pumice
Well-known member
The Sound Mirrors & Dungeness
This is a truly fascinating location, stuck lonely in the middle of an artificial and reed ridden lake somewhere towards the far south of the UK and just minutes from the ghostly, peculiar and vast otherworldliness of Dungeness! It's a fair hike from London and a place you are not likely to get a machiato for breakfast if that's what you like. However, you are very likely to be blown away by the huge scale of the site and the fact that it is so flat, you can see for miles in all directions.
The Mirrors are a wondrous piece of pre-radar engineering. 3 structures are located on the island, with the gigantic 200ft arched wall of concrete being the most visible and the most impressive. The aim of these concrete beasts was to collect sound waves from out in the channel and through microphones or listening devices convert these sounds in to audible information that could be used to ascertain whether an enemy air attack was imminent. They weren't generally that effective and were left behind very quickly once radar became operational. They now stand as a monument to the industrious and intelligent works of our grandfather's. I think they also look pretty good in a black and white photograph.....
I was accompanied on this adventure by Severed Frequencies and a non-member called Tacita. The trip was an epic, painful and at times ridiculous adventure. I am still bearing the scars from the midnight wanderings through bracken and thorn that at times were up to my chest (I will let you all decide here that yes, I should have worn long trousers!). However, I wouldn't swap this experience for anything and we will all be forever grateful to an unnamed accomplice for lending us his trusted dingy that was subsequently renamed, Assumption (The Mother of all Fuck Ups), by all who traveled in her that weekend!
The trip began as usual (if not 4 or so hours late) with Sev generously collecting all involved from their houses around London before starting the hasty drive south to collect Assumption and then beat a fast pace to the edge of England and to our evenings accommodation (slight sarcasm there, but I am sure it was spotted?). We made the windy, shingle shore by 11.30pm and Sev and I made a couple of recces with the foreboding curved mirror bending its shape around the edge of my far vision as well as dominating my thoughts. We sneakily walked by the holiday camp and approached the shore of the artificial lake. Upon reaching this, the enormity of the task seemed to jump visibly from the lake itself and as I looked upon the seemingly strong current as it lapped upon the shore, I knew attempting to cross here with Assumption and the others would result in dire consequences for myself, my mates and all of the camera equipment we would be carrying. We headed back to the car and using Google Earth (how many explores have been made good, or even made by Google Earth?) we decided that parking the car a little further up, we would be able to amble towards the other side of the lake and make our crossing from there.......
That sounds easy doesn't it! Carrying all of our equipment including a tent, tripods, a dingy and the methalated spirit cooking stove a couple of miles through shingle shortly after midnight. Then to pump up the dingy and make a 3 or 4 ferry crossings to the location we would be camping at. Pitch the tent, couple of star trail pictures, sleep, sunrise shots, bacon sandwiches and home. It wasn't: Really, it wasn't! It turned out to be one of the hardest things I have ever done (I am sure this is felt by all who came!) and the kiss planted on the mirror as we finally made base at 3.45am, more than sincere! The bracken has been mentioned, but genuinely, it was so irksome and as each thorn ripped pain through my legs and the jungle just seemed to deepen thoughts of turning about were certainly present! We were mightily relived to finally come upon a clearing and through consultation with Google Earth again, were reassured to discover that the crossing point was no more than a few yards away. We made separate ways to find a break in the bracken and trees large enough to allow us and the dingy through for this foolhardy and perilous part of the adventure. We found one.......
With decisions made on how this crossing would happen and torches distributed to allow safe passage and ease of return, Tacita and I made our way to the shore with the inflated dingy and a few items to take over. Placing the boat on the lake, we were horrified to hear the sound of escaping air. Given that by this point it was super late, we were beaten up and the idea of another hour or so walk through shingle and thorns to the car a nightmare thought, we eventually took the plunge and I paddled out on to the lake with the pump attached to fathom whether Assumption would hold out. After 15 minutes paddling in circles with a torch in my mouth so I could see in the bleak dark, we realised that she would and I had seen a spot on the opposite shore to disembark. I volunteered my service for the 4 shuttle runs to collect the equipment and fellow explorers. This was a truly bizarre hour or so and as the stars twinkled bright above me, the mega watt power of Sev's torch (sorry mate) guided me back each time catching the mist atop the lake in a burning glow. Just a shame that all the camera equipment was packed tight in waterproof bags and could not be accessed. This part of the trip will have to remain a memory for all. A surreal memory certainly, but an abiding one without doubt...
The tent was pitched rapidly, the beers unloaded, a welcome swig was taken by all and the inevitable sitting down with our backs leaning against the huge structure of the curved mirror. Within moments Sev's snores could be heard and with prompting, he headed straight off to the tent for some shut eye. Tacita followed shortly afterwards and I was left alone to my own devices and the stunning star lit, meteor strewn night sky. It was around 4am at this point and a definite struggle to compose and focus a 25 minute exposure. I set this and stumbled off to fall down somewhere again! On my return to the tripod, I inadvertently kicked its leg.... Photograph ruined. The light and sky were changing at a great pace now and with my weary and heavy limbs, I decided I had been beaten by this misadventure and went towards my stony bed with the intention of rising with the sun in an hour or so......
The sun rose as did Sev, but not Tacita and I. We slept for a while longer as Sev enjoyed the solitude and the beautiful morning. At 8am, Tacita and I got out of bed feeling, errrrrrr, rested after our night on the shingle of The Sound Mirrors. We went about our business, took some photographs, giggled and then began constructing our breakfast of methalated bacon and a vegan alternative via the wonderful and semi-warm camping stove. This was a brilliant device, but the heat created was not enough to even warm the bacon as it lay flaccid in the pan. For 30 minutes I had to physically hold the bacon pan directly above the flame whilst observing the crackle and bubble of its changing state. Eventually the basic right of an Englishman camping was allowed and Sev and I tucked in to bacon rolls as Tacita ate her altogether healthier foods.
With these consumed and our energy partly returned, we headed back towards the boat and decided that this time, to avoid the horrid bracken and with the lake looking not so intimidating in day light, we would return via the original reccied route from the previous evening. This required repeated trips of about 400 meters in Assumption with me as the ferryman. I don't think I have ever enjoyed something quite so much. The sun beating down, the fascinating landscape, the scaffold diving board built on a tiny island on route (yes, I jumped off. Twice) and the infrequent whistles of the miniature steam rail as it whizzed past towards Hythe all added to a splendid sensation as I paddled back and forth. Once ashore and with the day still beating down, we walked back to the car and on to the bloody unusual, but oh so enchanting Dungeness......
Dungeness is mind blowing. I won't post too many images here, because by rights it isn't really a derp, but the landscape defies belief and as you stroll around the tiresome shingle shore glancing relics from the dwindling fishing industry, it is hard not to think of the west of America. There are numerous disused fishing boats that have fallen in to disrepair scattered across the beach (if you can call it that) and the ruined remains of narrow gauge rail tracks that lead from the previously burgeoning boats up the step shore and on to transport still remain today. I spoke with a local who told me that as a child, her and her friends used to play on the now removed rail carts to see how far and how fast they could get.
The site has been used in numerous films, TV programmes and music videos. There is a link to the Prodigy's, Invaders Must Die Video which was shot on the Sound Mirrors and in Dungeness. I don't think I have ever seen such a landscape and I certainly would never have imagined such a place to be found within the UK. As alluded to in the title, it is officially listed as a desert and is the largest shingle flat in the world. On it's shore rests the exact same hut that Marconi sent the first radio transmission across the Atlantic to North America.
And so as Sev forever walks towards our journey home in the picture below, I hope you have enjoyed this report. I have gone in to a lot more detail access wise etc than I ever really do, but I just wanted to tell the story as it was a whole heap of fun in the making. I also hope that I have sought to inspire some of you to take a trip towards Dungeness and I think that my writing conveys my positive thoughts about the place, but maybe the Mirrors is best done through the official tour..... Unless you are a bit of masochist! ;-)
This below image is Dungeness shore at 4am. I liked it so much here that the following weekend I visited with Headflux. I do believe he is there right now.....
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2-VF9u24F4[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2-VF9u24F4[/ame]
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