21^st April 2014

Deep below the surface of this unassuming decommissioned military base I had found myself at the second entrance to an unused underground bunker. It Was likely that I had penetrated the complex via the escape tunnel probably only to be used should the main entrance and blast doors be compromised by enemy insurgents or if the installation was under attack. I passed a couple of rooms with air filtration systems and entered into a corridor through two large doors. The corridor extended beyond that of the range of my torch beam. This truly was an urbex treasure and one that many urban explorers had been searching for over several years. It had probably only ever been seen by a handful of people other than those that had worked there during the two wars. With great excitement and anticipation I wandered through various rooms, some still housing communication equipment and other machinery, probably used to sustain the occupants should a nuclear war break out. There were obvious mess halls and rooms for sleeping. I carried on though the bunker taking a look in every room as I went, some still had signs on the doors telling you what rank or indicating the rooms purpose. Some doors had combination locks but all were still accessible. There were other corridors that led off from the main one and led to store rooms where I found an damaged but unopened tin of military issue biscuits. Another room was obviously a command center of some description with a pit at one end but that wasn't all! There were stairs leading to another lower level and eventually the main corridor lead to some fairly hefty blast doors and an extremely long, slightly damp corridor. Before heading below I went to see what lay beyond the blast doors.

The corridor was extremely long and shifted direction at 45° every 100 yards or so. As I continued along the corridor my feet were starting to get a little damp. You see my new boots still hadn't found me and the ones I was wearing were starting to split at tgw sides due to excessive salt water exposure. The glue to the soles had also started to come away. This was not going to stop me though. Eventually the corridor finished at the foot of some more stairs that led upwards but as with the entrance I had entered from this one was also sealed permanently with concrete. The mod really didn't want any to come down here, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. I turned round and headed back to the main complex to take a gander at the still unexplored lower level. Now I have been in several bunkers to date but none of them had had two levels so I was really quite excited. After about 5 mins walking back I found the blast doors and re entered the bunker. Almost immediately to my right was the second set of stairs I had found. The other set was at the other end if the bunker where I had originally came in. I headed down and found myself in yet another long corridor with rooms leading off of it. These rooms also had other rooms and large halls leading off them. Perfect for a nightclub!

I also found more mechanics, air filters and power distribution rooms. This was an amazing find and unbeknown to me I had been wandering around for nearly 2.5 hrs! Anyway I had seen the whole place now and made my way back the way I had come so as not to get lost and although I really didn't want to leave, in fact I had imagined turning the place into a huge home, I eventually found my self at the emergency exit and ascended the stairs back to the surface. I climbed back through the hole and up into daylight once again. I really should have continued with the trek at that point but there were still a few buildings I hadn't explored yet so I headed off to see if I could find the main entrance I had discovered at the end of the main entrance corridor.

21^st April 2014

I headed off to the other end of the base where the mains gates were located and an unassuming little cottage. This cottage was not exactly what it appeared to be. Behind the windows were thick bars and blast shutters and as you entered the front door there was a turnstile and what appeared to be a check in desk. The windows were missing so I hopped through and began investigating the inside of the building. There were cells and rooms with large sealed safes. Other rooms had obviously been to store weapons as the rifle racks were still in situ. There were two large blast doors that had been welded shut and I can assume these were the doors to the main entrance I had discovered below. Eventually I exited the bungalow and checked out some of the other buildings, one of which was used to house a military police k9 unit. Other buildings were obviously for maintaining vehicles. Time was getting on now so I sat down and boiled up some super noodles I had bought a few days earlier in harwich before heading back to the cliffs and back on with the trek.