After a failed explore elsewhere I decided to find an alternative to avoid a wash-out, I was carrying my Dell Mini 9 & 3G data stick so I did a little research on the web and came up with Pavenham ROC. I chose an ROC post because they don’t generally require much preparation and as long as you’ve found a recent report of one being accessible you’re likely to have no trouble getting in. I chose Pavenham as the location looked remote enough that the ‘chav factor’ wouldn’t come into play and previous reports and photos made it look like an easy approach.
On arrival at Pavenham I struggled to find the site, part because I didn’t have the exact coordinates and part because there was a road closed in the area which caused a long diversion. I cracked open the Dell Mini again and managed to find a grid reference (thanks due to ROC Remembered) and my satnav took me right to the place.
Previous reports made it look as though the post was right in the middle of a patch of brambles so I opted for an approach from the hedge side as it offered more cover from view of few houses and a public footpath. As I proceeded to drag myself through the hedge backwards I noticed a couple of topside features (air ventilator and probe cover) hidden amongst the brambles so I knew I was in the right place but I only found the hatch as I emerged from inside the hedge back into the field so there really is no point in approaching from that side!
The hatch opened easily and I immediately noticed a difference between this post and the previous two I had visited:
The key difference is that the one at Pavenham has the hatch counterweight on the right-hand side whereas those in Alderbury and Burgh-on-Bain are to your back which I found out much to my peril when I got a nasty bump on the head climbing up! The Pavenham solution seems much better and I’m not sure why they’re not all like that, perhaps they realised part way through the nationwide construction programme that they’d end up with injured officers up and down the country!
The inside of the bunker was pretty clean although much more sparse than the previous two ROC posts I have visited, I was very impressed to see many individual artefacts still present including an intact mirror. The other items present included a Glitto canister, a tin of Luxol enamel paint, a Tankard Bitter ashtray, the Eltex chemical toilet and various pieces of paper in good readable condition. The most notable item missing was the bunk bed, this leaves quite a large space free at the back of the room but that at least gave me a better perspective and I got to see the room from a different angle than those normally available to me.
It’s been a while since I managed to find time for exploring with a combination of weather, birthdays, grubby British weather and so on but this weekend I managed to get across to West Park (report due soon) and I managed to have a little poke around in the woods near RAF Finmere.
When I arrived in the area there seemed to be some activity on the airfield so I had to give that a miss but so I headed down to the woods, parking next to (but not in front of!) a gate by a public footpath. The woods seem to be used heavily for paintballing and there’s plastic tape up all over the place, I managed to tread carefully and avoid being shot but on a couple of occasions I did end up within a hundred yards of a group of paintballers but I don’t think anyone spotted me.
