The Injured Diary of an Urban Explorer - Huddersfield Edition

I just got out of the shower wincing from the injuries sustained, as a result of hours of Urban Exploring yesterday.

Occasionally I get none but yesterday was particularly bad. Four scrapes on both arms, plus a grazed elbow with a scab growing and a nasty cut to my forehead next to the hairline that was sustained by walking into a fence with jutting wire.

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That is what you get for exploring in a t-shirt. It was hot yesterday and one does pay the price for climbing walls and scrambling through course brambles that move intentionally to prick you.

…’is this a moan or a plea for sympathy? I wouldn’t change it for anything’

Within a week they will be mostly healed and showering is the only time I feel any pain. I barely felt any of them yesterday, such is the adrenaline rush you get from doing something borderline legal.

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The world has become so fucking predictable. Organised trips here and there are so tiresome. You know what's going to happen, queues of people waiting to all take the same photograph.

--== WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THE FUN AND UNPREDICABILITY? ==--

A full day of exploring is extremely tiring, and can be more organised than you may think..., to a point.

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I am an organised person so like to know what’s on the agenda. I tend to pick around 10 locations, create a custom Google map and add them all.

To be sure of optimising your time they need to be visited in order. You don't want to be going back and forth.

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This is as far as the predictability goes. You are not going to get into all 10 locations, and making guesses at which will be a success or fail are often completely wrong.

I collected @anidiotexplorers at 10.30 am as he has duties to perform before this time.

Today's full agenda is Huddersfield in West Yorkshire. 30 minutes to the first one which is a derelict care home. We arrive, it's been boarded up recently. Fuck…, fail number one.

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...'it looked very juicy, but we will be back... at a later time to check it again. Fails are part and parcel of it all'...

Having so many in a small proximity is part of the organising part. The next one is 5 minutes away but due to all the traffic takes double the time.

An abandoned college that is a behemoth. After scouting around trying not to look suspicious we sneak between two boards and see the way in.

Down a dodgy-looking plank in the courtyard with a 15-foot drop. Then climb on a purposely added bucket up to a window that is metal-edged.

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I do value my fingers so fuck this.., on to the next one. I hate massive explores anyway, they take too long and eat into the time schedule.

An abandoned Gentleman's club I have visited before, but @anidiotexplorers has not. Surely not fail number 3? This was getting irritating.

Oh yes, we were in and it was much easier than last time as the friendly demolition team has visited. How very nice and considerate of them to create a massive hole to walk through.

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...'no need to slide down the chute anymore, without any hope of getting back out, things are much easier for the moment'...

I will be featuring this 'Tale' so no more for now. Let's just say it is worthy of a 'Return to' as it is now quite different inside plus I missed the attic last time.

On to an old mill I figured was going to be a fail. Here we were presented with an 8 foot wall etched with glass shards on the top which I miraculously navigated at the cost of a sore elbow. Some great shots were to be gained though it was as derpy as they come.

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...'up the rusting green steps and into derpy heaven'...

We scuttled away quickly as a couple of coppers spotted me laboriously climbing out. The appeared quite unfazed by it all.

An old industrial works was next. Surely this was not going to present us any problems. Avoiding the numerous rats I would say it was semi-successful and lost me quite a lot of calories.

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...'some astonishing toilets were to be seen, along with a few rats'...

This is another one worthy of its own tale for sure. Climbing through holes with debris about to crush me with one false move, oh yes!

Next was an old house on a busy street, empty for years, but where is it? Not even a pile of bricks left, it's been demolished. Urghh... I hate that.

A derelict garden centre just 5 minutes from the last one. Don't go inside when the sun is shining, to say we got roasted in there is an understatement.

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Another old house recently discovered and which I was tipped off about in a small village.

Small villages have more nosey twats than anywhere else. It was found easily, with @anidiotexplorers hastily jumping over a wall into the back garden.

Unfortunately, it backs onto a scrap yard and the workers spotted him right away. Confused looks were exchanged and @anidiotexplorers hastily backed off trying to jump back over the crumbling wall leaving his camera guard behind amid much profanity.

Walking back to the car, a gaggle of nosey neighbours basking in the sun like beached whales gave us some terrible looks. Did I already say I loathe nosey twats?

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...'now now... what might this be? A lost temple with ingots waiting to be stolen, a fabulous time-capsule with untouched objects dating back to the 1930's or...'...

A few miles up the road and we park up to a gate that looks like it’s not been opened for years. Google maps had revealed something interesting over yonder.

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We were rewarded with the derpiest, graffiti-strewn house ever. Success after a few lousy fails if not on an epic level.

A mile further and a revisit to yet another graffiti house I had done previously as again @anidiotexplorers has never done it. Not so interesting for me, but when the back window has been taken out allowing access to yet another fucked up house then things do start to bubble.

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...'so what are all these... derelict peanuts? No, just conkers as we call them, horse chestnuts to everyone else'...

This was much better and I even found some old literature in there. Another full Tale will be incoming on this one.

Just a couple left and what’s more boring than an old mill. At least there is a tower left that you can climb.

Avoiding the dismal attempt to keep us out (anti-climbing fencing) we heard loud banging and discovered some teens wrecking the place.

'don't fuck around with teenagers whatever they may be doing.., just say 'alright' and carry on. They generally will ignore you'…

These words of wisdom proved true and climbing an old tower that you can easily fall out of is what this is all about.

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No handholds, no danger signs, nothing. Great view from up there too!

An old dye works was to be our last visit, except there was little left. After trying all ways to get in, and being faced with a massive drop I discovered the anti-climbing fencing had been compromised at the front.

Never overlook the obvious. Half the fun is finding the way in, it's a challenge in itself.

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...'Jumping this wall is not the way in, unless you want broken legs. Always check out EVERYWHERE before throwing in the towel'...

It was one of the dullest explores I have ever done but as always there’s always a story, which again I will feature later.

One day, EIGHT successes, FOUR fails. Eight is a great day, as the average is five, the worst ever three and the best ever NINE.

I will take that even though many of them were derps and far from world-beating time-capsules.

It will be a sad day when I can no longer do this. It’s unpredictable, challenges my body to perform things it shouldn’t be doing at my age, keeps me fit, and yields me photography that is not generally seen.

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Injuries? They are part of it all. Not a big deal. Now if only I could get @dismayedworld to take clear photographs.

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That's the stuff, everything good comes with a small price!!! Injuries heal, memories live forever!

Yesterday was a stonker up here too. And today apparently, we are going out on a forest walk. I'm hoping it's not too tree'y, lol

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I can't feel it anymore, it's not like the blood was dripping down my head. It stung a bit yesterday after it happened. A forest walk?.., it could include trees haha!..

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Looks like you had a great day out, do you wear face masks these days?!?

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do you wear face masks these days?!?

Only when grabbing a sandwich for lunch as they won't let you inside anywhere now without one. In the derps? I don't wear one, @anidiotexplores usually does but he forget it yesterday.

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That's some serious exploring going on there. Can't wait to see and read what you have extra on some of those places.

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I intentionally avoided adding any of the better images to this post as all these will generate me many more 'Tales' ones. It was more to highlight what happens on a typical day.

It's around 7-8 hours generally. I was falling asleep at the wheel on the way back. It does take it out of me.

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Now it wouldn't be exploration without coming back with a scratch or two...

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That will teach me to show less skin. I'm not the kid that used to climb massive trees and never fall out anymore. I'm sure that same skin was coated with tungsten when I was 12 years old!

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We tended to bounce better, odd that we never took danger into account either.

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(Edited)

I'm surprised you don't get injured more often with all your adventures @slobberchops, as long as it's not broken bones which would keep you away from your urban exploration!
Abandoned places like these never cease to amaze me and make me wonder whatever happened!
Happy exploring and stay safe; nowadays that means wearing a mask, but in this context you know what I mean;)
I love to see you pop into Hive Silver Bloggers some time, if you make the age restriction that is;)

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I love to see you pop into Hive Silver Bloggers some time, if you make the age restriction that is;)

If I told you those strands of hair you see are true straw color, and I really look like this... would you believe me?

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Hahaha that's a good one, such a beaut! Well, @papilloncharity reckons his hair was repossessed so at least you've still got yours😅😅😅 but you're hiding away in your profile pic so I wonder🙈
Hope all those cuts and grazes are healing nicely.

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Harden up, stop playing conkers and climb the razor wire!

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I got some string out and we played conkers all afternoon. The rest of the tale.. well I made it all up... 😳

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Way to use your head!

One of these days dude, when we're allowed to go back over there ima check out at least one of these joints with you.

Funny. I received a shot from friends in Hebden yesterday, I said "bullshit!" Cuz the skies were blue and it was gray and raining here. So I replied: "Gimme my sky back."

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

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You know, it's blue sky here.. again! Can you believe it, same goes for yesterday.

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The injuries are badges of honour right, shows you do stuff XD

I remember a teenager I knew once telling me about how he got the bandages on his hand (he and some friends were busy demolishing an abandoned house and they had left him a window to break which he decided to punch out). Told him he and his friends were dumb as they'd just wrecked what was otherwise the perfect hideout (it was an abandoned house not far from where they all lived that was otherwise in pretty good nick that wasn't visited/inhabited by "interesting" people). The look on his face was hilarious.

Hope all the injuries heal up quick and yeh watch those plants, they're smarter than most people give them credit for :D

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I can't feel a thing, the head injury looks worse than it is. No pain means it doesn't matter!

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Glad it's not as bad as it looks XD keep on top of the disinfecting etc you know the drill :)

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Sorry, man @slobberchops. Keep up the good exploring work, also keep trying to be more careful, there are millions of other dangers that may be lurking. Well, fuck me, you already know all these.

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So, you got your tetanus shots?

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Nah.., they are not animal bites. I thought some rats were going to attack me yesterday. Huddersfield appears overrun.

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I'll send my nurse over with a first aid kit... Try not to keep her long .. I'm over due for my massage...

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Careful out there mate. Cops probably felt sorry for the old git struggling over a wall ;)

Looks like a productive day that should give you a few more posts.

!PIZZA

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It is true I am not as graceful a climber as I was years ago. The fact I had not climbed in years makes a difference, you do kind of forget what was once natural.

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In my country abandoned places like those are frequently inhabited by homeless people and junkies, so it wouldn't be safe to do urban exploration hahahaha. Have you encountered with somebody inside those places?

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Have you encountered with somebody inside those places?

Yes.. several times. Usually kids, sometimes other explorers, the homeless are generally out begging during the daytime but I see lots of evidence of them.

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The things we suffer bringing such wonderful buildings to the masses, hope you make a full and speedy recovery from your life threatening injuries.

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I've only gone urban-exploring once or twice, but it was pretty cool. We went to an abandoned subway station in Toronto. It was such a weird vibe.

Props to you for tackling a clearly 'rough sport', and you make a good point about predictable trips. Another interesting bonus from urban exploration is it can be done even while the airports are shutdown :)

Please forgive my ignorance, but is there no community or subreddit for this kind of thing that would've warned you about the care-home boarding-up or the razorwire?

Looking forward to the 'return to' the Gentleman's Club.

I think the nosey people are what put me off the most about exploring, tbh.

Very interesting tale and photos, thanks for sharing!

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Razorwire is everywhere, a lot of it rusty. One needs to avoid it, and HIVE is not large enough for a community the niche you mention. Barely anyone posts in this community as it is with relevant material.

It might be months before I get around the Mystique again, but this was it the first time around.

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Yeah, that razorwire seems definitely to be avoided.

Makes sense about the niche, that's why I mentioned subreddits (bigger community / niche?) But anyway, it sounds like the 3 'failures' are part of the adventure, so all good regardless.

Whoa, that is a lot of photos from Mystique, ty :)

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Missed this post somehow.
Brilliant itinerary of Huddersfield there.

I’ve always wanted to venture in to Kirklees College in the state Insta in now. The place is VAST.
I attended that building as a student when it was a functioning college. Mainly the library area, as my campus was located closer to the town centre in the media centre building.

Sounds like your trip was a mixed bag of successes!

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(Edited)

The trip was mostly successful after a lousy start. If you attended as a student it would be more meaningful to go in now. If you really want to.. drop me a DM on Discord.

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