Dan Cattermole
Dan Down - The Steampunk Womble
Random title for a thread, I know. but what did you expect when it comes from me? [drool]
I managed to get one of my films developed asap today from Sunday's exciting events.
The film in question is Kodacolor 200 and it was loaded into my fully loaded OM10. BOOOMMM!!!!!
Anyway, I got up for this day at 03:30 so we could make the most of the day heading up to Derbyshire with a few visits in mind. We stopped off at a tiny cottage on the way which was derelict in order to get some interesing pictures along the lines of decay and general things that urbexers do..... however, a complete epic fail it was as it was locked up tighter than a tight thing from tightsville. Just to clarify one thing that explorers do not do, and that is to break in, certainly not on any rule books and a detrimental effect it could have to jeapordise genuine explorers reputation....... next stop..... McDonalds breakfast wrap! Dam that was tidy!
The snow started to come in pretty thick and fast the further north we got, but that still did not stop us.... or me getting further away from my heavily pregnant wife sat at home wondering what I was getting into. She does prefer it when I don't tell her 'exactly' what I get up to just for peace of mind. WEHEY!! onwards to the mines!! [doh]
I had done (for a long time) some extensive research around Derbyshire regards to interesting places to visit, why Derbyshire? it has alot to offer as a high percentage of mining and quarrying was done/and still is being done in the Peak District. Beautiful place it is indeed (exept Derby
)
We went to a place called The.. hang on, Bertie had a poo in Maccy D's in Belper first, then we went to a place called The Swallet just outside a village in the name of Eyam.
The snow around there was phenomenal and cars where literaly buried in under 2-3 foot of that funky white stuff!! yet again, that did not stop us determined bunch of silly folk.
The snow drifts on this road were crazy! CRAZY!! and we did have a play in them like a pile of reckless fools as if we're never seen it before! Behind us the whole village was trying to get out of it.... and Bertie was trying to get in!! Something didn't quite add up there for a minute but then I realised, we were just having fun! GET IN!!
I parked the car on the side of the road and we all (4 of us) semi commando'd through knee high snow across a field to this place. When we got down there it was absolutely beautiful. I know, I know, it's not exactly 'Urban Exploring' though is it? this was Rural Adventure... Renture!! [doh]
Spent a good hour down there before time got the better of us and I could hear the next place calling.
We left the place and headed for the easy route - straight for the road. lol. We passed a sign saying along the lines of 'Private Land - keep out' Now, the trouble is, you don't see these signs when your Urbexing or Renturing! Such a shame that they can't make them bigger, or frequently distributed around the place so we don't get to take any pictures of beautiful frozen waterfalls like this
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
After umming a ahhing we decided to head straight for the cherry on the icing, the creme de la creme, the mutz nu..... okay, I'll stop there. On our schedule, I planned for us to do something EPIC, That place of EPICness was in the name of Middleton Mines. A 22 mile long 2 story mine system that has been claimed by previous explorers as a place you'll not see enitrely in one day. Pedal to the metal!
We arrived, only to find two vehicles parked in the entrance of the mines - gutted. It didn't feel right, look right, nor smell right, but guess what guys.... even THAT did not stop us
Car dumped on the side of the road and commando Jo time. (previous to that we had a look at a culvert around the corner which turned out to be pretty interesting too)
Pre commando shots
Bertie
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Jay Dawg
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Andy Man
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Rumaging through the snow we krept up to the entrance of the mines following already exisiting foot steps that were not ours ,'/ mmmhhh, not alone hear.
We saw the entrance to the mines (one of) and this was locked up tight. Entry was debatable but risky and common sense (yes, I do have some of that somehwere) got the better of us and decided not to make efforts to enter.
Entrance number 2 looked like it had some works/security going on there with obvious human presence within the cabins. That DID stop us. Couldn't exactly approach anyone and say 'Hi guys, any chance we could have a little moochy woochy around your miney wineys pweeease!' The answer I'm pretty sure would of ended in OFF followed by a swift call to the Five 0.
We messed around the place for a while out of the way playing in this white stuff again..... like we've never seen it before..
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Telling ya..... fancinating stuff
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Sup?
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Got a bit bored of the place now and decided exit.
Bertie and Jay Dawg decided to choose the suicdal path back to the motor down a steep embankment. I would of joined in, but didn't want to destroy my precious OM10, and neither did Andy need broken kit.
3BBA69DD-CA1E-4170-8B4F-FF643EFA1F13-15500-00000F28BBFD4C49.mp4 Video by dajoolzcat | Photobucket
Andy and Me decided to have a quick/closer recce of entrance 2 on the way down to only find that there was security cameras dotted about the place and assured us that we were NOT going to be successful at this location.... for now
Headed to the next location, via other unimportant loations.... and getting temporarily stuck [doh]
The next location was the Willington Cooling Towers outside of Derby. These things are Mahooooosive!!!
I had planned another entry to only turn down a lane to find that there were snow drifts up to a couple of meters high with cars already stuck ,'/ Plan B.
Easily got into this location with no effort at all, might as well of left the gates wide open for us. (that would of been boring in fact)
Now, think of the windest place you've ever known and times that by 10, the wind in these cooling towers were catastrophic!! and freezing. Not sure why they call them cooling towers then? [doh]
A success this was though
Inside the cooling towers
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Time for a break
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Okay.... commence with fun Bertie
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Andy getting some EPIC shots with his 60D and Sigma 10-20mm
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Hats off to this guy. He got some STUNNING shots
Hope you don't mind Andy but I'm going to flaunt you
Abandanoned Cooling Towers In the Snow by Andy Kent 100, on Flickr
Cool Tower by Andy Kent 100, on Flickr
Pretty amazing aren't they!!!
I'm going to pursude him to join on here.
At this point I ran out of Kodacolor 200 and I was on to my next film in which I haven't yet used up.... XP2.
Can't wait to get that dev'd.
After an hour The farmer decided to turn up in the field were we accessed..... and the story continued here http://www.realphotographersforum.com/people-portraits/10552-blizzard-commandos.html
A brilliant and tiring day it was, but certainly worth it!
My apologies for any grammar mishaps, too much on here to go through.
And as always. THANKS FOR LOOKING
I managed to get one of my films developed asap today from Sunday's exciting events.
The film in question is Kodacolor 200 and it was loaded into my fully loaded OM10. BOOOMMM!!!!!
Anyway, I got up for this day at 03:30 so we could make the most of the day heading up to Derbyshire with a few visits in mind. We stopped off at a tiny cottage on the way which was derelict in order to get some interesing pictures along the lines of decay and general things that urbexers do..... however, a complete epic fail it was as it was locked up tighter than a tight thing from tightsville. Just to clarify one thing that explorers do not do, and that is to break in, certainly not on any rule books and a detrimental effect it could have to jeapordise genuine explorers reputation....... next stop..... McDonalds breakfast wrap! Dam that was tidy!
The snow started to come in pretty thick and fast the further north we got, but that still did not stop us.... or me getting further away from my heavily pregnant wife sat at home wondering what I was getting into. She does prefer it when I don't tell her 'exactly' what I get up to just for peace of mind. WEHEY!! onwards to the mines!! [doh]
I had done (for a long time) some extensive research around Derbyshire regards to interesting places to visit, why Derbyshire? it has alot to offer as a high percentage of mining and quarrying was done/and still is being done in the Peak District. Beautiful place it is indeed (exept Derby
)We went to a place called The.. hang on, Bertie had a poo in Maccy D's in Belper first, then we went to a place called The Swallet just outside a village in the name of Eyam.
The snow around there was phenomenal and cars where literaly buried in under 2-3 foot of that funky white stuff!! yet again, that did not stop us determined bunch of silly folk.
The snow drifts on this road were crazy! CRAZY!! and we did have a play in them like a pile of reckless fools as if we're never seen it before! Behind us the whole village was trying to get out of it.... and Bertie was trying to get in!! Something didn't quite add up there for a minute but then I realised, we were just having fun! GET IN!!
I parked the car on the side of the road and we all (4 of us) semi commando'd through knee high snow across a field to this place. When we got down there it was absolutely beautiful. I know, I know, it's not exactly 'Urban Exploring' though is it? this was Rural Adventure... Renture!! [doh]
Spent a good hour down there before time got the better of us and I could hear the next place calling.
We left the place and headed for the easy route - straight for the road. lol. We passed a sign saying along the lines of 'Private Land - keep out' Now, the trouble is, you don't see these signs when your Urbexing or Renturing! Such a shame that they can't make them bigger, or frequently distributed around the place so we don't get to take any pictures of beautiful frozen waterfalls like this
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
After umming a ahhing we decided to head straight for the cherry on the icing, the creme de la creme, the mutz nu..... okay, I'll stop there. On our schedule, I planned for us to do something EPIC, That place of EPICness was in the name of Middleton Mines. A 22 mile long 2 story mine system that has been claimed by previous explorers as a place you'll not see enitrely in one day. Pedal to the metal!
We arrived, only to find two vehicles parked in the entrance of the mines - gutted. It didn't feel right, look right, nor smell right, but guess what guys.... even THAT did not stop us
Car dumped on the side of the road and commando Jo time. (previous to that we had a look at a culvert around the corner which turned out to be pretty interesting too)
Pre commando shots
Bertie
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Jay Dawg
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Andy Man
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Rumaging through the snow we krept up to the entrance of the mines following already exisiting foot steps that were not ours ,'/ mmmhhh, not alone hear.
We saw the entrance to the mines (one of) and this was locked up tight. Entry was debatable but risky and common sense (yes, I do have some of that somehwere) got the better of us and decided not to make efforts to enter.
Entrance number 2 looked like it had some works/security going on there with obvious human presence within the cabins. That DID stop us. Couldn't exactly approach anyone and say 'Hi guys, any chance we could have a little moochy woochy around your miney wineys pweeease!' The answer I'm pretty sure would of ended in OFF followed by a swift call to the Five 0.
We messed around the place for a while out of the way playing in this white stuff again..... like we've never seen it before..
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Telling ya..... fancinating stuff
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Sup?
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Got a bit bored of the place now and decided exit.
Bertie and Jay Dawg decided to choose the suicdal path back to the motor down a steep embankment. I would of joined in, but didn't want to destroy my precious OM10, and neither did Andy need broken kit.
3BBA69DD-CA1E-4170-8B4F-FF643EFA1F13-15500-00000F28BBFD4C49.mp4 Video by dajoolzcat | Photobucket
Andy and Me decided to have a quick/closer recce of entrance 2 on the way down to only find that there was security cameras dotted about the place and assured us that we were NOT going to be successful at this location.... for now
Headed to the next location, via other unimportant loations.... and getting temporarily stuck [doh]
The next location was the Willington Cooling Towers outside of Derby. These things are Mahooooosive!!!
I had planned another entry to only turn down a lane to find that there were snow drifts up to a couple of meters high with cars already stuck ,'/ Plan B.
Easily got into this location with no effort at all, might as well of left the gates wide open for us. (that would of been boring in fact)
Now, think of the windest place you've ever known and times that by 10, the wind in these cooling towers were catastrophic!! and freezing. Not sure why they call them cooling towers then? [doh]
A success this was though
Inside the cooling towers
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Time for a break
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Okay.... commence with fun Bertie
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Andy getting some EPIC shots with his 60D and Sigma 10-20mm
Untitled by dajoolzcat, on Flickr
Hats off to this guy. He got some STUNNING shots
Hope you don't mind Andy but I'm going to flaunt you
Abandanoned Cooling Towers In the Snow by Andy Kent 100, on Flickr
Cool Tower by Andy Kent 100, on Flickr
Pretty amazing aren't they!!!
I'm going to pursude him to join on here.
At this point I ran out of Kodacolor 200 and I was on to my next film in which I haven't yet used up.... XP2.
Can't wait to get that dev'd.
After an hour The farmer decided to turn up in the field were we accessed..... and the story continued here http://www.realphotographersforum.com/people-portraits/10552-blizzard-commandos.html
A brilliant and tiring day it was, but certainly worth it!
My apologies for any grammar mishaps, too much on here to go through.
And as always. THANKS FOR LOOKING
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