Highway to a new photo location
So you’re looking for some urban exploring locations in the north of the Netherlands? A shame enough, there are not many urbex locations known around here. But I did manage to find these abandoned bunkers though.
One day I was driving over the highway between Marum and Drachten, when I saw some small strange looking buildings in the countryside to my right. Covered by some trees, they seemed to be bunkers. Next day I packed my bag with my camera, got on my bike, and set off to see what these buildings were about.
On the map below, you can see it is actually really close to the highway.
Bunkers
The journey to the location was a really nice trip, with some quiet and peaceful scenery. The bunkers were right next to a narrow road with a dead end. The road ended just before the bunkers.
All around the bunkers are miles of countryside. The only thing between me and the bunkers was a bit of barbed wire fence ending at a locked farm gate. Well, if there’s nothing more than a farm gate holding me back from getting to the bunkers, you’re just asking for me to climb over it. So I did, Hahaha.
A brief history
These bunkers are ruins from an old German radar station called “Anlage Löwe”, build during World War II. These bunkers are also known as the “Bunkers at Trimunt”. In the middle of the field is still the foundation of where the radar used to stand (see photo below). This radar was known as a “Würzburg-Riese radar”.
This radar station was part of the “Himmelbett stellung”, which guarded the airspace of Western Europe.
Around the base, where the radar used to stand, are the remains of Tobruks. At the time I had no idea what these things were. They looked like small bunkers which were blown up and someone decided to plant trees in them. These small bunkers were actually used as observation points, often equipped with a machine gun. In the photo below you can see one of the three Tobruks that stood around the radar.
My photographic journey around the bunkers
As you can see in the picture below, the sky was beautiful while I was photographing in the countryside. What you might also notice, is that I have taken the photo from the top of another bunker. The bunkers were partially sunken into the ground. So, with a bit of effort, you could actually manage to climb on top of them. Only, while I was trying to climb on top of one, I might have ripped my jeans from knee to crotch. After shooting some photos at the bunkers, I wanted to go to another location to shoot some more photos, but now I would only need to do this with ripped jeans. But hey, that’s fashion nowadays right? XD
Most of the bunkers were filled with water. In the photo below you can see that the whole floor of the bunker is covered with water. Besides water, the floors of some bunkers were covered with plastic. I don’t know if the plastic is there for a reason, but it seems more like someone just threw them away here.
On the other side of the highway, I might have seen another set of bunkers. I’ll definitely be exploring that location soon! So stay tuned for a possible part 2!
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