Skipool Creek

 Skippool Creek is a little gem of a find hidden away in the Wyre Estuary. It was first settled by the Saxons and during the 1700′s it was the main port on the River Wyre before the development of Fleetwood. Ships would unload cargoes from around the world with flax and cotton for the mills of Lancashire. The creek went into demise after the opening of the railway to Fleetwood in 1840.

On the day I visited, in April 2013, the wind was quite blustery, and the only people we saw were dog walkers. A line of wooden jetties extend into the water with wooden gangplanks leading to them. Many had planks missing, and others wobbled precariously as you stepped on them. It was eerily quiet, save for the clanging of the metal masts. It was as if the boats had all been abandoned. Indeed, some were in a bad state of repair, while others had Keep out signs or health and safety notices warning trespassers away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a good walk all the way down the path, past many boats.

 

 

 

 

There was one particularly impressive boat (in terms of decay) which I focused my attention on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abandoned Power Station

I visited this power station in December 2012 but have only just started blogging so please bear with me. This was my first Urbex Adventure, and I was accompanied by 2 experienced Urbexers.
It was a bitterly cold, bleak day in Lancashire. We were the only visitors (mad enough!) to be there.

 

 Huncoat Power Station was opened in 1956.

The Power Station had a fairly short life and closed in 1984. The cooling towers were demolished in 1988 and the main buildings followed suit in 1990 leaving this one building behind.

The building is really grotty inside. It's basically just a shell with ever-changing graffiti.

 

There is an upstairs, with more of the same. There is a good view of the main "room" from up above as well as a view of the bleak Lancashire landscape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The graffiti was the best part of the building for me. I like the idea that this is ever-changing and a visit a few months later will show completely different graff.

 

 

This was my favourite graffiti.

 

 

 

 

 

                                            Most of it is like a really awful building site.

 

Peeling paint on the walls in vibrant colours.

 

We had a little wander outside, round the back and I discovered this fab bit of graffiti of Tony the Tiger (of Frosties fame) smiling down at me.

 

 

The windows are all open to the elements so there are puddles everywhere.

 

 

 

Somebody had left behind their boot . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bus Graveyard

This place is weird! I would never have found it without my Urbex friend who had stumbled upon it on a walk one afternoon. A local farmer, who owns the land, has decided for some reason, to let old buses come to rust and decay in a rather muddy, barren field, somewhere near Westhoughton.

 

We had been warned that the owner had a vicious dog, which made us rather nervous, but luckily, neither dog nor owner were to be seen on this wet and windy afternoon that we chose to have a mooch.

 

As usual, nature is taking over, with one of the buses almost completely overgrown with brambles and various undergrowth.

There is also a range of random, rusting farm machinery lying around. The weather was so blustery that we quickly took our shots and left, relieved not to have met the owner or his dog!