Abandoned Britain - half day nerd trips

Shortened link for this post is http://is.gd/gi6Gu

EDIT: 13 April 2011
Nerdytrips - the making of nerdmap (the map expands what's in this post to include the rest of the UK, world... etc.) describes what happens after Ben Goldacre posted "Nerdy Day Trips - tell us about yours, we'll build an archive #nerdytrips" :)

--------------- Original post --------------

A few weeks ago, Ben G asked Twitter followers for suggestions for a weekend half-day out. The suggestions were pretty interesting, and I have a file full of collected tweets from which I'm excerpting the relevant bits and pieces, as promised here.

It's occurred to me that this post is also a showcase for Google's capacity to search historic tweets. To get the URL for the original suggestion I've used Google's updates search facility (which currently goes back as far as February 2010 but is planned to stretch to the first tweet in March 2006). Using this method I've also picked up stuff that I didn't manage to collect the first time. For that reason I wish I'd used a different name as some of these suggestions are great but don't really fit within the 'abandoned britain' headline, oh well ;)

Sites that will signpost to other suggestions

• Abandoned Britain (photographic exhibition)
• Derelicte
• Derelict London suggested by @KSmyth2010
• Forbidden Places
• The Geek Atlas suggested by @TimandraHarknes
• GLIAS database (Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society) suggested by @boggits
• Hidden London
• Industrial Archaeology suggested by @emigre_libelle
• Londonist
• MoLAS-PCA (Museum of London Archaeology Service, Pre-Construct Archaeology) and 2012 games suggested by @Emigre_Libelle
• Subterranea Britannica suggested by @emigre_libelle
• UK Urban Exploration Forums suggested by @catburton and @kateweb
• Urban exploration photographs suggested by @AliBee16

Series 4, episode 4 (Dover to Isle of Wight) of BBC's coast features a piece by Neil Oliver travelling to Dungeness on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch railway, and Alice Roberts at Highdown/ The Needles looking at rocket testing.

On a very small scale of mild abandonment, I love the Terma radar (for the aircraft at City Airport I believe) to be found in a lovely but lonely part of Greenwich Peninsula

All the 'suggested by' links will take you to the person's original tweet - often worth a look as there's a bit more info there. Some of the suggestions may not have been entirely serious though... I'm also not sure about Lee / Lea although there's a florists in Lee (the one that's near Blackheath) which is called Fleurs de Lee :)

• A625 - abandoned road suggested by @steinsky on a separate occasion
• Amberley museum & Heritage Centre
• Amberley chalk pits suggested by @Daveip1966
• Battersea Power Station suggested by @MissEllieMae
• Bishopsgate Goods Station (Shoreditch) suggested by @emigre_libelle
• Blackwall Tunnel (Greenwich side) suggested by @gdorean
• Bletchley Park suggested by @swfiua and @serichards
• Brighton's magnificent sewers suggested by @aleksk
• Buncefield suggested by @MrMonist
• Cane Hill 2nd link suggested by @KSmyth2010
• Cardington Airship Hangars suggested by @Underbundle, @sciamannata, @babciapat and @eizzil [not open to the public, via @skycathybrid)
• Canvey Island 2nd link (frames! ugh!) suggested by @sarahangliss
• Crossness Nature Reserve (Bexleyheath) suggested by @rosegeorge3 and @spadgy_OTA
• Crossness Pumping Station 2nd link (Bexleyheath) suggested by @Emigre_Libelle and @eizzil - and see an example of what the Google updates search results look like here
• Crystal Palace dinosaurs suggested by @0tralala
• Dagenham (for scary abandoned factories) suggested by @Hiveofactivity
• Deptford or North Woolwich (abandoned factories) suggested by @emigre_libelle
• Dungeness Denge sound mirrors suggested by @dsrjarman, @doublegamete, @richardblogger, @daveip1966 and @spadgy_OTA - see also Dungeness lighthouse photos taken by @cassieldotcom
  ...and the journey to Dungeness may well involve the...
• >> Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch railway
• Docklands Museum suggested by me
• Edmonton / IKEA / Lea suggested by @petersbeaumont and @Angus_Reid
• Enfield Lock suggested by @Nikidp
• Farnborough wind tunnel suggested by @eizzil
• Foulness Island suggested by @pixlink
• Greenwich Peninsula / North Greenwich suggested by @scottkeir, Quaristice, angerelle (Tate & Lyle refinery) and me (see also Thames Barrier below).
• Hack Green secret nuclear bunker suggested by @scarycurlgirl
• Hackney Marshes suggested by @Lottesometimes
• Hackney Wick / Fish Island 2nd link suggested by @djsnow
• Hellingly Hospital 2nd link suggested by @spadgy_OTA and @onewordnodots
• Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker (Brentwood, Essex) suggested by @aleksk, @juliusgb, @MattPotter, @Philbo1981, @HayleyWright, @martincampbell2 and @JAlexiK
• Kew Bridge Steam museum suggested by @landtimforgot and @cybergibbons
• Kilnsea listening ears suggested by @yorkierosie
• Ironbridge Gorge Museum Ironbridge suggested by @martinb9999
• Lea River Valley suggested by @paul_sagar
• Lee Valley waterworks / nature reserve suggested by @Impedimented
• The London Loop (walk around London) suggested by @nikk7
• Margate ("large parts of it are derelict") suggested by @gentlemandad
• Maunsell sea forts & transport, suggested on separate occasion by @imaginarygf
• "The Meads" at Sittingbourne (Anglo-Saxon & prehistoric site/ dig) suggested by @KSmyth2010
• Millennium Mills by Pontoon Dock (DLR) suggested by @cybergibbons and @DoktorG
• Museum of Electricity (Dorset), suggested on a separate occasion by @techiebabe [of the Pylon Appreciation Society]
• Museum of London suggested by @christoclifford
• Orford Ness suggested by @angerelle and @woolminer
• Planetarium at Greenwich suggested by @anthropith and @skyponderer
• RAF Upper Heyford (former) suggested by @bainesy1969
• Stratford Olympic Park area to Waltham Abbey suggested by @paul_sagar
• Thames Barrier suggested by @_alfie_noakes and me
• Thamesmead suggested by @GuidoTallman
• Tilbury Fort suggested by @Hiveofactivity
• Victoria Viaduct (River Wear) suggested by @DrBurkstrom
• West Wittering suggested by @JulesSnorestore

Miscellaneous (ie stuff I can't quite pinpoint)

• "undeveloped area, north of the Thames, east of Tower Bridge" suggested by @anthropith
• "deep level shelters in south London" suggested by @nathanbroon
• "Have you thought about a trip on the Bakerloo line?" suggested by @mhoulden

Non-UK

• "best railway graveyard ever is near the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia" suggested by @Jesssal

Previous edits
EDIT: 7 January 2011 - This morning @imaginarygf tweeted the following, which is a list of quirky museums in London, some of which I've been to. Don't think it mentioned the Hunterian in London but I am dashing out of the door....

"Oooooooo RT @aleksk: o boy o boy o boy... RT @LDN: London's quirkiest museums http://LDN.in/FPKovS (via @visitlondonweb) (hey! @bengoldacre)"