I hated Strata, each time we ventured into London it smirked at us as we drove by. Every attempt to climb it ended with the same wailing siren of ‘You Lose’. Over the years the furthest i had made it was the ninth floor when situations out of my control had forced us to leave. No more, tonight we would reach the top, dragging the entire security team at our feet if we had to!

The main problem we had was cameras, Strata was littered with them. Even the slightest misstep set off the alarms. We stood across the road trying to figure out any blind spots or obstructions we could use to our benefit. In the end there was only one option. Road clear, gear checked we climbed.

With stage one clear the hardest part was over, only one door now standing in our way. Unfortunately this was alarmed and excluding walking back out in front of the cameras we had spent so much effort avoiding we couldn’t see an alternative way up. Well we’ve already come this far, time to think thin. We squeezed over the door and began our ascent. By the time we reached the halfway mark i was completely out of breath, time for a short break.

”Bang”, ”Whiiirrrrr”, “Bang”. We both froze, loud footsteps, door shutting and voices could be heard on the floors above. It shouldn’t be workers, maybe security? Had we set off the doors alarm while trying to climb over? Fearing the worst we crept back down to a lower level as slowly but surely after a series of bangs and crashes the noises moved a level towards us.

We were now faced with two options, run or hide. If we had set off the alarm and security were putting this much effort to checking floor by floor then someone would be waiting at the bottom, in a nutshell we were trapped. We could hide in a fridge or cupboard but then a beat down was guaranteed if discovered. We wasted time debating our options, all the while being slowly forced back to the ground floor like a cornered rat. Time almost up we decided our only way out, was up.

The bridge to the crane was just three floors up from our current level, sure it was risky going towards security but we didn’t have any other option. We climbed two levels without incident but just as we were about to walk over to the crane site heard voices coming from around the corner, grabbed my back and pulled me into the stairwell. We paused ready to retreat for the third time when the door to the floor above us creaked open. No choice now. We darted for the crane and climbed as quick as we couldn’t, praying security hadn’t heard us. We waited for ten minutes before agreeing we were safe and continued to the top.

As views in London go, Strata’s are surprisingly poor, possibly the worst so far. Situated too far from the central and docklands block, with no view of the thames all you end up getting is some council flats and a run down shopping center. Given its size it was a bit of a disappointment but i guess you cant expect much from something in Elephant & Castle.

We grabbed some snaps of what we could before descending and returning to the car, mission complete. While it was still an enjoyable, if not nerve wracking night, Strata was a location which in my opinion didn’t offer rewards worthy to the visiting explorer.