A heatwave was forecast for today, but to be honest it didn’t look much like it first thing, with heavy cloud and then a shower or two of rain. We had booked tickets for the Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker, just back along the canal — as we’ve passed this way many times but never been to have a look. So mid morning we walked back along the towpath to the correct bridge, and then just two minutes up the lane.
The site had been an RAF radar station for decades, but throughout the 1980s and into the early 90s it was used as a nuclear bunker, and would have been the regional centre for government had there been a nuclear attack. There’s all sorts of tech, which of course now looks hopelessly out of date, which would have been used to keep things going in the event of Armageddon.
A couple of rooms of particular interest to me were the BBC office and studio, with a desk which clearly came from Radio Shropshire.
I used to work with the much-missed Radio 4 announcer, Peter Donaldson, and one of his claims to fame was that he’d recorded a load of announcements which would have been broadcast in the event of a nuclear war.
We had very nice toasted sandwiches in the NAAFI canteen (mine was cheese and Marmite!) and then wandered back to the boat. As soon as we left the underground complex we realised it had got very warm outside, and it has continued all afternoon. There has been a half-hearted attempt at a shower, and it was actually quite nice being out in it.
0 miles, 0 locks. (6 miles, 2 locks)
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