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

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 :)

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

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!!

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

frozen countryside, bovines and a motel!!

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!!

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

Brunner Mond Madness, 12/01/08

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

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