the overflow chamber, the drain that runs through it is called "inhospitable" and apparently lives up to its name, the big door of sluice gate loom large and the little steel bridge sags and groans with your weight as you walk on it!!

possibly the most intersting part of the explore, is the little room above the sluice that contains the winder for the gate itself!! it must be a heavy beast for 2 men to shift it!!

that done it was time to move out, but not before a few final pics!! the first of some drain finds that a previous explorer has stacked up in a manhole shaft recess!!

the final 2 were took on the way out in the outfall, i think these are my faves of all the trip!!

thanks for looking!!

B..

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

2008-11-21T01:14:00.004Z

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!!

B..

Padiham, memorial park air raid shelters 11/08

2008-11-14T01:00:00.002Z

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!!

B..

Victorian Valve house.............................

2008-10-18T22:07:00.002+01:00

Well, here we have something to marvel at!! a mixture of underground and overground, a tricky access, explorers getting wet after falling in the water, explorers getting muddy, and a whole host of other problems!!

BUT sadly im not going to give anything away, due to the nature of the site, and other factors im keeping this one close to my chest!! as i would expect anyone who THINKS they know where this is todo aswell!!

not much more to say really other than it was worth all the effort, i hope Stepping Lightly has dried out now :) and it was nice to meet north star!! thanks again chaps, this was ace!!

pics...............

B..

Crisp Delf mine, Skelmersdale, 14/09/08

2008-09-15T13:09:00.005+01:00

EEK!! didnt realise it had been so long since i posted on here!!! so an apology to all my regular viewers for the lack of blogspot adventure pic action!! although if the truth be told i havent really done that much recently, i have been dooing a huge amount of reccying, and not too much exploring!!

However, i did have the pleasure to visit crisp delf mine the other day, thanks to bigjobs for the tour btw!!

apparenty it opened in the 16th century to mine flagstone, and it has been open ever since!! although we have NO idea when they stopped mining here.......

anyhow, on with the pics!! afterall its the reason why you all come on here!!! lol

The mine seems quite deep, i reckon it as deep as 300Ft although it could be more, the STEEP drift doesnt seem too bad until you have to go back up it to leave!!

theres also PLENTY of rock waiting to fall, you need to be carefull and watch what your standing under!!

hope that made up for the lack of update action!!!

B..

Tinsley cooling towers, the end of an era :(

2008-08-25T00:49:00.004+01:00

Well, at 3am this morning a VERY large part of sheffield was to come crashing down, but not without a fight!!
there had been rumor on rumor on rumor for the last 12 months about WHEN the towers at tinsley were finally going to be dropped, and a few weeks back the date was made public!! myself and havoc, finding ourselves at a loose end decided to pay them one last visit, so we made our way with the masses to meadowhall in sheffield we found a spot to stand and waited for the BANG
5........4..............3..............2.................1......................BANG!! and boy what a bang!!! you can see the vid i made a vid of the drop viewable here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAL5PYHp1ZM

anyhow, the drop done it was time to sit in the car for an hour to get out of the car parks at meadowhall!!!

once home it was decided to check the BBC news site for the full script, and it turns out about a third of the north tower was still standing!! woop woop, tinsley wasnt going to take it lying down afterall!! but i was sad to hear she finally gave in, and after 2 hours she fell of her own accord :(

RIP tinsley, you have been stood for 70 years, and been a proud icon of sheffield for millions.

you were in my eyes anyway the true angels of the north...............

B..

NWE lives!!!

2008-08-21T14:55:00.003+01:00

Well, after a few days of turmoil, we are back in operation, BUT on a new url, the new address is http://nwex.co.uk

wooooooooooooop, we live on!!!!

B..

DigitalCG

2008-08-01T11:10:00.003+01:00

Now im not much into free advertising on this blog, BUT a good friend of mine (and fellow urbexer DCG) has just created a new photography based website digitalCG, now for an amatuer DCG is VERY good and i love looking at his pics!!!

anyhow if you want to look then go here

http://digitalcg.co.uk/

there are also liks to his flickr and blog on there too!!

good work mate!!

B..

Kings point office development, oldham, rooftops FFS!!

2008-08-01T10:52:00.003+01:00

Ok i get bored with rooftopping, BUT i have hardly any rooftop views of oldham, so bored the other night and after a quick phonecall to peanuts, we had a go at this one!!

as you can see a TOTAL success got some nice pics of oldham at night and it killed a few hours to boot!! good stuff!!

Who are these two reprobates on our rooftop??

Short but sweet this one!!!

B..

Big Butts, Rochdale, culverty goodness!!!

2008-08-01T10:38:00.005+01:00

WOOP!!! ive finally got to name my own drain!! my discovery, My name!!

Big butts in rochdale is a HUGE culvert that runs under the town centre in the area known as the butts!! (get the name now), tis HUGE and VERY cool!! its got hidden bridges side pipes and a sewer oveflow with a processor too!! it wicked!! and its MINE :P

cool hu!! i think so and thenewmendoza did too!! so were going to go back at somepoint and spend a few hours under there!!!

B..

The scottish urbex roadtrip 2008, HARDCORE!!!!!

2008-08-01T09:36:00.007+01:00

right i have a few more updates too but this one is by far the most important!! a few weeks back we went on a little roadtrip to the Glasgow area of Scotland, all i can say is WOW the stuff they have up there thats explorable is UNBE fucking LEIVABLE!!

we arrived up there just after tea time on the friday and took a look at winston barracks a garrison sized baracks that is NOW being demolished so there wasnt alot left but we looked non the less!!

anyhow, winston done it was off to law hospital, Recent BBC coverage of this one made us doubt that it would be dooable, but in TYPICAL scottish style it was WIDE open!! although the records that the BBC had moaned about were long gone ;)

Right law done then off to the third site on the list, Hartwood asylum a two tower stone built asylum building, it looked lovelly on google images!! but sadly it wasnt to be, this place has suffered a MASSIVE fire and is sadly completely gutted :( i could really see the no expense spared attitude this place was built with and it was a real shame it was burnt to a crisp, hey hum, onward and upward i s'pose!!

Hartwood done and it was FAST going dark so we decided to make for inverkip and find a place to bed down for the night, as it happens this was a layby at the roadside!! but that was a different story!!

the next morning we got up, had some breakfast and headed to the industrial goodness that is INVERKIP power station, WOW this place is HUGE!! and good to explore too, WELL worth the 600 mile round trip!! we were told stories of shit hot security, mega cameras, and other generall problems with entry, but TBH we found none ;)

once inside we were met with the real scale of the place and it took my breath away!!

Heavy engineering aside (god i love it so), the highlight of inverkip has to be its controll room, this place is MAD and just keeps giving, the temptation to start pressing buttons and flicking switches is overwhelming but once i learned to controll my urges i managed to take some pics of it!!

Anwhow all good thins must come to an and and Inverkip done, we decided upon st peters seminary in cardross as the FITH yes FITH site of the weekend!!

I liked this place well trashed but full of funky angles and stuff to look at, and its a shame its got into this state but there you go!! i suppose the weather helped with my love of this one too, if it had been raining i would have HATED this place and no amount of funky angles would have made up for it!!

Anyhow, that done it was knocking on for late afternoon we were VERY tired hungry and TBH i was urbexed up, Havoc and loz were feling the same so we decided to head for home, But there was one more site we all wanted to see, and as it was on the way home (ish) we had to do it!!

The Glasgow bottanical gardens underground station, VERY cool site and quite photogenic!!

At that we'd had enough, and 3 VERY tired and weary explorers left scotland to head for home, 6 sites including inverkip in 26 Hours, i think thats hardcore enough for anyone!!

B..

Lazy?? you betcha!!!!!!! mills and boats!!!

2008-07-05T22:37:00.005+01:00

But the lack of blogpost doesnt nessecarilly mean i havent been doing anything!!

the first thing i have to tell you about is Huddersfield fine worsteds, a nice little mill that used to manufacture fine woolen cloth for expensive carnaby street tailors, i found this place FASCINATING!! visited with gibbo.....

it had a supermegawonky floor!!

I did manage to get more pics than this BUT my memory card in the camera went tits up, and i lost all but a few pics, to say i was pissed off is an understatement!!

Anyhow, moving on and a week later i found myself on salford docks exploring BOATS!!! visited these with Havoc and Peanuts!!

the first boat we looked at was the georgia d, just sat at the side of the ship canal, rusting away!!

and the second was the sandsend (i think!!)

all in all, an enjoyable couple of evenings work!!!

B..

Oldham athletic football club, Boundary park, Oldham, 10/06/08

2008-06-11T13:41:00.004+01:00

Ok being a generally cautios explorer i had BAD karma about this all day, now fellow explorers know if it feels bad, then its generally going to end in gettin busted, but not on this occasion!! a mate had told me about the impending demolition of the lookers stand (new start mortgages stand) on boundary park a few weeks back, so i decided to put the place under obs.

we had a little reece on monday evening but sadly DIDNT have the time to explore it, SO Tuesday night was decided upon for a hit!!

Now, my mate had spent 2 weeks telling me how they have stepped up security at the site due to copper cable thefts, by the local pikies and knowing what the local police are like, any chance of getting a theiving pikey will have them out in force, i REALLY wasnt feeling it for this reason, but decided to press on, we approached the stand and found the previosly recced entry point as we left it, good i thought, "lets go look for signs of life through the gate near the rochdale road" i said, OK, said my mate BUT on the way to the rochdale road end, a stroke of luck, the pikies had been in AND LEFT A DOOR OPEN !!! well it would be rude not too!! so in we goes, carefuly at first an open door COULD be too easy..........

we proceede to the top of the stairs to be greeted by......................... nothing!! an empty football stadium, no sign of security, no sign of the pikies (thank fuck) no police no nothing!!

the ONLY sign of life was the automatic sprinkler system which gave a nice effect in some of the pics!!

so we proceeded to explore, we had decidied between us NOT to explore the rest of the ground, although we could have with NO problems, afterall it was WIDE open, but we'll stick to what we came to see!! the lookers stand!!

and its paddock!!

on exploring the inside we found a pie shop and some signage!! but the rest of the stand was firmly locked.

anyhow, we had seen enough, it was time to go, but not before a team shot taken from the car park!!!

a brill night, i enjoyed this, and it was good to stay above ground for a change!!!

B..

Processor drain, 04/06/08

2008-06-07T22:30:00.004+01:00

Another week, another drain *sigh* !!!! LOL

after the usuall text message to thenewmendoza, we decided on doing processor, i liked the sound of finding machinery underground in a drain!! but nothing could prepare me for the STINK!! jeez this place hums, REALLY bad in places but we persevered and got the job done in the end!!

Anyhow, the "processors" are sewage oveflow surface scrapers to keep the solids out of the culvert/drain, and are automaticaly run when the sewers fill right up so you can imagine HOW unpleasant this place is, and we visited on a good day!!!! but its interesting non the less, a mix of brick pipe, RCP, and a box section RCP make this well worth the visit you just gotta dodge the jamrags!!

pics..........

as you can see a real good mix of modern old and downright crusty!! im not going to go into anymore details as im a lazy boy and have a severe dose of "icantbearseditis" LOL

Till next time

B..

Red Barn drain, chadderton, near oldham, 26/05/08

2008-05-27T20:28:00.004+01:00

Visited with thenewmendoza.

Ive been wanting to do this drain for a long time, we had a failed mission infact about 4 weeks ago, so we did foxdenton drain instead!!! Anyhow the fails were due to the council, kindly fiting a HUGE padlocked steel gate over the E/E point, so it was a nogo anyhow, about a week ago i saw a report from here on Derp, hmmmmmmmmm i thought, i wonder if...................

Jump on a few days and MENDO had done a report on it on NWE!!! shit i thought, id better do this quick then as it wont be long before they lock it again!!!

so a quick text to mendo last night, and the plans were in place!!all i can say about this place is WOW, its really amazing inside, it changes shape every 50 yards or so, its everything from cathedral tall to stooping low, RCP, bricks, stone and iron pipes all make this place up, i think it should be renamed to HEINZ drain 'cos it really has got 57 varieties!! so we meet up outside the beast, with me, late as usual and set off up the pipe, "well get to the top, and take pics on the way back" i said, and with mendo agreeing, we headed up the pipe as far as we could get.now i say this because this drain is what is known as a "shrinker" Ie it gets smaller and smaller till you hit a point where you cant get any further, and it is at this point we start the pics with mendo, seeing if we can get any further!!

we obviously couldnt as it toooooo narrow, so we headed back taking pics all the way!!

this is looking back down the pipe we had just come up, note the big pile of iron under one of the outfalls further down, this stuff is ROCK hard! this next pic is of an brick inverted egg, its only small, and apparently leads to a sewage overflow

then the brick pipe opens out into a stone built chamber

Then it closes dow AGAIN, into a stone pipe, with a funny iron ceeling!!

Then another suprise, a HUGE brick inverted egg, this is a good spot for the group shot methinks!!

then down the RCP, you see int he last shot, that opens out into a funny shaped bit, that shrinks again, it looks like this bit is on the point of collapse ;)

then thankfully, the way out apppears in the distance!! *phew*!!!

Manchester, Cathedral Arches air raid shelters!!

2008-05-22T22:16:00.003+01:00

Now then, here i have a rare treat for you people tonight!! i have FINALLY been down the cathedral arches in Manchester, well over 12 months after stepping lightly discovered the entrance to these beuties ive finally cracked it!! and boy oh boy was the wait worth it, There has been a HELL of a lot of speculation going on about this place of late, with certain parties pettily attempting (and failing) to lock access and selfishly keeping the site to themselves, and when local well established explorers dont get the chance to see them, BUT people travelling from far and wide do, the line has been crossed and it no longer is fair. add to this the lies about the access to the entrance, and the unwillingness of other so called explorers to help or show these to anyone outside of there own elitest little click, it all adds up to a HUGE headache im sure you will agree!!

Enter andyj23uk, and bigjobs, they devised a cuning plan to make the arches accessible to ALL explorers without jeapordising the site and without making it too obvious what we were up too!! a HUGE thanks goes out to these lads in getting this sorted and it just shows how easy it would have been for "other" people to do this to get us in!! Oh and before you all start bitching that we used the soft entrance i would like to catergorically state here, that we did not, we did it the proper way!!

Anyhow present on the day were as follows, andyj23uk, big and littlejobs, sparkuk, dodge, havoc, gibbo and myself!!

enough ramblings now and on with the pics!!!

All in all it has to be said this was a proper evening out, i thououghly enjoyed it, and if it wasnt for my late arrival i would have had a LOAD more pics!! needless to be said, me and the arches WILL do battle once more!!!

bungle

Im singing in the DRAINS!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-04-26T15:11:00.004+01:00

I have found a new addiction in my life, no it isnt some new drug, or tobbacco its DRAINS!!

there brilliant!! who would have thought there could be SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo much under our feet!!

we started the week with a known easy one, Foxdenton in Chadderton near Oldham:-

half brick half concrete construction, walk in access it couldnt have looked easyer OR SO WE THOUGHT!!

about half way along the water got wayyyyyy to deep for the waders, and we had to beat a hasty retreat, we were told it WAS shallow all the way through, but it seems that there may be a blockage somewhere!!

Anyhow, after we were forced to abandon foxdenton, we went to look at another i know has needed checking out for a while, under the M62 in milnrow ;)

a pretty boring culveted river, BUT it needed exploring non the less!!

Then to top off the week nicely we did the mighty BUNKER in Warrington, this place is drain mecca, and we've done it!!

3.5 miles (ish) of 2meter RCP, chambers, waterfalls, pipes, and a swirlpot, this place has got the lot!!

bungle :)

OUT WITH THE OLD AND IN WITH THE NEW!!

2008-04-17T18:17:00.002+01:00

ok so we are all morning the loss of 28days, BUT LOOK UP LADS!!

we have started a new forum for all north west based urbexers, northwestexploration

http://www.northwestexploration.co.uk

sign up soon folks, and i hope to se you over there!!

bungle

Well, its the end of an era!

2008-04-16T22:26:00.002+01:00

thats it folks, 28dayslater.co.uk is dead, no more deceased. i suppose eventually it became a victim of its own succsess, and i would just like to take this opportunity to thank oxygen theif for the time he dedicated to the forum over the past few years and hope this isnt the last we see of him!!

thanks mate!!

and what now for urbex i hear you say, well on my part, im not ending this anywhere and am currently in the process of starting a new urbex related venture, so watch this space, there will be an announcement soon!!

bungle

feeling on top of the world!!! beethams tower (the hilton hotel) manchester, 04/04/08

2008-04-07T13:40:00.006+01:00

So, i havent done much in the way of exploration recently, mainly due to other commitments. ok, so i went on holiday and bought a new motorbike, so they have been taking up most of my time!! but a chance PM from an old mate on 28days the other night soon put an end to that. and so it was arranged, meet in manchester on friday outside the science museum at 2130, were going to rooftop beethams!! WOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO manchesters highest rooftop, infact the north west's highest rooftop, infact the 8th highest rooftop in the country!!! needless to be said i was chuffed to bits!!

so i picked up HAVOC and we went to manchester to meet GIBBO at the pre prescribed time, this was a serious business, a five star hotel, they were diffinately not going to lt us in in "normal" exploring attire (combats trousers, hoodie and magnum boots) so smart dress was the order of the day, so suited and booted, cameras in laptop bags we went for it, straight through the main entrance, "i know a better way to the lifts" said gibbo "follow me", so we followed got to the lifts pressed the button lift doors opened walked inside and "can i help you boys" said a big bloke dressed in black, bollocks i thought, busted. but gibbo saved the day!! "were going to se a friend upstairs, Mr johnson, room 1704" ok he said, and he wondered off. well this left us in a predicament, if we go up the lift and he checks, were gonna be screwed, so the decision was made to wait and see what happened on the floor we were on!! after a few mins the guy didnt return, so we sent back down to the reception to see him, "did you phone my johnson for us??" gibbo said to him, no he said im just a bouncer from the bar on floor 23, i have no authority to check guests!! so your free to go up and see him!! YIPEEEEEEEEEEEE we thought, so it was straight back in the lift to head to the top!!!!

the way to the top is long and complicated, and im NOT going to go into it on here, for obvious reasons!! but the journey to the roof took us around 25 minuites and i can remember trembling as we were stood at the bottom of the final ladder looking up to the roof hatch, gibbo was the first up, opende the hatch and popped through the gap, i was second, my head broke through the gap and FUCK ME!!!!!! i exclaimed, the view is FANTASTIC!!! havoc's reaction was similar!!

TEAM PHOTO

the roof is full of air vents an pipey goodness, also the famous crane is there too!

The big wheel, and arndale tower

the city of manchester stadium

Gibbo being brave

i would like to take this opportunity to thank gibbo, without whom, this would not have possible.

and whats next i hear you al shout, well i suppose you will just have to watch this space wont you!!!

BUNGLE

Jodrell bank, climbing "the lovell" march 2008!!

2008-03-10T12:15:00.004Z

For over 40 years the giant Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank has been a familiar feature of the Cheshire landscape and an internationally renowned landmark in the world of astronomy.
Since the summer of 1957 it has been quietly probing the depths of space, a symbol of our wish to understand the universe in which we live. Even now, it remains one of the biggest and most powerful radio telescopes in the world, spending most of its time investigating cosmic phenomena which were undreamed of when it was conceived.

what started out as a joke amongst us was turned into a reality this week, we actually climbed the lovell telescope at jodrell bank observatory!!

i know, i know, dodgy stuff, but it really was GREAT fun!!!

first a little history!!

the Lovell telescope as its now known has been an iconic landmark of Cheshire since 1957, when Professor Sir Bernard Lovell concieved the telescope, since then it has become legendary in the astrological and scientific community the world over.She stands at 250ft and weighs in at 3200 tons with the dish adding another 1500 tons on top of this, the dish itself comes in at 76.2 metres in diameter.

anyhow i visited with havoc, thenewmendoza and userscott.

this was allways going to be an explore straight out of the top drawer, and after a month of planning several reccies, including one by scott, havoc and mendo the night before, we decided it was GO GO GO!!

the fence was allways going to be a problem for me, and not being the best climber in the world this for me was worry, but i neednt have worried as with a bounce squeeze i was over it and within spitting distance of the magnificence of the lovell telescope, i must admit at this stage i was ABSOLUTELY SHITTING MYSELF, and if it wasnt for the encouragement of the boys, i wouldnt have even gone over the fence, but i did and WOW was i glad i did!!

the climb itself was hard work, 250ft up straight ladders in almost plain view of the control room and security office, i was nearly dead when i got to the top, sweating and feeling dizzy and my arms felt like they were about to drop off, but i soon forgot about this when it dawned on me, SHIT im in the motor room at the top of the leg of the lovell!!!

wow what a place is all i can say, it was totally amazing and i still cant beleive we did it!!

i would just like to say a HUGE thanks to havoc, thenewmendoza and userscott, and also sir bernard lovell, without all of you this explore would not have been possible!!

anyhow enough of me waffling, on with some pics!!

me examining the beast!!

the dish!!

the target

internals of the motor room

thanks for looking, i hope you enjoyed this as much as i did!!!

bungle

Ok so i know ive been a lazy bugger recently...

2008-03-06T01:48:00.002Z

....and not updated my blog, but hey thats the way i am, starting out with all best intentions and loosing interest after a few months :)

anyhow i havent really done much recently, except an old but interesting row of houses in halifax called wainhouse terrace, and an old mill in rochdale where my camera batts ran out half way round :(

and for those of you that are really intrested, i will put the links up to the reports on 28dayslater.co.uk!!

Wainhouse terrace

Alexander drew

anyhow, that aside i have recently had some more information about mr x fall into my hands (see post below) Mr x, or should i say aaron robinson, i know where you live on martin avenue in bolton, so you best watch yourself...........................

bungle

frozen countryside, bovines and a motel!!

2008-02-20T01:52:00.004Z

RING RING, RING RING, "whats that mate, a night in the cheshire countryside? count me in!!

And so the plans were made, the meet point and the date was set, a mooch around a site in deepest darkest cheshire, who could refuse??

we arrived at our first target for the night and after crunching around in the frozen undergrowth looking at fences, climbing stuff and getting shredded on the brambles we got busted at the last minute by a torch weilding stealth security ninja!! BUGGER cue myself and havoc running throught the undergrowth to strains of "hello, can i help you?" and "what are you doing here" we wernt hanging around to tell him, and so we were off into the night, closely followed by the newmendoza!!

back at the cars, we talked about what to do next, it was decided on a mooch round an ex MOD fuel depot called twemlow fuel depot, it sounded interesting and was described by havoc as looking "like fucking tellytubby land" well this i had to see!! and after a short drive, and squezze through a fence, we were amongst the bovines in a place that did actually look like tellytubby land!! but that was its only good point, and after getting covered in mud and surrounded by bovines we decided we'd seen enough.

next stop was the saxon cross hotel, this was easy exploring at its VERY best!! walk in entrance, no security, and not too much chav/pikie damage it made for a fun hours exploration.

i didnt take too many pics as i was having an "i cant be arsed with pics" night, but i too a few and here they are.

we did while we were there make time for a pint aswell!!!

but we unfortunately couldnt pay as the till was locked...............

and then, while myself and havoc were exploring some of the bedrooms

this appeared walking down the walkway to the chalet style rooms!!! WTF??!! it turns out it was thenewmendozaclaus!!

the hotel thankfully saved what would have been a VERY dissapointing night, and as for the first site, well watch this space we have unfinished business here!!!

bungle

KIDDERMINSTER, bunkers and a sticky end!!

2008-02-07T23:13:00.000Z

We went to the drakelow ww2 shadow factory last night for a guided tour, which was excellent. those guys down there are REALLY dedicated people what with all the stuff they have to cope with and they do it for the love of it!! the factory itself consists of 4 miles of tunnels, all interconnected and were built in ww2 by rover for the bomb proof production of aircraft components for the bristol aircraft company, then in the 1960s was converted into an rghq (number 9) for use in the event of a nuclear attack, then upgraded in the 1980s to an RSG also for use in the event of a nuclear attack, this place was facinating and i cant wait to visit again, it was a real shame that photos were not allowed, but hey, it means im going to have to back again!!

While we were in the area we thought we would pay a visit to the silos at the former british sugar plant at kidderminster, these silos must be nearly 230ft high and they were my first ever silo climb.the silos were covered in (obviously ) sugar and the whole place stunk of a mixture of old sugar, rat shit AND pidgoen shit, they were not the most pleasent place i have ever been. before we attempted the climb we explored the old production area underneath and found a ladder leading into the bottom of one of the silos, well it would have been rude not to take a peek!!

inside the silo looking UP!!

the sticky silo floor.

anyhow after that, the only way was up, and were SUPRISED to find mendoza (of irrational "were going to fall off and die" fear fame) was following us!!

the climb was long and sticky, and interspersed with broken handrails, holes in the floor and chunks of pidgoen shit on the handrails!! but after a final open air dodgy ladder climb we were finally at the top and the views were simply stunning

all in all, an excellent evening!! thank to havoc for sorting the invite to drakelow, and to mendoza for overcoming your irrational fear of dying!!

untill next time people

bungle

Mr X, bricks and attempted comebacks!!

2008-02-04T14:42:00.001Z

Now then, when i first started this exploration lark last year i was shown an EXCELLENT site in central manchester, known as the premier lodge rooftop, it was an easy explore and my first city centre rooftop. i have been back on a couple of occasions too, including in the dark which i reckon is when manchester city centre looks at its finest!!

So you can imagine my horror when i get an e-mail informing me that someone has smashed the lock off the rooftop door with a brick, and now the site is COMPLETELY inacsessible. i was gutted about this and so were the other manchester urbexers, this place holds a REAL fond place in our hearts as most of us had done it as our first one, and had been back SEVERAL times, So what has this got to do with Mr X i hear you shout, Well it turns out that on the night the lock got smashed, a manchester member got a phonecall off MrX asking what the numbers were for the codelock on the roof door, They didnt work so you can imagne the suprise when he got a call back off Mrx to state "its ok, ive found another way" he assumed that he'd found the alternative route in (as there is one you know!!) but then someone visited the night after and found the damage and things started to become obvious.

well you can imagine the shitstorm that gathered around this, MrX was promptly banned from 28DL and things went quiet, UNTILL NOW, it seems MrX has made a re appearence on another forum. The management on that forum has been warned of his antics, so just to let you know MrX we are watching your every move, we know the truth, just be carefull as we know where you have been!!

so, what has this got to do with bungle you might ask?? well ive got a VERY long memory, as have others, and im still angry about the premier lodge being permantly locked to all.

now MrX or wishmaster or whatever your using these days, if you truly have mended your ways then fine, ill leave you alone to carry on your sad little existence and we'll call it quits at that. but if you havent, then be carefull, VERY carefull!!

Bungle

Google Analytics, big brother is watching you!!!

2008-01-15T21:29:00.000Z

I registered with Google Analytics a few days ago, mainly to see how many (if any any) people were viewing my little corner of the interweb!! and WOW was i suprised 76 visits since i installed Google Analytics about 4 days ago!! this has really blown me away, thanks guys!!

now then, the other cool feature of Google Analytics is its ability to ALMOST tell you whos looking, there is a cool map to tell you where in the world they are, weather or not they are on broadband or not and perhaps the coolest thing of all is, the little thing that tells you who's network they are surfing on, so if your on AOL it will say AOL, if youre on Bt broadband, it says Bt broadband and if youre visiting from a corporate network, then it will say the name of such network, cool eh!!

take BRUNNER MOND for example, 5 hits in 2 days, now thats impressive, thanks for looking guys!! I hope you like the pics of wallerscote by the way!! and please do feel free to comment guys there allways appreciated!!!!!

Bungle

Brunner Mond Madness, 12/01/08

2008-01-13T13:08:00.000Z

After a phone call off thenewmendoza i decided to embark on a little trip to cheshire, on arriving in northwich the weather was frankly shite, and after looking at a couple of other sites, we decided on some live infililtration and BOY was it worth it!! not only did the weather improve, ive FINALLY popped my live infil cherry!! the live part of brunner mond at wallerscote is the remainder of the HUGE soda ash works that has recently been demolished, production of the ash, has been moved to brunners 2 other sites at winnington (over the road from wallerscote) and lostock (about 2 miles away) and now the silos on this part of the site remain as what appears to be a storage and packing facility.

never having done anything like this before i was nervous approaching the entry point and even MORE nervous when we hit the first silo, this place is FULL of automatic machinery hissing, and clicking all around and can really put you on edge!! but i thouroghly enjoyed the whole experience.

Ash piled up like snow!!

Arty farty shot!! (well for me anyhow!!)

Dead controll panel

The team!!

i thouroghly enjoyed the evening, it was an unforgetable experience!! thanks to my guide for the night mendoza!!

BUNGLE

STEEL CITY HEROES, The sheffield meet 05/01/2008

2008-01-06T23:47:00.000Z

well the first proper explorations of 2008 were mostly in sheffield, our guide for the day would be private piles, the first site we hit was parkhill flats, "the streets in the sky" built in 1961 these were the vision of the future, consisting of 995 dwellings and housing a couple of thousand people, now sadly they lie in a terrible external state, riddled with concrete cancer and suffering years of abuse by the local bagheads.

urban splash has taken over most of the grade 2 listed site now and are planning a multi million pound restoration of the site, to be sold to the yuppies of sheffield for thousands of pounds.

this was a relatively easy explore to kick the day off, with stunning futuristic architecture and even more stunning rooftop views!!!

with parkhill out of the way we went to loxley college next to have a mooch round, only to get busted on the way out by the local constabulary!! thanks guys!!

this place has been stripped almost bare by the local pikies, and as explained to us by the coppers that turned up, they are keeping an eye on the place!!

quite an interesting site this one with tons of stuff still remaining so if you can avoid the brush with the law well worth a look!!

anyhow, after the bust at loxley, we decided that it would be best to head out of steel city and head to doncaster for a recce, after the recce we went to thorpe marsh power station to look at the cooling towers WOW these are stunning things, i never though i would be standing in the middle of one of these!!! there flippin huge!!! a real sense of eerie deriliction and abandonment was felt here, i really loved it!!

this meet was most enjoyable, so thanks to the sheffield lads for inviting us!!

lets hope the rest of 2008 brings as much fun as this!!

cheers

bungle

fletchers papermill, the movie!

2007-12-31T00:33:00.000Z

i visited in december with Andym, azubi and DCG but took no pics this time only film!!

this is the result
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFsJiqLZaUs

hope you like cos i do!!

bungle

THANKS!

2007-12-28T22:35:00.000Z

just a quick note to say thanks for all the people that have added me to their own site links, please do feel free to link to this site at will, and i will if you notify me, reciprocate the link for you!

bungle

This is it, my first attempt anything resembling my own webspace!!!

2007-12-25T00:05:00.000Z

ha ha ha, new for 2008, bungle666's new blog, i mean ffs, i know nothing about this so its a HUGE learning curve, so any comments would be great!!!

bungle