Hartley's Jam Chimney
So, where to begin?
"There's a ladder up Hartley’s chimney you know jobs." Said Spark one evening on the way out somewhere.
3 weeks later Millhouse & I find ourselves stood outside. With no clear route to the base of the chimney it was roof access or no access. It looked simple enough on google maps, even street view negated the need to go recce beforehand.
"We'll be up,down and home before midnight." Said I.
So off we went, Millhouse up on the roof, then bags, then me. We make our way round to the rear of the first building only to find that the roof has disappeared. Fallen in. Not good. So off we go walking on wet crumbling brick walls, 2 or 3 floors up, up and down the slopes at the end.
We reach a dead end, with the only way seeming to be across a less than stable asbestos roof. Then we notice that there's a way down to the ground, so we climb down and walk along floors that make Denbigh look brand new, climb down to the ground floor and realise that this place is a damn scrap yard. Dogs & pikies. First thing that came to mind, so thought better of it and climbed back up. By now we'd been a few hours, and we were both up early for work the day after, so went back to the car and went home to dream of ladders.
The next night I'd pretty much made my mind up how we were going to do it, thought about using ropes, but no-where to anchor to. We got to the asbestos roof, and just went for it, a good hundred metres or so along a dodgy roof. Worried about dogs & pikies still, with the lights still on underneath us, totally on edge. Scrap yards are not known for calling the police, more likely they'll just pile in with whatever comes to hand.
We get to the end of that roof, along another wall, then up and down more crumbling walls, 5 foot drop onto another sloped brick wall, round a chimney and up onto a tin roof that's beyond fucked, with rotting wooden timbers holding it up.
Then we were at the base. We took a minute to catch our breath, I ditched my bag, and off we went. Me first, Millhouse following. Man those ladders were old. God knows how long they've been there, but I doubt they were new. The rope was old and ladders were loose, by the time I got to the overhang my nerves were shot. I got to the overhang, and my legs went. Climbed back down a bit and took a rest. Then decided I'd had enough, Millhouse had other ideas. I climbed round to the other side of the ladder, and up he went past me. Like a boss. With him on top smiling down to me, there was no way I couldn't do it. So up I went. The top of the ladder was held by the dodgiest piece of old rope I've seen in a while. Loose as fuck, it felt good to be sat on the sturdy sandstone ledge.
We stayed up there for a while, took a few shots, met Santa delivering to the scrap yard, then decided to get down. Put my leg over the ladder, and cramped. Not good, sat up again for 5 mins, then in no time we were both on the way down, stopping only to get a shot of Millhouse above me.
It took us 2 hours to get from the front of the building to sat on top, and 45 mins to get back out. All for quite a small site, and quite a small chimney. Still, was well worth it, such a good buzz.
On with the pics, they're shite, and I don't care. Go get better ones
Quality ropes
Just awesome
Millhouse, like a boss
So, where to begin?
"There's a ladder up Hartley’s chimney you know jobs." Said Spark one evening on the way out somewhere.
3 weeks later Millhouse & I find ourselves stood outside. With no clear route to the base of the chimney it was roof access or no access. It looked simple enough on google maps, even street view negated the need to go recce beforehand.
"We'll be up,down and home before midnight." Said I.
So off we went, Millhouse up on the roof, then bags, then me. We make our way round to the rear of the first building only to find that the roof has disappeared. Fallen in. Not good. So off we go walking on wet crumbling brick walls, 2 or 3 floors up, up and down the slopes at the end.
We reach a dead end, with the only way seeming to be across a less than stable asbestos roof. Then we notice that there's a way down to the ground, so we climb down and walk along floors that make Denbigh look brand new, climb down to the ground floor and realise that this place is a damn scrap yard. Dogs & pikies. First thing that came to mind, so thought better of it and climbed back up. By now we'd been a few hours, and we were both up early for work the day after, so went back to the car and went home to dream of ladders.
The next night I'd pretty much made my mind up how we were going to do it, thought about using ropes, but no-where to anchor to. We got to the asbestos roof, and just went for it, a good hundred metres or so along a dodgy roof. Worried about dogs & pikies still, with the lights still on underneath us, totally on edge. Scrap yards are not known for calling the police, more likely they'll just pile in with whatever comes to hand.
We get to the end of that roof, along another wall, then up and down more crumbling walls, 5 foot drop onto another sloped brick wall, round a chimney and up onto a tin roof that's beyond fucked, with rotting wooden timbers holding it up.
Then we were at the base. We took a minute to catch our breath, I ditched my bag, and off we went. Me first, Millhouse following. Man those ladders were old. God knows how long they've been there, but I doubt they were new. The rope was old and ladders were loose, by the time I got to the overhang my nerves were shot. I got to the overhang, and my legs went. Climbed back down a bit and took a rest. Then decided I'd had enough, Millhouse had other ideas. I climbed round to the other side of the ladder, and up he went past me. Like a boss. With him on top smiling down to me, there was no way I couldn't do it. So up I went. The top of the ladder was held by the dodgiest piece of old rope I've seen in a while. Loose as fuck, it felt good to be sat on the sturdy sandstone ledge.
We stayed up there for a while, took a few shots, met Santa delivering to the scrap yard, then decided to get down. Put my leg over the ladder, and cramped. Not good, sat up again for 5 mins, then in no time we were both on the way down, stopping only to get a shot of Millhouse above me.
It took us 2 hours to get from the front of the building to sat on top, and 45 mins to get back out. All for quite a small site, and quite a small chimney. Still, was well worth it, such a good buzz.
On with the pics, they're shite, and I don't care. Go get better ones
Quality ropes
Just awesome
Millhouse, like a boss
