For a long time a good buddy of mine has promised to take me out exploring some woods near Adel, where he grew up.

We finally set a date and a during a beautifully summery day a few weeks back, out we set, starting by clambering up Eagle rock (above)

Here’s said buddy; Joe Cowin, an artist, musical snob and the most viking looking person I know!

It was a stunningly beautiful day, and we took my dog for a good ol’ explore round his teenage stomping grounds.

On these rocks a forlorn 80’s Joe would come, sporting dubious hair and shirts, to contemplate life…

[ If it’s on Facebook Joe, it’s fair game! ]
On this day, Spring was still sprung, and Bluebells were out dancing in the wind.

Knowing I enjoy a spot of Urban Exploration (AKA: UrbEx), one of the sights Joe wanted to show me was an old war bunker buried in the woods.

Joe remembers the top used to have a gun emplacement on it, but now it’s a rather unremarkable box, you’d easily miss.

Down below you can see an old entrance…

Growing up, Joe’d been able to gain access and have a good snoop around inside…

… he’d gained access through this hole, which has since been blocked up with junk and bricks.

These days it’s apparently still in used as a document store, so it’s locked up pretty tight.

Sadly the main door was heavily locked and armed with an alarm we set off trying the door…

…so we scarpered into the trees like a naughty kids!

I thought it’d be rude not to subject Joeman the Barbarian to a round of portraits!

He showed me the ‘babbling baby’, a natural freshwater spring that used to spout from the face of a baby.

Kyra certainly enjoyed the sticks and streams

Another spot we visited was the ancient seven arches aqueduct

and there was a Barnaby sized hole to clamber through

Kyra told me to be careful…

and off I went over the top for a little looksy

It’s a pretty interesting piece of architecture, sealed from the top, but no longer running with water

Here’s Kyra finding yet another place to make herself wet and muddyA bit of fish-eye fun looking up at the treesOne of the last places we visited was a beautiful spot I believe called ‘Devil’s Rock’, sporting some dubious sacrificial backstory.

Back near the carpark I spotted some large containers and in a nice pool of light behind them, asked Joe to stand and look like a grumpy Hell’s Angel and got my fave portrait of him that day!

Cheers JC, for showing me round the sights of Adel woods!  Fun times.

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