Sensible Shoes - la deuxième partie - la merde que j'ai vu

Well it's that time of year and I've put together a gathering of my favorite photos that I've taken over 2013 in the form of a book, the last book sold a few copies - so why not.

The Liwa Desert to Chernobyl, Blackpool and some aerial shots, Yorkshire, Scotland are featured amongst others.

Sensible Shoes - la deuxième partie - la merde que j'ai vu by Fragglehunter |

Miley Tunnels, Preston - December 2013

A collection of disused railway tunnels running thru and under the city of Preston, interesting....

Looked interesting this one -  a big long dark spooky tunnel, then throw in that a branch line that used to run to Whittingham Asylum and finally for added spin the tale of a ghost the haunts the tunnels going by the name of the Grey Lady.

 

Off we went, the Deepdale end looked like a bit an assault course, so we ventured down to Maudland with its handy parking.

Tripods, wire wool, plenty of torches, we decided to have a wander thru the tunnels and on the return leg camp out for an hour and do some wool spinning.





Then with a sudden case of heavy feet and general "one of them things" we had a man down, so sadly it was back to the car with a return visit on the cards - in fact we did return in the end.

Trinity Church, Bolton - Saved

Back in August 2011 I visited Trinity Church, it was a spooky knacker of Church.

- One less for the Heritage at Risk Register !

With work well underway, at last - looking forward to seeing this one when its finished.

 

Wales - from above - November 2013

The promised blue sky weather forecast didn't happen, overcast and cold did.

I find myself sitting in not my usual plane and I receive a text message "brave".

So I'm sat in a Jodel apparently, I'm not a Biggles type, so the name Jodel you see it just means nothing to me, the propeller starts and we are ready to go.

Not my usual pilot today and he calmly ( and why wouldn't he be calm ?) states "built in 1955,originally and then rebuilt twice". I didn't ask why and nor did I question the nugget of the information mentioning wooden  construction - which could be normal but when you have a text message simply saying "brave" I mentally question why another pilot would plant such a thought in my head.

I see dials and clocks and dials and clocks and plunger things and more dials and clocks - we are off to South Wales to land on a golf course for lunch, which turned out to be a sodding pastie !!!



It has to be said that the Jodel was a very smooth flight indeed, warm with a fantastic view with its clear plexiglass "bubble" roof - sadly the curve of the plexiglass did play havoc with the photos I took, but you don't complain when your bumming a free lift halfway across the country.

With every landing, one must take off to return home, so we trundled down the fairway or runway or airstrip that sits within the greens at the Rosemarket golf course.

Flying back in the more usual CTSW (below is a shot I took from the Jodel of the CTSW) that I'm more used to and it was time to try and get some shots in, so we left Rosemarket for a fly across the Pembrokeshire coast.
 



 









For a brief few minutes we did have blue sky, before we made a turn towards the shore.

 

Heading inland, we headed up to Lake Vyrnwy, rather picturesque with its tower which wouldn't be out of place in Harry Potter or the Hobbit.



With a race against time now on our hands with failing light, cloud and a 4 o'clock airport closing back at Manchester we climbed up above Mount Snowdon, with its first sprinkling of winter snow on the tops.



Finally heading to Denbigh and the closed Denbigh Asylum before the final leg home.



*** For avoidance of doubt, the pasties, (as is the coffee) are jolly nice at Rosemarket.

Copyright 2013 Fragglehunter /Sleepyg

Do not reproduce in whole or part without permission of the Copyright holder.

Denbigh Asylum - from the air - November 2013

Its been a while, but back in the plane, sadly the forecast of blue sky was far from the truth.

Whilst rushing back to Manchester to beat the winter closing time of the airport, we flew over the small Welsh town of Denbigh, home of the now closed North Wales Hospital or as it is also know - Denbigh Asylum.

This Grade II listed building sits rotting since its final closure in 2002, the hospital closed in stages over the period of 1991 to 2002.

Sadly not the best of photographs, with cloud, rain and rapidly failing light, taking into account our ground speed of a little over 105mph I did my best.











Its been on my list for a while, but for the moment these aerial shots of the asylum will do and for me compliment my Whittingham Asylum sets  

Copyright 2013 Fragglehunter /Sleepyg

Do not reproduce in whole or part without permission of the Copyright holder.

 

Urbex News - October - November 2013

Thought twice about this post, being that over the last month or so the Daily Fail has blitzed their paper and website with articles, I'm not a fan of the Fail, but the stories just kept came thick and fast.

Hmmmm, problems, the stories, the articles, lent towards sites that are a little bit special, the sites that... well should be photographed and not vandalized or wrecked or stripped of contents, metal etc, etc, etc - many of the Daily Fail articles simply just omitted a postcode possibly giving the vandals and thieves an open goal for rampage.

I know I do name places on my blog, but certain places I just don't, such as this one, or this one - and others.

A big backlash and all manner of fallout continues against the sellout photographers for a shitty newspaper which many consider to be a scum newspaper of venomous output.

So here is a few snippets from the last month, I have left most the "special" sites out of my round up.

In fact let us just start with an interesting article on Chernobyl, or more importantly The Arch, in this from the Independent.

Rooftopping in Toronto sounds like fun, but call me a wus but I've stayed at the Holiday Inn on Kings in Toronto (now Hyatt) and trust me you don't wanna do this - I got the wobbles just looking out my bedroom window - Independent. 

- Note to Holiday Inn, still not forgiven you for allowing me to book a hotel room without telling me anything about the striking staff and having to cross a raging picket line every time you enter or leave the hotel.

Now I would love to be a fly on the wall when this chap gets caught somewhere he shouldn't be with his
chello ?!??! High brow musical urbex shenanigans from the Telegraph.

Learn to be a urban explorer in Chicago - warning you may get beat up? The Depaulia.

More Bradley Garrett from the Metro - this chap got slightly less publicity than Doctor Who in the last month.

A charming lad I know went for a potter around the old Burnley Empire Theatre and the local rag Lancashire Telegraph has an rather explosive headline.

Sylvain Margaine goes for an explore in the Telegraph, with a little write up and some jolly nice pictures - "having outwitted many a security guard".

Urban exploration in Japan with Jordy Meow from the Huffington Post, which is nice....

I was going to put a few links to Daily Mail articles, but hey, meh ! Scum Bags !!!!!!!!!!!!

Till next time....

Sylvester Street, Sheffield - November 2013

Popped into this place to see if the street art had changed, it started to rain so I lingered.

Nice artwork including my favorite Phelgm

















When the rain finally stopped I had quick mooch round the surrounding streets and found a couple of crackers before another downpour moved in.







Yet another return to Sheffield is on the cards for a proper explore.