The links in this old document won't work anymore.
Monday 20 December 1999
I talked with two ladies from Rijnmond TV who would like to make a 30-min feature about urban exploration. Their Idea is that I would act as guide and take them to several other explorers. They will make the report in their own time (unfunded) so their means are limited. We can only visit people in England, Belgium, France and Germany. I've already contacted some people on the list fot this project. Any more volunteers ? This time the ladies paid for the drinks, not I.
Sunday 19 December 1999
We re-visited the "Piekstraat" with a journalist of a local paper. It was snowing hard (wet snow) so we couldn't do anything outside. We climbed up a steel beam to the roof of a large factory hall. Climbed along a horizontal I-beam and abseiled. I took several pictures. Water was dripping through holes in the roof and it was difficult to find a dry spot to lay your gear down. Lots of wet pigeon shit everywhere. Afterwards we went for a cappucino and we finished the interview. I had to pay for the drinks! But the journalist is also a security guy and he promised to find a security-manual for me. I hope he keeps the promise.
Sunday 12 December 1999
The signs look bad for our expo on the 19th. It's raining AND snowing much of the time (snow on it's own is not bad). I'm trying to find some adveturous but covered places. They're rare these days now that most of the deserted buildings from my website are being turned into yuppie-appartments.
Sunday 6 December 1999
Yesterday we celebrated the traditional Dutch festival of Sinterklaas. The children have got a lot of presents: lego, action-men, kites, comic-books, game CD-roms etc. And I've eaten too much sweets.
NEW : Swapping video's? I'm experimenting with my new handycam and I've put some recordings on VHS-video tape. It has long slow shots of views from high buildings, parking garages, odd corners of the city and long car drives. No adventure shots (yet). It's very useful as moving wallpaper and it's much more interesting than a lava lamp. I can send it to you if you send me something like that in return. I'm always curious about very ordinary live pictures from places I've never been to.
Have you noticed that highway crossings and fly-overs are fortified like medieval castles? I'm working at a project of visiting and photographing all the crosssings on the Rotterdam Ring. Some are already posted on my website. Last sunday I visited the "Vaanplein". There were moats and high earthen walls all around. Usually there is some obvious route to the middle of the crossing but this time I couldn't see any. It was fun walking the high walls (purpose: traffic-noise screens). They gave a nice view of the relatively agrarian country to the south of Rotterdam. Unfortunately housing projects are encroaching on the last undefined and chaotic terrains. I'll return and I will try to find a way in from the north side. I scattered two handfuls of maple seeds I had collected in Prague. Maple is a weed so in a year or two I'll be able to see if the seeds have sprouted.
I'm still thinking about climbing the castle-ruin and I've gathered a team of four climbers who are willing to cooperate. Senior climbers have a divided opinion about our plans:
December the 19th (last Sunday of the Advent) we have an expedition to the German bunkers in the Staelduinse Bos in Hoek van Holland. We'll check out an entrance that was open in October, we'll try to climb on top of some bunkers and proably we'll also climb some high trees. Also we'll explore the 1960 deserted army buildings. We'll be accompanied by a journalist who writes for a local Charloos paper. You're welcome to join in.
Saturday 27 November 1999
Well, "Next Week" turned out to be "Next two weeks". If you've been looking for an update last weekend I'm sorry. I didn't manage it in time. To make up for this I'll make it an extra big update this time.
I've visited the ruin of the Castle of Hillegersberg with Walter yesterday night. It's situated in the middle of a graveyard next to a historic church. It's only 7-10m high and it would be climbable. However the church is brightly lit and there are houses all around.
I've also checked out the ruins of a castle in Dordrecht. This one is higher, 15-20m. It's in a deserted spot near the river. This one would also be climbable, I've taken pictures and shown them to my climbing friends. They were eager to cooperate. However one senior climber told us that you shouldn't climb brick structures that are too brittle to hold a nut or a friend. I'm investigating the security risks of the project at the moment.
Finally I've been searching for long urban street-views and curiosities on the map of Rotterdam. I've found a street in the shape of the number "4".
Sunday 31 October 1999
After reading a sceptical book about UFO-sightings I've tried to make a wind-proof, rain-proof, ultra-light, cheap and disposable lantern that I could fly from a small kite. It seems that flying such a kite has caused UFO-reports in another dutch city. To date I've had most success with two plastic pudding-packages with a small candle on the bottom. I cut small holes for air and hold them together with rubber bands. It's attached with a paperclip. Total weight 63 gram. This gives a nice romantic light. The problem is that the top container starts melting sooner or later and then the whole thing disintegrates.
In October the sun sets around the time I come home from work and it shines directly into my eyes. This means that the sunset point and the street are IN ALIGNMENT. This has made me curious about urban sunsets in general. The times that are publicised in the papers assume a horizon without tall buildings. Would it be possible to find a street that is aligned with the winter solstice, like ancient burial sites? I've tried to take photographs of this "street aligned" sunset. It's more difficult than I thought. Often the fun is spoilt by low clouds that are invisible at first but appear only when the sun is reaching the lowest point. Then being in the right place at the right time takes patience. The sun moves slower than you would expect.
In 1920 the Englishman Alfred Watkins came up with the theory that prehistoric sites are aligned on long straight lines. I've read a book that lists more than 100 of them, several running through London. Although I don't believe in them, I like the idea very much. I've been looking for such alignments in Rotterdam and have found only two in two years. (Look in the introduction of the "views" section of my website.) Recently I've climbed some viewpoints in Rotterdam and filmed the view with a video-camera (how crazy can you get ...). In the center of town you get very nice views from the roofs of parking garages! Later I analyzed the pictures at home and searched for alignments and came up with nothing.
Sunday 24 October 1999
Just returned from a visit to Prague. Beautiful city. Lots of opportunities for adventure: bridges, possible drains, old but inaccessible tunnels, deserted buildings, empty sites . 5 days are simply too short. Because I can speak Czech I searched all the bookshops for relevant books and I found one about underground spaces and tunnels. Also bought interesting books about the local history and geology. Will report on my findings later.
The train ride from Berlin to Prague was paradise (and hell) for urban explorers. Almost every station we sped past had one or more deserted buildings. I even saw one deserted water-tower and one disused turntable for steam-locomotives!
29 September 1999
Exploration has been kind of slow lately.
I've taken a guided tour through the facilities of the Rotterdam metro (including the central command room and the TV-surveillance rooms) and I've been told there are no patrols nor IR-detectors in the metro tunnels (too expensive).
Also I've taken a legal walk through the construction sites of the new metro-line and the tunnel. I've seen demo's of metro-workers burning through rails with acetylene torches and welding them again by melting steel in a portable oven. Nice pyrotechnics!
I've been called by a representative of "Greenpeace" and he asked me if I knew any deserted buildings where their climbing-crew could practice for two days. I've been able to give him a long list, sometimes with the telephone number of the owners. Maybe they'll invite me to the training in return.
It's autumn and on my way to work I pass a few chestnut trees in the city. Because I'm an eternal child I couldn't resist collecting a lot of them. I've planted more than a hunderd of them along the highway behind my house. I will also try to plant digitalis and datura seeds (poisonous but beautiful weeds). That will baffle the city-gardeners.
Along the same highway I've installed my first "illegal" artwork. A large star (or wheel) made from string tied to tree branches. My son helped me install it. Big fun. It is more poetic than I expected, especially at night. It looks like a giant autumnal spiderweb. I've made a bet with my son. If the thing survives its first week he gets a guilder (1 NLG).
Saturday 18 September 1999
A beautiful autumn day. Went to Hoek van Holland and explained the internet to my father-in-law. He's 75 and has recently bought a computer.
Used this opportunity to explore the WWII-bunkers in the Staalduinse Bos. There are about 50 bunkers here. It is the only wooded area near this part of the coast. The bunkers were better protected against air raids.
I only found the complex of 34 bunkers forming the "Widerstandsnest 36H", later called "Stutzpunt XIX".
All the brick storage buildings, garages and barracks are intact, though badly vandalized. The brickwork looks surprisingly fresh, being 55 years old. Here and there you find used condoms (I don't envy the local girls that get fucked in this inhospitable environment).
The bunkers are massive concrete blocks with walls that are 2m thick. Near one of the entries you can still see a painted sign sying "Eingang nur fur Gaskranke". One of the bunkers must be accesible through a low hole near the ground.
I didn't have time to explore the more modern buildings left by the Dutch army. It's definitely worth a return trip.
Saturday 21 & Sunday 22 August 1999
This weekend I visited the "Rotterdam Street Festival" and I've been surprised and inspired by the artists I saw. For me it was the first time I saw professional jugglers and performers so maybe you'll say "no big deal". But for me it was a revelation, until now I've learned all my tricks from books.
I'll sum up some of the acts I found most impressive:
At the end of the show he pretended to fall off and ofcourse the rope ended up between his legs, leading to a nice pantomime.
Because I try to learn the slackrope myself I found his show most inspiring. The mock-accident, with the rope between the legs, hapened to me several times during my first practice sessions!
What was most impressive was his juggling act on top of a rola-bola. First he used it in the normal fashion: board, cylinder, board, clown. Then he inserted two upright cylinders between the boards, one above and one under the roller, giving him only 25cm sideways roll-space. In the finale he juggled three clubs blindfolded on top of a four-story rola-bola: board, roller, board, two vertical cylinders, board etc. ..... clown on top.
I'm also practicing the rola-bola so this was also very inspiring. My roller is 10cm thinner than his, so I have a lot further to go.
In their finale they passed six torches between two 9 foot suicycle riders while another team-member was juggling three torches and balancing a bicycle on his chin.
I'm still full of all the impressions and I've had two crazy afternoons. And then I haven't told you about the wonderful non-juggling acts of Shirlee Sunflower, Cirque de Lurk and Dow & Pearson ...
Sunday 15 August 1999
In the afternoon Walter called me and we went climbing under the Van Brienenoordbridge. One of the quays under the first pylon is made from large granite blocks and in many places the mortar has eroded. This leaves a variety of holds for hands and feet, ranging from large jugs to small finger holes. You meet the whole variety when traversing from one side to the other. There is even an overhanging section where you pass under a small footbridge. Lots of fun.
Then we decided to experiment with the "Kiene-swing" (german name) or with "Bridge swinging" (english name). We attached a sling to the handrail of the footbridge, clipped a carabiner into the sling and attached a climbing rope to the carabiner. Then I fastened the other end to my climbing harness and jumped off the quay.
The total length of the rope+sling was only 6-7 meters and if you jumped hard you made a nice wide arc with your ass close to the water. It was big fun (for big children) but we didn't like the scraping sound of the sling along the concrete edge of the bridge. We found a small drainpipe (rainpipe?) leading through the floor of the bridge. We lowered the sling and carabiner through it, attached the rope and continued our game. Now the sling didn't scrape anymore and we were more relaxed. We exchanged turns at the swing and tried to adjust the rope for minumum distance between your ass and the water.
Then while it was my turn I suddenly heard a big splash and found myself lying on the quay with 3/4 of my body in the river. I'll never forget Walter's worried look as he came running towards me asking if I was OK. I still had no notion of what had happened, I didn't feel hurt but was totally surprised and disoriented.
Cold and dripping I tried to find out what had happened. We found out that the sling had broken, while normally it should hold 3000kg. Upon further inspection we discovered a tiny sharp edge at the bottom of the rainpipe. If you didn't know it was there you wouldn't notice it. But it had cut through the sling very effectively. Also the physics had worked perfectly. The sling had broken when the rope was hanging vertically during the swing and the maximum vertical force was being exerted on the anchor. That's why I plunged directly under the anchor, at the edge of the water.
In hindsight I'm very glad we first used a laboratory setup before doing a real 20m swing. Then our mistake would have been lethal. Now I only had a 10cm long thin bruise on my back and another on my right elbow. And I have killed my special 2m40 sling, this really hurts because I was very attached to it (no pun intended, I always use it for my slackrope exercises).
But now the question is, what setup should I use next time? Should I use a rope protector? Would that be strong enough to resist a sharp metal edge? Or should I use a pice of chain instead of a sling? And then what thickness of chain? And how do you make a sling out of a length of chain? Should I use "maillons rapides" ? It's time to go back to the drawing boards, but I know that I'll be trying it again some time.
Saturday 14 August 1999
After spending several evenings (approx 10) practicing the slackrope I don't fall in the mud anymore. I'm able to stand stand still for what feels like a long time and I can make three steps in succesion quite often. I've got a long way to go, but it's a wonderful exercise.
I've been corresponding with an Austrian climber about the "Kiene-swing". It's a kind of bungee-jump. You attach the rope on a bridge, and jump down from a point that's far removed from the anchor-point. Then you make a long, fast, pendulum movement. Should be fun. Ofcourse I'll start practicing on low pedestrian bridges.
Morene Dekker has written a very nice article about me in the Amsterdam homeless-people newspaper. I've been contacted for another interview for the magazine of a mobile-phone provider "Ben".
Saturday 7 August 1999
Climbed the stone foundations and pylons of the Barendrechtse-brug with Walter. This steel rail-bridge has been demolished in the sixties, but the two bridgeheads still stand. It was a nice climb, not high, not very difficult, more boulder-like. We drew a lot of sympathetic onlookers.
To our surprise someone had hammered hooks (pitons) into the cracks between the stones and bricks, so we could climb protected and could almost get on top of a small guard-house that belongs to the bridge.
This idea opens up a lot of possibilities for climbing more safely on deserted buildings. These "old-fashioned" rock-hooks are not very expensive so we could use a lt of them.
Saturday 31 July 1999
We didn't go to Aachen because Dan had a DJ-job at 01:00 (illegal party) and we would have to drive back hastily. So we went exploring the Amsterdam harbour instead.
Dan showed us a lot of nice places: deserted docks with underground spaces and old, rusty but climbable cranes. (He told us that a friend of his opened a small pub in such a crane every Thursday. It was situated in the operator's wooden cabin. A crate of beer had to be carried up beforehand and only a few people would fit inside.)
In another dock we found a deserted electricty substation. All the switching gear and transformers were still there but someone had spilled all the cooling-oil on the floor. There were a lot of interesting removable parts.
Along a deserted terrain we saw a 4 floor-high loading-bay of conrete. There used to be habitable rooms in there ut they had been demolished to keep out vagrants. The remaining structure was very impressive - it had the nice "Roman Ruins" look.
We finished the active part of the afternoon by visiting a Mc'Donalds, loking at a large stack of art-books and talking about bridges and long trips through America.
Wednesday 28 July 1999
This evening we've returned from a short family holiday in Germany and I've been able to find and visit some drains, without even looking for them!
We stayed in a small city (Trechtinghausen) on the banks of the Rhine. In this hilly area many brooks flow down sthe slopes to the river. In many places they pass through villages and under houses and streets. Sometimes they are only 50m but some might be several hundreds of meters, especially thouse under the villages of Bacharach and Kaub. Usually they are also used as sewers, many small pipes emerge into them from the ceiling.
I couldn't spend much time exploring (wife and son waiting in the car, getting bored) but now I've seen "shape changes" and "waterfalls" in real life. I hope the pictures turn out well.
Friday 23 July 1999
Went for a long metro-ride with Kaspar, my son. It's summer so the metro-drivers leave the door of their cabin open. You can look into all the tunnels.
We went up to the 24th floor of the medical university in the center. Eventually we were discovered on the emergency stairs and were sent away. But in the meantime we were able to take pictures of the beautiful view form these stairs. There are two more service-floors (25 and 26) but these are inaccessible.
Walking through the floors of the university gave us some dirty looks from disturbed staff but no other problems. Interesting machinery all around, freezers, centrifuges, laboratory tables. Rooms with "danger, radioactive materials" in the cellar. I have to go back sometimes.
Thursday 22 July 1999
My wife insisted that I shouldn't go alone to look at possible drains in Aachen (Germany). Fortunately Dan Armstrong from Amsterdam is willing to come with me. It's a silly expo. We have to drive three hours to get there and we may find nothing useful. Still it's our best chance at draining. I've already bought a map and I've seen that many brooks disappear when they get nearer to city area's.
Wednesday 21 July 1999
Visited the Hoflaankerk and got the promised tour of the tower. I was not allowed to go alone. The sexton said "It's my responsibility to take care of such requests". I felt a bit guilty because this 60+ year old man put on his overall and climbed all the rickety stairs and ladders with me. On the way up two hatches had to be removed and put aside. At one point you had to cross from one ladder to another above a two-storey drop. As always going down was scarier than going up, you don't see where to put your feet. Under the roof a lot of heat had accumulated so when you emerged into the wind on top it was suddenly very cold. I made a lot of pictures but it's very hard to catch the atmosphere of such cramped spaces. I hope they turn out well, because the sexton has ordered some copies as his reward.
Afterwards I had some time left so I explored Crooswijk. Found some unexpected old buildings, for example the re-used slaughterhouse. Also visited the two graveyards in this neighbourhood. Must do this more often, it really puts you with your feet on the ground. And the atmosphere is calm and serene.
The Catholics have demolished their beautiful chapel on the 14th of june. It seems the foundations were beyond repair. I had hoped to explore and climb it some day, but now I only could take a picture of the ruins. Still some of the old graves were interesting enough to photograph.
The non-religious graveyard is much larger, better maintained and less romantic. The secular graves use more kitsch. Especially gravestones in the shape of a heart are in vogue. Terrible. When I die I want a nice cross with the text "et expecto resurrectionem" on it. The chapel in the middle looks like a romantic villa. Nice, but locked and not suitable for adventuring. The west entrance of the graveyard has a beautiful locked gate with pillars and a mini-chapel with a cupola. I have to explore that in more detail some other time.
Sunday 18 July 1999
We explored the new harbour sites with Walter. One of our actions was climbing a stack of containers that were stacked 8 high, I guess 18 meters. I've never felt so insecure, because I didn't know if the structure was really stable and if the holds weren't rusted through. I'll also write a more detailed report about this evening.
When I told my wife what I had done she was horrified, and I was horrified that she was horrified (get me?). She became really angry with me and told me she didn't want to have sleepless nights because of my adventures. She's really concerned about me, so probably I should take more care in the future.
Saturday 17 July 1999
I explored the harbour together with a reporter from the Amsterdam-homeless-people-newspaper. It was a succes, we found two new sites. I'll write a separate report about this expo soon.
The scanner at the office is available again. I have scanned a lot of new pictures (after working hours) and will post them soon. In the meantime I've put a long series of expedition reports in this page. Please look down at 11 and 10 July and 26 June.
Sunday 11 July 1999
The choir "Gondwana Voices" from Sydney sang in our church this morning. And believe it or not, I took two "Il Draino's" with me to church, hoping I could exert some bad influence upon the teenagers. (Don't get me wrong, I'm really an active member of our church-community.) But they were too well-organized and well-managed and I didn't get an opportunity to meet one of the members in private. BTW, they sang very well, I bought their CD.
In the afternoon I practiced balancing in the playground behind my appartment-block. I can walk easily on a 25 cm round wooden beam both forwards and backwards and I can make several turns. I can walk three steps on a 4-cm wide round metal pipe, both back- and forward.
Then Walter appeared unexpectedly. He had been inspecting bridges for climbing possibilities and wanted to tell me about his findings.
Together we set up a slackrope between two trees. We fixed the rope at hip height and pulled it tight using pulleys made from karabiners. We had a lot of fun and many near-accidents. I'll describe some for your amusement:
In the end we found out (which I knew beforehand) that it's easier to stand on a slacker rope. So we attached the ends at chest height and put the lowest point just 30 cm off the ground. I managed to stand on this for several seconds.
I'm afraid Walter doesn't see the fun of this and also doesn't think it's a useful exercise for "real" climbing. But I'll keep on practicing. I hope to walk the railing of several pedestrian bridges in the park very soon. They're flat, 20 cm wide and 2m above the water. Should be easy it you don't get nervous.
I can juggle four balls for 50 throws now, but only if the left and right hands throw and catch synchronously. If I try to alternate left and right I manage only 12 throws and then the pattern disintegrates.
Saturday 10 July 1999
The "World Symposium of Choral Music" takes place in Rotterdam this year. At 13:00 we sang in the hall of the Rotterdam library. There was an fat-ugly-english-teenage-girl's choir before us that was directed by Mrs Thatcher. After us there was a very loud Korean choir with macho-men and fragile "Miss Saigon" women. They were directed by the teacher from "Karate Kid". I wonder, how will they describe our choir?
At 16:00 I held a talk about "Urban Adventure" in the congress of the "Rotterdam Art Days". I had been put in a presentation slot where I felt very much at home:
My presentation was about "Urban Adventure and Art". First I showed the video that was made about me by the commercial station SBS6. Then I showed overhead sheets of international urban adventures. I showed the websites of the "Infiltration" webring:
I told about "Infiltration" and "Il Draino" and the graveyard-project in August and tried to be a good apostle. Also I handed out brochures pointing to the webring.
Then I showed a fragment from the video "Masters of the stone III" (Third stone from the sun) where California climbers emerge from a manhole and show a climbing wall they constructed inside a drain. They also climb bridge pillars and climb up concrete railway embankments using crampons and ice-axes (they use the cracks between the slabs).
I ended by showing sheets of my adventures in Rotterdam and proposing some ideas for new projects like:
The reactions was very positive. I got promises of pictures taken in odd spaces (inside the pylon of Erasmus bridge) and interest was shown in my projects. Another artist had also been thinking about the "straight line" but he intended to walk through people's homes following the line, not climbing over their houses.
Thursday 8 July 1999
Our appearance on television turned out very well. They made a positive and realistic program about our activities. And they kept their promise not to reveal our names.
It was a 4 minute feature that showed us on top of a high appartment building, inside the train tunnel and rappelling from a deserted building. They didn't show us climbing under the bridge.
My parents and colleagues liked it. The next day no one recognized me on the commuter train and no one asked my autograph. I had expected some strange looks but no one seemed to notice. And it's better that way.
Saturday 3 July 1999
Our choir sang in the Hoflaankerk in Kralingen. We did very well. Unfortunately there were only a few spectators more than choir members.
I couldn't fail to notice a small door behind the organ. During the coffe-break I slipped inside and walked up rickety wooden stairs into a dark brick room. There seemed to be more exits from this space but I didn't dare to go further in my white shirt and neat trousers. In the last minutes of the coffee-break I managed to ask the sexton (?) permission to take pictures there. The poor man tried to dissuade me by telling me that it was dirty and dusty and that I would have to crawl under the church bells but that only made me more enthousiastic. In the end I got his permission if I came by on a Wednesday morning when he was there anyway.
Friday 2 July 1999
LAST CHANCE, PERMISION DENIED - While driving to college on my bike I noticed a large crane along the tower of the Lambertus-church in Kralingen. The church-roof and spire are being renovated and on this day they were installing the cross at the top of the spire. I asked for permission to climb up, but the workmen were too busy. However they told me the scaffolding would be removed the week afterwards. So I knew I had to hurry.
PERMISSION GRANTED - After college at 16:00 I drove by the church and saw two other workmen doing some paperwork in their car. They were about to leave. I asked for permission to take pictures of the view. They said that probably no one would bother me if I climbed the scaffolding. I drove home immediately and picked up my camera and climbing gear.
TERRIFIC VIEW - I climbed almost to the top of the spire, up 25 ladders. Later I calculated I must have been 50m high, that's 17 floors! It was a hot day, but at the top a cool wind was blowing. The view was terrific. I could see the Kralingseplas on one side and all the Rotterdam bridges on the other side.
LOSS OF COURAGE - I didn't dare to climb the last two ladders to the real top. Today, I still don't know why. I knew I was perfectly safe, I had my climbing harness on and was attached to the scaffolding. I had my climbing-helmet on my head. But even though I sat down and tried to get used to the height and the exposure I could not overcome my uneasiness. My policy is to stop if I feel I can't handle my fear. I'm afraid I'll get distracted and make stupid mistakes. So I stopped there and then. No summit experience for me.
I admire the workmen (steeplejacks) who do this daily and who (probably) use no extra protection like I did.
INTERESTING FEATURES - On the way down I had time to enjoy the view and explore the interesting features of the tower. I saw:
NEVERMORE - Indeed the scaffolding was removed next week. So now I have a set of unique, irreproducible pictures. The lesson is: always take a chance the moment it occurs, you may never get a second one.
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