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Another from the archive, and another one with great memories attached.
I met one of my best exploring buddies in April 2010 when he was brand new to urbex and the first thing he said he wanted to do was Greenham Common at sunrise. Well a year and a half after that was first mooted isn't too bad, is it?
The plan for access over the multiple fences surrounding the site was put into motion and at 5.30am one August morning me and him rocked up on the outskirts of the old airfield, the place was deathly quiet and after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing the plan went off without a hitch and we were in with minutes to go until the sun was due to rise over the horizon at about 6.10am. We scrambled onto one of the bunkers in the middle of the site and set our gear up, and watching the sun rise over the sprawling site it became one of the most beautiful, surreal and unforgettable memories I have from my whole life.
After the sun cleared the horizon we wandered the site, it was an odd feeling being somewhere that could have been at the epicentre of wiping out a large amount of the world's population had the cold war gone full nuclear...
The doors to the nuclear missile bunkers are required by NATO law to stay open, so Russian satellites can see that they are empty in case they fly over looking.
Somewhere on the common we heard a familiar roar and watched as a hot air balloon ascended into the morning sky, and I couldn't resist a wave at the occupants!
We moved over to the old guard post and front gate, and before we could snap any photos a loud crack shattered the morning air from a few feet away, and a small cloud of smoke rose into the sky - turned out my mate had tripped a wire attached to a blank shotgun shell used to scare wildlife...well it certainly scared us! And, now that everyone on the airfield that morning knew we were there, we made our retreat to the local McDonalds
More photos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/mookie427/sets/72157627406780905/
I met one of my best exploring buddies in April 2010 when he was brand new to urbex and the first thing he said he wanted to do was Greenham Common at sunrise. Well a year and a half after that was first mooted isn't too bad, is it?
The plan for access over the multiple fences surrounding the site was put into motion and at 5.30am one August morning me and him rocked up on the outskirts of the old airfield, the place was deathly quiet and after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing the plan went off without a hitch and we were in with minutes to go until the sun was due to rise over the horizon at about 6.10am. We scrambled onto one of the bunkers in the middle of the site and set our gear up, and watching the sun rise over the sprawling site it became one of the most beautiful, surreal and unforgettable memories I have from my whole life.
After the sun cleared the horizon we wandered the site, it was an odd feeling being somewhere that could have been at the epicentre of wiping out a large amount of the world's population had the cold war gone full nuclear...
The doors to the nuclear missile bunkers are required by NATO law to stay open, so Russian satellites can see that they are empty in case they fly over looking.
Somewhere on the common we heard a familiar roar and watched as a hot air balloon ascended into the morning sky, and I couldn't resist a wave at the occupants!
We moved over to the old guard post and front gate, and before we could snap any photos a loud crack shattered the morning air from a few feet away, and a small cloud of smoke rose into the sky - turned out my mate had tripped a wire attached to a blank shotgun shell used to scare wildlife...well it certainly scared us! And, now that everyone on the airfield that morning knew we were there, we made our retreat to the local McDonalds
More photos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/mookie427/sets/72157627406780905/
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