Explore #1 of ‘The Smell of Cheap Cologne Tour’

It had been a very quiet start to 2016 on the exploring front, so I was itching to get away for a long weekend of euro exploring japery. My usual exploring buddy James and I managed to grab some super cheap Ryanair flights to Cologne (hence the naff tour name), and after a middle-of-the-night start by about 11am on a sunny Saturday morning we were in Germany and making our way into our first target: the above-ground section of an abandoned coal mine…

Our Explore
The buildings have definitely seen better days, with a lot of vandalism including extensive fire damage and graffiti. But we both fancied a nice relaxed start to our trip given our tiredness from the early flight over that morning, and this certainly fitted the bill and helped ease us into the weekend nicely.

As always, click on a photo to VIEW LARGE

Old computer desk fire damage Zeche P Mine Germany Deutschland Urbex Adam X Urban Exploration Access 2016 Abandoned decay lost forgotten derelict
An old computer and desk, surrounding by some of that fire damage…

Baskets kaue Zeche P Mine Germany Deutschland Urbex Adam X Urban Exploration Access 2016 Abandoned decay lost forgotten derelict
The main reason for exploring Zeche P was to see the hundreds of ‘kaue’ (cages/baskets) which are still suspended in the workers’ communal washrooms.

Basket Zeche P Mine Germany Deutschland Urbex Adam X Urban Exploration Access 2016 Abandoned decay lost forgotten derelict
Each cage was suspended on a chain and assigned a specific number and worker, who would store their clothes in the basket before hoisting it up to the ceiling and securing the chain with a padlock.

Kaue baskets Zeche P Mine Germany Deutschland Urbex Adam X Urban Exploration Access 2016 Abandoned decay lost forgotten derelict
The standard ‘waschkaue’ (washrooms) for such mines were divided into three sections: the ‘Weißkaue’ (white room) used for workers in their street/non-work clothes, a shower area, and then the ‘Schwarzkaue’ (black room) for changing into and from the filthy work clothes used in the mine. It was an ingenious system, and quite a sight to still see the hundreds of baskets left behind.

Zeche P Mine Germany Deutschland Urbex Adam X Urban Exploration Access 2016 Abandoned decay lost forgotten derelict

Kaue baskets black and white silhouettes Zeche P Mine Germany Deutschland Urbex Adam X Urban Exploration Access 2016 Abandoned decay lost forgotten derelict

kaue basket Zeche P Mine Germany Deutschland Urbex Adam X Urban Exploration Access 2016 Abandoned decay lost forgotten derelict

We didn’t hang around for too long, as we had another mine with far grander waschkaue planned for later on in the trip – my report from there is coming up soon…

Thanks for swinging by.
Adam X