Last weekend I was up home in Newcastle ushering at a wedding and to get over the trauma of being forced to wear a kilt for no other reason, that I could fathom, than making my testicles cold... I thought it would be best to organise a little explore. As a product of the West End I thought it would be rude not to check out Byker Grove before heading out for the planned explore. Sadly the conversion seems almost complete and the site had two or three vehicles parked on it, with a person visible in the Grove (Probably Geoff) and numerous CCTV cameras. So looks like this ship may have sailed.
So anyway the main event was a trip out to Mootlaw Quarry, via Ponteland ROC Post. Mootlaw is a former limestone quarry just North of the village of Matfen in Northumberland. Limestone was extracted through blasting at the service and processed through various crushers for use in the construction industry. It ceased operation in 2010. Planning permission was granted to restore the the site to “a mixture of agriculture, woodland, lakes and species rich grassland” by the end of 2014. Zero progress has been made on this with the media reporting earlier in the year that a company from Leeds wanted to resume quarrying on this site. Understandably the locals were pissed at the thought and wrote many strongly worded letters complaining, amongst other things that, “The air of neglect from the site has also attracted trespassers”… Awful.
The explore itself was pretty straight forward; with most buildings open… although one I could only stick the camera through the door as it was wedged shut behind a massive chunk of limestone, no idea where they might have got that from. As usual camera work isn’t the best, and as I nicked someone else's camera (promising I was just taking some lovely landscapes when out for a country stroll) the images were festooned with some rogue date stamps.
Nice to know someone cares
Keith Lard wouldn't be happy
Thanks for reading.
So anyway the main event was a trip out to Mootlaw Quarry, via Ponteland ROC Post. Mootlaw is a former limestone quarry just North of the village of Matfen in Northumberland. Limestone was extracted through blasting at the service and processed through various crushers for use in the construction industry. It ceased operation in 2010. Planning permission was granted to restore the the site to “a mixture of agriculture, woodland, lakes and species rich grassland” by the end of 2014. Zero progress has been made on this with the media reporting earlier in the year that a company from Leeds wanted to resume quarrying on this site. Understandably the locals were pissed at the thought and wrote many strongly worded letters complaining, amongst other things that, “The air of neglect from the site has also attracted trespassers”… Awful.
The explore itself was pretty straight forward; with most buildings open… although one I could only stick the camera through the door as it was wedged shut behind a massive chunk of limestone, no idea where they might have got that from. As usual camera work isn’t the best, and as I nicked someone else's camera (promising I was just taking some lovely landscapes when out for a country stroll) the images were festooned with some rogue date stamps.
Nice to know someone cares
Keith Lard wouldn't be happy
Thanks for reading.
