Tour Report: Foundry B.

At the end of February 2020, the “coronavirus spectre” really haunted Germany. Uncertainty was high, incidences were rising, and there was growing evidence that a lockdown was more or less imminent. At this point, I suggested to my wife that we take a short weekend trip before travel was restricted and the opportunity would only arise again at an unknown time in the future.

So we spontaneously booked a hotel in a small town that we'd had on our list as a possible destination for a while - not too far away, well laid out and with lots of deserted places nearby.

We packed our things on Thursday evening and set off on Friday afternoon. We arrived at the hotel about four hours later. The check-in process was very simple and we took our bags and equipment to the room.

We then set off to find something to eat.

It was amazing how few restaurants we found that were willing to make us something to eat at 21:00. In fact, we only found one. But this restaurant was very good and made us feel welcome.

The next morning, we enjoyed a hearty breakfast and then made our way to the first location we had chosen.

It was a former foundry of the German Reichsbahn, which had originally been built as part of a huge powder factory. Part of the huge site is still in active use, so we parked a little further away on the road before making our way into the building. The way in was very easy - there were a lot of doors open; there was no fence or other barriers.

Of course, this place has also been used as an illegal garbage dump, and metal thieves and vandals have done a "great job" over the years. Nevertheless, there was a lot for us to see: huge factory halls, changing rooms, warehouses and training rooms for apprentices. The weather was cold, but the sun provided beautiful light in the individual rooms.

During our investigation, we noticed that two other people were on the premises. They were obviously there to take photos, so we weren't worried. Just before we were about to set off again, we met them and struck up a conversation. They were a bit younger than us, were very friendly and we chatted a bit about the locations nearby. Finally, they gave us a tip for an abandoned vacation camp nearby, which we promptly put on our list.

Then we made our way back to the car, took a quick look inside one of the old powder factory buildings and headed off - to the vacation camp.

To find out about the history of this place and to check out all the photos, click the button below.

Tour Report: Compound Feed Factory G.

2020 began somewhat cautiously in terms of Urbex excursions. After our New Year's tour and a short day trip to Denmark, it took four whole weeks before we were able to hit the road again.

My wife and I have a bit of a thing for old industrial buildings, which is why we chose an abandoned concentrated feed mixing plant for this trip.

It was February, the days were short and dark, so we set off relatively early to make the most of the available light.

Two hours and two hundred kilometers later, we parked in a parking lot near the historic center of a small town in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The building we wanted to explore was right opposite. Directly on the road and visible from all sides.

So first we discussed our strategy. We didn't have too many options, so we decided on “cheekiness wins”.

We crossed the road, climbed over the small fence and headed straight for the front door. To our delight, it was open, so we were inside the building very quickly. At this point, we thanked the weather gods for the gray, drizzly weather, which meant that there were very few pedestrians out and about who could have spotted us.

From this point on, we had complete peace and quiet. We explored the old mill from the cellar to the attic.

Most of the rooms were empty, but there were still some machines, conveyor belts and other things that pointed to the former operation as a feed mill.

Probably due to its central location in the heart of the village, vandalism was very limited, which is why the decay was not as advanced as I would have liked.

Nevertheless, it was very nice to find a building in such good condition after a long period of vacancy - in this respect, the trip was really worthwhile.

After about two and a half hours, we left the building the same way we had entered it - even now without being noticed.

As the rain was getting heavier and we still had a two-hour drive back, we decided to call it a day and make our way home.

To check out all the photos from this place, click the button below.

Tour Report: Zoological Museum "Animal House"

We also paid another visit to the third spot on our 2019 Christmas tour during the repeat tour in January 2020. And that was a good thing, because relatively soon afterwards there was a fire in one of the buildings, which meant that the location was literally “burnt”.

Sure - it's not an extremely spectacular place, but a zoological museum with an associated taxidermist is not something you see very often. What's more, I had only taken photos with my cell phone on my first visit, so I wanted to take the opportunity to shoot a few more pictures with the big camera.

It was getting towards the afternoon, but luckily the walk wasn't too far, so we still had enough daylight. Once again, we were able to park right next to the location and were completely undisturbed while we looked at everything in peace. I used the time to photograph a few details that I had missed the first time.

In the meantime, I had researched the history of the place and it was a bit unfortunate that the exhibits were no longer there - by all accounts, there were some " wild" things there.

In any case, it was a good end to a successful tour!

To find out about the history of the place and to check out all the photos, click the button below.

Tour Report: Farmhouse "Henry"

The abandoned farmhouse with the old Ford models was also back on the agenda when we returned to Denmark in January 2020 after two good friends showed great interest in it. And I don't usually turn down a trip to Denmark!

At this point, there's not really anything spectacular to report about the revisit because, as with the first visit, we were completely undisturbed and the location hadn't changed in any way.

I took the opportunity to photograph a few more perspectives of the beautiful old cars. As already described in the post about my first visit, this location offers nothing more than just the cars in the barn, so we were on our way again relatively quickly to pay another visit to the third location.

To check out all the photos from this amazing place, click the button below.