Urban Exploration

[Lou Brusch]

Over the Easter weekend my girlfriend and I had a go at urban exploring, having researched some derelict buildings around Dumfries and Galloway that looked interesting.

This obviously involved trespassing on private property, as well as entering the buildings (wherever there was an open, or missing, door) but we caused no damage to the places we visited; we simply both have a keen interest in this kind of thing.

The most eerie thing we encountered was in an A listed building that has been fire damaged beyond repair. Until 2000 it was owned by Leonard Cheshire and the remnants of this are still visible. In one of the badly charred rooms lay only a bathtub, still in perfect condition in the middle of the room. If a squatter were to jump out on us then we would have likely made a decent mess of the surrounding area 😂

Surely there are members on here who do (admit to doing) this kind of thing; it's a real rush while also being extremely interesting?

[Mastermind]

Pretty sure there's a website called Hidden Glasgow (or similar) used by people who explore abandoned buildings, railway stations etc in the city. Not sure if they have a section for wider than just Glasgow, been a couple of years since I came across it.

[Ned Nederlander]

We had a look round an abandoned house when we were out and about one night down in Cornwall - it was pretty much empty except for a section of what had been a very large bible in each room, a massive pile of dead starlings in the fireplace and a tailors dummy in one of the bedrooms.

 

Fucking shat it.

 

When we left we could see a pair of eyes watching us from the end of the garden - shat it even more - turned out just to be a horse.

 

Never went back.

[Hillonearth]

I've done the walk through the tunnel from Kirklee to the abandoned Botanic Gardens railway station when I lived down that way. Not sure if you still can do it - someone told me they'd blocked the entrance off properly. I believe you can carry on in the tunnel as far as where Inn Deep is, but that was plenty for us. Weird experience, especially when you get to the station and the sun's streaming in the vents, not unike the photo below.

 

[Sweet Pete]

There's a thread on here already somewhere. Geocaching I think it might have been titled.

 

I've done a bit now and then. Old ex-military bases in Rosshire that have tunnels under fields that pop out into bunkers, the abandoned railway station in Kelvingrove park which sits in the middle of some trees, the odd abandoned/derelict warehouse here and there. Coolest/weirdest was the tunnel underneath Union Street in Glasgow city centre that I accessed via a shop I was working in at the time. Seen loads of mentions of old service and rail tunnels under the city centre mentioned on Hidden Glasgow so I presume it was part of that network of subterranean tunnels which are no longer in use. Walk through the shop, into the staff room, down a flight of tiny stairs to the stock room, open a plain door blank and you're standing in a vast, miles long, completely unlit tunnel under the city. Weird. Roughly where Fopp is on Union Street. Just up from the Cathouse.

[Hedgecutter]

Being an experienced caver, I've got this urge to explore the Denburn which has been culverted below Aberdeen city centre, having sussed out a way in. Part of me just gets that dodgy feeling about it though, which is probably a very bad sign.

If the local seagull population is anything to go by, the inevitable rats will be the size of huskies, not helped by that London rat picture which did the rounds last week.

 

Quite amazing how the Victorians saw a landscape rather unfavourable for building a 'large' city and rather than thinking 'best build around it', evidently thought 'ach, just move that hill, redivert all the rivers under tunnels and just build big bridges over everything, even if they need to be a mile long'.

 

 

Random Fun fact: Although a lot of people know that the name Aberdeen is derived from the Gaelic for 'place where two rivers meet', few know that this refers to the Dee and the Denburn, the latter of which still flows into the harbour, nothing at all to do with the Don.


 

There's a thread on here already somewhere. Geocaching I think it might have been titled.

I've done a bit now and then. Old ex-military bases in Rosshire that have tunnels under fields that pop out into bunkers

I was in the WWII fuel tanks built into the hill at Inchindown, by Invergordon, last year and the cathedral sized hall they put is quite impressive, even if a tad smelly (picture). Scouted out the ones on Hoy too, although you could smell the reek even on the hillside. Probably still flooded with ship fuel with fumes which would knock you out in the access tunnel alone.

Have also being doing a bit of geocaching myself recently which has taken me past quite a few pill boxes which are fun, especially if you like piles of leaves. Many of these things I've passed numerous times, completely unaware of their existence along the adjacent old roads.

Also been into a couple of those Royal Observer Corps bunkers from the Cold War period. One had a foosty cup of tea on the table as if they were simply abandoned one day and never returned to.

[Boostin' Kev]

[Sweet Pete]

I was in the WWII fuel tanks built into the hill at Inchindown, by Invergordon, last year and the cathedral sized hall they put is quite impressive, even if a tad smelly. Scouted out the ones on Hoy too, although you could smell the reek even on the hillside. Probably still flooded with ship fuel with fumes which would knock you out in the access tunnel alone.

Have also being doing a bit of geocaching myself recently which has taken me past quite a few pill boxes. Many of these things I've passed numerous times, completely unaware of their existence.

Also been into a couple of those Royal Observer Corps bunkers from the Cold War period. One had a foosty cup of tea on the table as if they were simply abandoned one day and never returned to.

 

I went into a weird bunker thing on the hillside near Black Loch Reservoir in West Dunbartonshire last year while hillwalking. I think it may be something to do with the water board or whoever is in charge of the reservoir. Was built into the hillside, made of concrete with grass over its sides and a subterranean entrance. Had a wander in but only got a few feet down the entrance steps as it was flooded about a foot deep inside and filled with rubbish and rubble. No idea what it was. Had a very substantial steel door at the far end of the wee bunker, so must be more of it underground inside the hill. Assume it's some kind of service access, possibly now redundant.

 

There's a load of second world war bunkers in the field beside the Ballantynes barrel sheds near Dumbarton East train station, you can see them from the train on the right hand side as you head into Dumbarton.

[Hedgecutter]

There's a thread on here already somewhere. Geocaching I think it might have been titled.

 

Here's the thread btw:

 

http://www.pieandbovril.com/forum/index.php/topic/86666-geocaching/?hl=geocaching

[Lisa Cuddy]

Here's the thread btw:

http://www.pieandbovril.com/forum/index.php/topic/86666-geocaching/?hl=geocaching

Actually, it's here:

http://www.pieandbovril.com/forum/index.php/topic/78838-urban-exploration/?fromsearch=1

[Hedgecutter]

Actually, it's here:

http://www.pieandbovril.com/forum/index.php/topic/78838-urban-exploration/?fromsearch=1

 

Ah, I presumed this thread was a bump.  Does seem a bit short upon reflection!

 

Cheers.