While in London, we happened to walk through the Banksy Tunnel, a pedestrian walkway tunnel where graffiti is ... tolerated if not legal. Pretty nice!
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May 2019, Leake Street, London, United Kingdom
Urban-Exploration (Tunnels); Caving (Man-Made)
Booze tunnel in Helsinki... not from prohibition times but built between Alko's factory and warehouse. Decommissioned, now as a reserve shelter. The tunnel is underneath the Ruoholahti mall, in floor -6... deep under everything else. So deep that it is even underneath the kid amusement park Hoplop in floor -5 :-)
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May 2019, Ruoholahden kauppakeskus, Helsinki, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Tunnels); Caving (Man-Made)
I knew that there are tectonic plates, but I had no idea one can walk in the crack between them. But in Thingvellir, Iceland it is possible.
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May 2019, Thingvellir, Iceland
Caving (None)
I had an opportunity to visit Tallinn for a couple of hours yesterday, and the obvious question was whether there'd be anything underground to visit. And there is, Kiek in de Kök bastion tunnels. But, they were closed on Monday. Luckily, however, we run into an old bunker under the Tallinn Meremuuseum.
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April 2019, Tallinna linnamüür, Tallinn, Estonia; Bunker under Eesti Meremuuseum, Tallinn, Estonia
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)
Jarmo and I visited the Leppävaara area fortifications, inspired by Tony Hagerlund's excellent blogs about them. There's plenty of trenches and also bunkers! These are World War I era fortifications built in a circle around Helsinki. We also found a small natural cave under a boulder!
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April 2019, Bunkkeritunneli 1, Vallikallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Bunkkeritunneli 2, Vallikallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Romahtanut bunkkeri, Vallikallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Bunkkeri 1, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Bunkkeri 2, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Siirtolohkareen luola, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Bunkkeri 3, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Romahtanut bunkkeri 4, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Iso bunkkeri, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Tykkiasema 1, Nupukivenkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Tykkiasema 2, Nupukivenkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Tykkiasema 3, Nupukivenkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)
I had earlier visited Hvitträsk with Janne for the rock painting there's on a cliff. Back then we had also seen a small boulder cave. This time we returned with Jarmo, flew the drone for some video, and also found a total of seven small caves, three of which may be too small to enter but the others are clearly small caves.
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(TGR version)
March 2019, Luola 1, Hvitträsk, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Luola 2, Hvitträsk, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Luola 3, Hvitträsk, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Luola 4, Hvitträsk, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Luola 5, Hvitträsk, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Luola 6, Hvitträsk, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Luola 7, Hvitträsk, Kirkkonummi, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders, Basic)
A bunker. A ventilation shaft. R2-D2 mod. What's not to like?
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(TGR version)
March 2019, R2-D2, Folimanka Park, Prague, Czech Republic
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)
Lets say that the tour guide was not a big fan of communism.
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(TGR version)
March 2019, Parukarka Park bunker, Prague, Czech Republic
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)
We had half a day in Reykjavik, and besides visiting a thermal bath, what could we do? Obviously, visit a cave... a lava tube. Or the Lava Tunnel, few kilometres outside the city (coordinates: N 63.9402 W 21.3971).
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(TGR version)
February 2019, The Lava Tunnel, Reykjavik, Iceland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Volcanic, Morphology-Volcanic, Basic, Showtour)
The "Luola" magazine from the Finnish Caving Association dropped into the mailbox today. Nice! And of course, we got two copies because there's two members in the household...
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February 2019, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland
Caving (None, Media)
Espoo. While looking for the remains of fortifications in Laajalahti, I came across a possible small roof cave. Small, but maybe worth documenting since there are really very few caves in Espoo. But the question is, is this a natural cave or remains of fortifications or quarry operations in the area?
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(Suomenkielinen versio)
December 2018, Laajalahden lippaluola, Espoo, Finland
Caving (Basic, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack, Surveying)
Kirkkonummi is a gift that keeps on giving! Near the caves that we had investigated in Kauhala there's a very interesting roof cave on the cliffs surrounding Kittelberget. We set out again to hike the area with Jarmo, and found more interesting things, again :-)
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(TGR version)
(Suomenkielinen versio)
December 2018, Kittelbergetin iso lippaluola, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Kittelbergetin pieni lippaluola, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Kittelbergetin toinen pieni lippaluola, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Kittelbergetin kallionalusluola, Kirkkonummi, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Basic)
I follow the Caving Podcast when it appears every month. Usually the stories are pretty local to US and Indiana, where the podcast is made. But this time the story they told was very interesting for anyone.
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December 2018, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland
Caving (None)
This isn't really an unknown place as such -- the geocachers and climbers regularly visit these cracks and the cliff. But it hasn't been noted in any of the usual places where Finnish caves are listed. Jarmo found this place on his hike in November, and we've been exploring it on several trips since then.
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(TGR version)
(Suomenkielinen versio)
December 2018, Kauhalan luola, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Kauhalan luolan lohkaresivuluolat, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Kauhalan luolan halkeamasivuluola, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Kittelbergetin pieni lippaluola, Kirkkonummi, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack, Basic, Surveying)
I recently blogged about a possible new cave in Laajalahti. But I didn't go there to look for a cave, I wanted to see the fortifications from before World War I, built by the Russians. I found many, including many small bunkers that one can easily visit.
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December 2018, Laajalahden bunkkeri 1, Espoo, Finland; Laajalahden bunkkeri 2, Espoo, Finland; Laajalahden bunkkeri 3, Espoo, Finland; Laajalahden bunkkeri 4, Espoo, Finland; Laajalahden bunkkeri 5, Espoo, Finland; Laajalahden bunkkeri 6, Espoo, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)
I've heard stories about the logging tunnel through Pispala, but today I finally got an opportunity to go see it myself.
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(TGR version)
November 2018, Pispalan uittotunneli, Tampere, Finland; Pispalan ensimmäinen uittotunneli, Tampere, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Tunnels); Caving (Man-Made)