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Welcome to the Planetcaver blog, featuring stories from caves andunderground explorations around the world, from the point of view of a beginner caver.

More caving-related articles:

Siuntio bunker tips from Dutch tourists
Having researched the locations of the Russian bunkers in Porkkala for years, I was surprised to learn the location of another bunker from Dutch tourists on their first day of visiting Finland. They pointed us to a small bunker few hundred meters from the large one we had visited earlier, based on their geocaching explorations.
Full story

August 2019, Siuntion täytetty pikkubunkkeri, Siuntio, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)

Hiking to the abandoned missile base
The base is not easy to find; there's a lot of tours on sale to visit the military wonders of Vis, but little actual information. I discovered the location of the base by looking at Google Maps satellite photos, but the Secret Croatia blog also helped...
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August 2019, Vis missile base, Vis, Croatia
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)

Copying adults
Influence ... one has to be careful with that. I took my sister's twins today to their first cave. At first they were a bit scared, but soon they had helmets on, one was holding my camera and the photographing the other one going through the cave. I wonder where they learned that? :-)
Full story

July 2019, Hiidenkiven luola, Nurmijärvi, Finland
Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders, Basic)

Labirintus Lost in Count Dracula's Prison
A maze of caves and underground prison cells, cages, darkness, fog, and Dracula? Sign me up please!
Full story
(TGR version)

July 2019, Labirintus, Budapest, Hungary
Caving (Man-Made, Rock); Urban-Exploration (Tunnels, Prisons)

Hunting for the Sarfvik Secrets
I went on a long bike trip today with Jarmo, to explore the Sarfvik area in Kirkkonummi. This large area of farms, forests and seafront is blocked for public road access by the local residents. Why? You can still explore the area on foot, but the walks are long. But in the summer biking is an option.
Full story
(TGR version)
(Suomenkielinen versio)

July 2019, Abramsbyn bunkkeri, Sarfvik, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Golfkentän pieni siirtolohkareluola, Sarfvik, Kirkkonummi, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made, Rock)

Hospital in the Rock
A vacation isn't a vacation unless one can visit another nuclear bunker!
Full story
(TGR version)

July 2019, Hospital in the Rock, Budapest, Hungary
Caving (Man-Made, Rock); Urban-Exploration (Bunkers)

Gorgas Creek Cave
Cave in a park in Philadelphia? Unreal...
Full story
(TGR version)

July 2019, Gorgas Creek Cave, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Caving (Man-Made); Urban-Exploration (Tunnels, Quarries)

Day at the beach (underground)
My vacation started after midsummer. And the first thing one does on a vacation is to go on a beach, of course. Underground.
Full story
(TGR version)
(Suomenkielinen versio)

June 2019, Lummelunda, Gotland, Sweden
Caving (Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst, Basic, Boating, Swimming); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Underground, Waterbody-Cave)

Snow White Hall Photography Trip
Jukka and I wanted to continue our photography experiments further up in the Lummelunda cave. The most interesting stalactites are in the Snow White Hall (Snövitsalen), beyond the half-way point in the cave. This turned out to be a very long trip, however, and one where we run out of all of our lights...
Full story
(TGR version)
(Suomenkielinen versio)

June 2019, Lummelunda, Gotland, Sweden
Caving (Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst, Basic, Boating, Swimming); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Underground, Waterbody-Cave)

Leppävaara mining
Today's abandoned mine exploration was in Leppävaara.
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June 2019, Kaivoskallion louhos, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Kaivoskallion siirtolohkareen alusluola, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Quarries); Caving (Man-Made)

EuroSpeleo, here I come!
Today I managed to sign up for the EuroSpeleo 2019, this time happening near Sofia in Bulgaria!
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June 2019, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland
Caving (None)

Lummelunda, here I come!
Lummelunda week is coming up AND I'M GOING AGAIN! WOOHOOO!
Full story

May 2019, Lummelunda, Gotland, Sweden
Caving (Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst, Basic, Boating, Swimming); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Underground, Waterbody-Cave)

Banksy tunnel
While in London, we happened to walk through the Banksy Tunnel, a pedestrian walkway tunnel where graffiti is ... tolerated if not legal. Pretty nice!
Full story

May 2019, Leake Street, London, United Kingdom
Urban-Exploration (Tunnels); Caving (Man-Made)

Boozetunnel
Booze tunnel in Helsinki... not from prohibition times but built between Alko's factory and warehouse. Decommissioned, now as a reserve shelter. The tunnel is underneath the Ruoholahti mall, in floor -6... deep under everything else. So deep that it is even underneath the kid amusement park Hoplop in floor -5 :-)
Full story

May 2019, Ruoholahden kauppakeskus, Helsinki, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Tunnels); Caving (Man-Made)

Crack between the plates
I knew that there are tectonic plates, but I had no idea one can walk in the crack between them. But in Thingvellir, Iceland it is possible.
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May 2019, Thingvellir, Iceland
Caving (None)

Underground Tallinn
I had an opportunity to visit Tallinn for a couple of hours yesterday, and the obvious question was whether there'd be anything underground to visit. And there is, Kiek in de Kök bastion tunnels. But, they were closed on Monday. Luckily, however, we run into an old bunker under the Tallinn Meremuuseum.
Full story

April 2019, Tallinna linnamüür, Tallinn, Estonia; Bunker under Eesti Meremuuseum, Tallinn, Estonia
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)

This is the 12th set of articles. The previous sets were set 1, set 2, set 3, set 4, set 5, set 6, set 7, set 8, set 9, set 10, and set 11. The next sets are set 13, set 14, set 15, set 16, set 17, set 18, set 19, set 20, set 21, and set 22.

The Planetcaver articles appeared originally in the Blogspot Planetskier series, at TGR posts, or at the Relaa website. See also the articles about skiing, urban exploration, climbing, cycling, flying, swimming, and saunas.