Kelvedon Hatch - The Government's Last Hiding Place

Kelvedon Hatch is a three-level, massive bunker -- biggest I've ever been to. The bunker has had multiple functions over its active years of use. In the last years it was the reserve Regional Government HQ, designed to support up to 600 civilian and military personnel, possibly including the prime minister.

The bunker was decommissioned in 1992, and sold for private use, the owner running it as a tourist attraction since then.

More information from the official web page and wikipedia. The bunker is at N 51.671806 E 0.256556. The easiest way to get to the bunker is to take the Elisabeth Line to Brentwood Railway Station (38 minutes, 7 £ off-peak), then grab a taxi to the bunker.

Here's the overall bunker plan:

Here's the hidden entrance, behind a farm house:

Here are some of the internal rooms:

Radio (public) transmission room and the phone exchange:

On the outside, there's nothing:

Exit tunnel:

Other things:

Trash:

Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot, TGR. Photos and text (c) 2014-2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. 

There's a swimming hall in Siuntio!

Didn’t realize there was a community swimming hall in Siuntio. And I guess it’s pretty new, previously part of the closed hotel but since the hotel has been revived and the Siuntio community took on the spa part in 2023 … quite nice. Dated, but well done. Two 25-meter pools. Just few people, life guards will say hi unlike in Espoo or Helsinki, etc. Worth a visit.

The hall was previously called Siuntio Kylpylä (Siuntio Spa).

There's two saunas in the public dressing rooms, and a steam sauna that seemed to be not in use or perhaps decommissioned. In the pool area there was a jacuzzi that was also decommissioned. Still, a very nice pool area with the two pools, nice lights, and not a usual boring swimming hall setup. Well done.

As this is a hotel, they also have a private sauna to rent for 150€ for three hours, and there's a restaurant, with occasionally some programs. I heard about this place to begin with from my physiotherapist who had been there for a Valentine's Day event with some show and staying the night, etc.

A relaxing place, like the chair says ("take it easy"):

Pools:

Signs:

Outside:

Interestingly, as part of re-opening the hotel, they rebuilt the second hotel building as an apartment building, and are selling the apartments, at an amazingly low price of 47 000 € for a one room apartment (22 sqm, converted from a hotel room). Interesting, with a nice swimming hall right next door. Of course there's not much around than the hotel. Still, much cheaper than living in Espoo or Helsinki...

For more information, the hotel page is here, and the Siuntio community page is here.

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. I never take photos of saunagoers or swimmers. The photos in this article have been taken after the facility was closed and with permission.

Turkish Airlines long haul experience .. in the back

This was my first experience flying Turkish Airlines on long-haul flights. I had initially wanted to get the cheap tickets from Frankfurt to Ulaanbaatar on Mongolian Airlines, but they didn't seem to be available on my dates, so I opted for going from Helsinki to Istanbul and then to Ulaanbaatar. The layover in Istanbul was only an hour and five minutes, which was unnerving. But I made it, so did my luggage, and overall had a happy experience with Turkish Airlines. Full, hot meals on intra-European flights, eyeshades for the tourist class passengers, etc. Nice!

The European flights seem to be running on new Airbus A321 NEOs, and the Ulaanbaatar route is every second day only, using a single A330. The A330 is comfortable, seating is not too bad even in the back. Maybe the colors bring some 1970s feeling though:

Helsinki to Istanbul:

Istanbul International airport (offical page, wikipedia):

Istanbul to Ulaanbaatar:

My AirTags were telling me that all my luggage had been loaded from the Helsinki flight to the Ulaanbaatar flight, despite the very tight connection. Well done:

Then we arrived at the Chinggis Khaan airport at Ulaanbaatar (official page, wikipedia). The first pictures are from the outside, next one a sign in the airport, and then the check-in area and the gate areas. And finally some other planes in the airport.

Return journey:

The route from Istanbul to Ulaanbaatar does not go over Russia, thank God. Still, it goes unnervingly close to for instance Baku that was the starting point of the Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 that Russians shot down without any clue or care about the innocent passengers.

At the Helsinki-Vantaa airport, I also had a nice even if a bit cold sauna experience, see the other article here. And in Ulaanbaatar I explored caves and went skiing, see the articles here and here.

For more flying stories, check out the planetflier.com website! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. 

Free sauna in HEL!

When one drags a ton of luggage to the airport and is heading for a long flight, it would be nice to visit a sauna. Except if you aren't on your usual airline that has the nice sauna in their lounge... However, to my big surprise I found a new, FREE, sauna on the non-Schengen side of the airport near gate 40. The downside? The sauna is a bit on the cold side... but it was a nice and quiet place to sit and have a conference call, at least. Until some some little people arrived and started playing ... 

The sauna:

Here is where the sauna is located at. It is a Christmas cabin, where everyone can get to the Christmas spirit :-) More information here.

And here was my luggage load:

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! For more flying stories, check out the planetflier.com website! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.