Went for a trip to the x8's in brackla. Quite a big site with structures hidden in the undergrowth. We started at the pilbox that is on the hill over looking the site.
After a slip and slide down the bank you get to the first of the x8's. The rooms at one end are
completely smashed up. You can get into the rooms but they don't go anywhere.
Inside they are pretty impressive. Up through a hole and you are on top of the main room. A bit of a crawl and you get into the tunnels at the back. Didn't go much further than this as its hard to see where you are going with just a flash gun and a head torch.
There are more of these tunnels about in the woods if you have a good look.
Dotted here and there in the woods and along the roads are a few buildings which are pretty much ruined now.
After looking around the ruined sections we went to have a look at the bunkers. Down the first road and there was a jeep parked there. So we had a quick look at the entrances but it was all locked up, so we thought someone might be storing it there.
On to the next one and there was a car down this one. So we went a bit further to have alook at some grafitti on the wall running along the road and we could hear noises.
When I got near to the door I noticed that it was open and light was coming from inside.
I gave a shout in through the door and a guy came out giving us strange looks. Naturally we asked if we could take some photos, but were told no way pretty quickly
. So we had to make do with a guided tour instead. :notworthy:
What can I say but amazing . Everything is still in working order, air conditioning, electrics, etc. and looks like it was built last year. It is massive inside with tunnels going off in all directions. The railway staion is still there in excellent condition, the rails are even still there, the kitchen, toilet blocks, electrics room etc. To give you an idea of the size of it, the guys in there were going around on scooters because the tunnels are so long.
As you go in through the main door there is a tunnel on your right. This leads into the other bunker down a narrow curved roof passage way, which you can see from outside, it is the long concrete wall running alongside the road.
In the ruined tunnels at the start of the site there are small square hatches in the wall and we were wondering what they were for as the space behind them is to narrow for you to get down. Apparently they are for the drainage system that keeps the tunnels dry along with drain holes in the floor everywhere. Its like they built a tunnel inside a tunnel with a gap all around. Also the electric cabling and water pipes run in the crawl space above, which the holes in the ceilings of the tunnels lead to. The one in here still had the hatch door in place.
One thing I noticed different was the tunnels had doors at the end of them not brick walls like the ruined tunnnels, which lead into other tunnels and the roofs are flat not sloping. Also along the floors of the tunnels there are steel plates running along the centre, with maintenance tunnels underneath. All along the walls are still the old fashioned lights which you can see in the ruined tunnels, all still working. Its also quite warm in there, I was expecting it to be cold for some reason. Quite lucky really that we got in as it was our first visit and they were only there to do maintenance work.
Well after the tour everything else we saw didn't even compare so we went home stunned, thinking how jammy are we.
After a slip and slide down the bank you get to the first of the x8's. The rooms at one end are
completely smashed up. You can get into the rooms but they don't go anywhere.
Inside they are pretty impressive. Up through a hole and you are on top of the main room. A bit of a crawl and you get into the tunnels at the back. Didn't go much further than this as its hard to see where you are going with just a flash gun and a head torch.
There are more of these tunnels about in the woods if you have a good look.
Dotted here and there in the woods and along the roads are a few buildings which are pretty much ruined now.
After looking around the ruined sections we went to have a look at the bunkers. Down the first road and there was a jeep parked there. So we had a quick look at the entrances but it was all locked up, so we thought someone might be storing it there.
On to the next one and there was a car down this one. So we went a bit further to have alook at some grafitti on the wall running along the road and we could hear noises.
When I got near to the door I noticed that it was open and light was coming from inside.
I gave a shout in through the door and a guy came out giving us strange looks. Naturally we asked if we could take some photos, but were told no way pretty quickly
. So we had to make do with a guided tour instead. :notworthy:What can I say but amazing . Everything is still in working order, air conditioning, electrics, etc. and looks like it was built last year. It is massive inside with tunnels going off in all directions. The railway staion is still there in excellent condition, the rails are even still there, the kitchen, toilet blocks, electrics room etc. To give you an idea of the size of it, the guys in there were going around on scooters because the tunnels are so long.
As you go in through the main door there is a tunnel on your right. This leads into the other bunker down a narrow curved roof passage way, which you can see from outside, it is the long concrete wall running alongside the road.
In the ruined tunnels at the start of the site there are small square hatches in the wall and we were wondering what they were for as the space behind them is to narrow for you to get down. Apparently they are for the drainage system that keeps the tunnels dry along with drain holes in the floor everywhere. Its like they built a tunnel inside a tunnel with a gap all around. Also the electric cabling and water pipes run in the crawl space above, which the holes in the ceilings of the tunnels lead to. The one in here still had the hatch door in place.
One thing I noticed different was the tunnels had doors at the end of them not brick walls like the ruined tunnnels, which lead into other tunnels and the roofs are flat not sloping. Also along the floors of the tunnels there are steel plates running along the centre, with maintenance tunnels underneath. All along the walls are still the old fashioned lights which you can see in the ruined tunnels, all still working. Its also quite warm in there, I was expecting it to be cold for some reason. Quite lucky really that we got in as it was our first visit and they were only there to do maintenance work.
Well after the tour everything else we saw didn't even compare so we went home stunned, thinking how jammy are we.
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