Those of you who do me the great kindness of being my acquaintances, accomplices, fashion consultants, therapists and friends may be aware of our recent brief escape from HM Open Prison UK, an idea first floated by my three esteemed companions, who I was gladly able to join.
Together, we set sail in an eminently homosexual Ford Fiesta piloted jointly by Cap'ns Jimothy and jST, and we eventually reached port in Dover, boarding the Berlioz. Such was one of our comrade's enthusiasm, that in a maneuvre involving excessive bravery his trouser button liberated itself, making a bid for freedom in Dover's murky waters. (Commiserations Jimothy, I've tried in earnest to make that particular incident sound as manly as possible!)
Upon reaching the continent, we took some photos.
Noone reads this shit anyway, right?
After a brief derpy interlude at the Kent School, we set sail once more to the first of many of the German pits planned for the trip - and they didn't half deliver. Here's Zeche Hugo:
Some ducks, attempting German:
Alas, after a good mooch around the Schwarzkaue, it was time to use my dodgy German to book us a campsite. We headed to a thoroughly nice little place in Essen, settled down with a barbecue and a tent capable of housing only half the people required of it, and became perilously inebriated. As you do:
Morning broke and we set off to cause more mayhem in post-industrial Germany. After a wonderful breakfast at a nearby Bäckerei, the second of our coal-themed conquests was one with one of the most mellifluous, melodic, magically seductive names ever: Zeche SE - (or was it KP? ;-) ) None of us could quite decide which needlessly obscure sequence of latin-alphabet characters this place had been allocated - so we ran with the two that seemed most likely.
And of course - a headstock climb is mandatory. Thomps and I engaged a Förderturm ascension:
On to the next site, easily my favourite of the trip: Zeche L.
Afterwards, we headed back to camp for another night of drunken english debauchery after a detour via Zollverein, which was absolutely fascinating.
We left the Ruhr in high spirits, and began the journey back through Belgium. I can't remember in which order we did these, so I'll apologise in advance to my comrades if I fuck it up. Unfortunately, the goodies on offer here paled a little in comparison to the German delights we had sampled, but nonetheless, some brilliant little bits and pieces.
Unfortunately, Chateau Noisy wasn't one of those bits, or indeed pieces. Well, it was certainly in pieces, and I found it less than inspiring. Apparently, they're using it in a film, and we were politely asked to fuck off, which we were more than happy to do.
Thomps is not impressed.
On to the SNCB graveyard - a little more inspiring.
And Salve Mater Sanatorium:
Crachoir Piscine was a charming affair:
As was the well-documented-on-here crypt:
Time for one more site before we headed back to the land of despair, discontent and rioting: HH3, or 2, or something like that. Fairly boring as derps go.
Boiler house was nice, though.
Thus concluded our jaunt to Euroland - no doubt we shall be returning at some point in the future to further embarrass our country!
Thanks to Thompski, J4M35_UK and jST, esteemed dukes of the highest order.
Together, we set sail in an eminently homosexual Ford Fiesta piloted jointly by Cap'ns Jimothy and jST, and we eventually reached port in Dover, boarding the Berlioz. Such was one of our comrade's enthusiasm, that in a maneuvre involving excessive bravery his trouser button liberated itself, making a bid for freedom in Dover's murky waters. (Commiserations Jimothy, I've tried in earnest to make that particular incident sound as manly as possible!)
Upon reaching the continent, we took some photos.
Noone reads this shit anyway, right?
After a brief derpy interlude at the Kent School, we set sail once more to the first of many of the German pits planned for the trip - and they didn't half deliver. Here's Zeche Hugo:
Some ducks, attempting German:
Alas, after a good mooch around the Schwarzkaue, it was time to use my dodgy German to book us a campsite. We headed to a thoroughly nice little place in Essen, settled down with a barbecue and a tent capable of housing only half the people required of it, and became perilously inebriated. As you do:
Morning broke and we set off to cause more mayhem in post-industrial Germany. After a wonderful breakfast at a nearby Bäckerei, the second of our coal-themed conquests was one with one of the most mellifluous, melodic, magically seductive names ever: Zeche SE - (or was it KP? ;-) ) None of us could quite decide which needlessly obscure sequence of latin-alphabet characters this place had been allocated - so we ran with the two that seemed most likely.
And of course - a headstock climb is mandatory. Thomps and I engaged a Förderturm ascension:
On to the next site, easily my favourite of the trip: Zeche L.
Afterwards, we headed back to camp for another night of drunken english debauchery after a detour via Zollverein, which was absolutely fascinating.
We left the Ruhr in high spirits, and began the journey back through Belgium. I can't remember in which order we did these, so I'll apologise in advance to my comrades if I fuck it up. Unfortunately, the goodies on offer here paled a little in comparison to the German delights we had sampled, but nonetheless, some brilliant little bits and pieces.
Unfortunately, Chateau Noisy wasn't one of those bits, or indeed pieces. Well, it was certainly in pieces, and I found it less than inspiring. Apparently, they're using it in a film, and we were politely asked to fuck off, which we were more than happy to do.
Thomps is not impressed.
On to the SNCB graveyard - a little more inspiring.
And Salve Mater Sanatorium:
Crachoir Piscine was a charming affair:
As was the well-documented-on-here crypt:
Time for one more site before we headed back to the land of despair, discontent and rioting: HH3, or 2, or something like that. Fairly boring as derps go.
Boiler house was nice, though.
Thus concluded our jaunt to Euroland - no doubt we shall be returning at some point in the future to further embarrass our country!
Thanks to Thompski, J4M35_UK and jST, esteemed dukes of the highest order.
