CME Expedition 12

Location: Skien, Norway.
Members: 001, 004.
Type: Shelter.
Status: Re-Used.

Surfing the web, actually looking for info on another location, I stumbled across mentions of a civil defence command post literally 5 min. drive from my house. 004 was ready to go that day as he hadn't been out exploring for a while, so I picked him up on the way there. The place we were headed to, called command post Bergsland was at one point sold to the municipality of Skien, who in turn intended to use it as an archive for the municipality. It is still in use as an archive today, so there was no hope of entering it at this stage. That being said, I do have plenty of unanswered questions and unconfirmed locations that need answering, so I might get in touch with them at some later date. If so, I will be sure to bring my camera with me. Anyway we rolled up to the front..catching weird looks from the next door neighbour watering the plants in her garden, and I can't say I really blame her, considering the following from her point of view.. (Here she is, enjoying herself when all of a sudden this car she hasn't seen before rolls up, two bearded guys come jumping out, taking a few pictures of the door next to her house, leading off into the mountain, and no sooner had they come, they jump back in the car and drive off, nodding their heads to her, smiling, as they pass.) Bet that was a topic around the dinner table that evening. On a side note, luckily this ain't the home of the brave..or she would have taken a quick phone call and we would have been renditioned off to some remote location for "questioning". Well, enough ranting..Let's see what this place looks like..

Command Post Bergsland

Entrance

As with the location in Expedition 2, this entrance has also clearly been rebuilt. I don't know if the usual blast proof doors are still intact behind what we can see today though. Again there was this sign warning about surveillance, but either they have been very clever at concealing it, or it simply doesn't exist. A bit off to the right hand side in the first picture, just outside the frame we again found a strange feature. In Expedition 2, I speculated whether or not it could be connected to some sewer system. Finding it again here, in just the same position in relation to the shelter and identical, I draw the conclusion that at both locations it has something to do with the shelter itself. I'll throw up a picture for you..so you can compare it to the similar looking feature in Expedition 2.

What Are These?

Finishing off, i'm just gonna throw out a little speculative something..if you compare these two images, you'll probably, just as I have, notice that there are manholecovers in front at both locations. I for one, would sure like to have a look inside, to figure it out. One thing is for sure..We'll keep it in mind if we come across these at a seemingly abandoned or disused location.

-Caveman 001-

CME Expedition 11

Location: Skien, Norway.
Members: 001, 002, 003.
Type: Industrial, Waterworks.
Status: Semi-Active Area.

First off, the city of Skien is located right between an inland waterway and a river that runs to the sea. This geographical position has given Skien the basis for growth. It has been settled for a very long time, some speculate that it could be one of the oldest densely settled areas in Norway. Excavations in the center of town during the late 70's indicated that it has been an urban area atleast as far back as 1000 AD. (As urban as you could get back then, that is.) Either way..you can read up on the early history yourself.

Fast foreward a few hundred years to the 1500's and Skien is rapidly beginning to industrialise. Extensive mining is started north-west of the city along with ironworks and everything that goes with it. (You could already tell we are going to explore those mines later on, couldn't you?) In the rest of Europe there is also a growing need for timber, cities burn to the ground and thus need to be rebuilt. Trading across the seas is expanding, so huge merchant fleets are being created. Norway, and Telemark in particular has lots of deep forests, so naturally (no pun intended) there is money to be made. Keeping this in mind, Skien being located right where these two waterways meet is in a very strategic position. The inland waterway is slightly more elevated than the river to the sea, so there are lots of waterfalls..perfect locations for sawmills. And there were lots!! So the timber would be floated down to Skien from the depths of Telemark, treated at the sawmills, before being shipped of to foreign markets. Skien, with all of it's sawmills, sawdust, timber, planks and so forth has been very prone to fire and has burned to the ground and rebuilt countless times. The map below gives you an impression of the area, although it's hard to overstate the completely changed nature of the landscape since then.

Map of Skien from 1681.

As a result of all the activity, building, rebuilding, drilling holes, infills, digging holes, carving out of tunnels and so on during the last 500 years..this former industrial area of Skien now offers a plenthora of tunnels and things to be discovered. We have only been here once, taking a quick peek, getting a feel of the area..but we will be back, because there are lots to be discovered and to learn here. I'll stop writing now, and just hit you with a few tunnel pics..

 

 

 

-Caveman 001-

CME Expedition 10

Location: Porsgrunn, Norway.
Members: 001, 002, 003.
Type: Infrastructure, Emergency Tunnel.
Status: Active / Open.

While driving between locations on our trip to check out some sites in Porsgrunn, 002 all of a sudden shouts out.. "Stop the car, I think I saw something!" I pull over and 002 heads on across the road where he has just spotted some concrete stairs leading down to who knows what. We were in the middle of a residential area, so there was no obvious reason for this being here. Still in the car, 003 and I were quite excited and waiting for 002 to show up again. It's hard to describe the smile on his face when he peaked over the concrete wall, so naturally I spun the car around and found a place to park.

The Spot

002 told me to go down and feel the door, and he didn't have to ask me twice. He held the camera, taking a few shots while he was at it. I headed on down the stairs already knowing that this had to be open, judging by the look on his face. I was soon to know why he had such a big smirk on.

001 In Action

Stepping inside we were quite stunned, thinking "what the hell is it we've just found here?" There were lights on in the ceiling and stairs headed further down.

002 & 003 Heading Down The First Flight Of Stairs

The other guys were headed down the stairs the instant we stepped foot inside, while I tried to get some photos of the process and the entrance itself. As seen in the picture above, the stairs continue on down to the right, beyond the corner. As soon as they hit the platform and peaked around they simultaneously said "You've got to come see this s**t!" Still having no idea what this place was I quickly followed. It's hard to describe the jittery feeling you get when you discover something like this. I'll just let the next picture give you an impression of what was around the corner.

Endless Stairs

This had to be amongst the cooler places we had found thus far. We carefully proceeded on down the stairs, after noticing the rocks that had fallen from the ceiling, scattered around the stairs. Next picture is a bit beyond halfway down to the bottom.

Midway Down

Running a scan of my mind, it was beginning to dawn on me what this place was, considering our geographical location, the direction of the stairs and the difference in elevation. But i'll get to that in a moment..

Bottom Of The Stairs

Reaching the bottom of the stairs we were quite cautious about the orange light you can see on the right hand side of the door in the picture above. For all we knew it could be some sort of alarm. None of us fancied running back up all these stairs after setting something off. Getting a bit closer we figured out that in all likelyhood this was no alarm, but we still have no idea of what it's function was. Hearing sounds coming from the other side of the door, my suspicions about the nature of this place were confirmed.

002 Checking Out The Door

Checking the door, we found it was locked from the other side. The place we had found here was an emergency exit tunnel from a traffic tunnel running beneath Porsgrunn. We could hear the cars rushing by at 40 mph. on the other side of the door, and felt no need to step any further. At least we had a new thing on our list while doing research for locations. I'll throw in a couple of shots of our ascent back up to the surface, just for good measure.

Midway Looking Up

Headed Back Out For More Adventures

-Caveman 001-
 

CME Expedition 9

Location: Skien, Norway.
Members: 004.
Type: Industrial/Waterworks?
Status: Partly Active.

I think I'll just have to start with this shot right here.

We've had a lot of theories about what might be hiding behind this hatch. Hinges to the left and a solid lock to the right.

I believe this might be a little lower than the hatch in the previous picture. It's located in the area behind the hatch on the opposite side of the mountain, with quite a simple wooden door. But still..just as locked as the hatch.

Yet more locks and fencing around the surrounding area by the door. Might have been cheaper to put up the fence insted of securing the hole with a proper metal door.

Large motors of some sort. Located inside the fenced off area by the door. Turning to the right reveals tunnels stretching further into the mountain behind a shopping mall in the center of town.

-Caveman 004-