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The theme for our October competition is: Impossible Travel.
Locked gates, blocked roads, abandoned stations, wrecked boats, etc suggested by my friend Mike (who is not on TSE.) (Put on the topics list by Willeke.)

You may make your submission as an answer to this post. The standard rules for photo contests apply:

  • Only one photo per answer.
  • You can make up to three posts (attempts).
  • Do not delete posts if you don't get votes: you posted it, stand by it. (You have two more attempts if your first one doesn't work out.)
  • All submissions should have a line with when and where the photo was taken.
  • The photo has to be taken by the person who posted it, or by a travel partner (needs to be named).
  • Keep it nice, non-offensive, and non-NSFW.
  • If you disagree with a photo, please consider leaving a comment on it or bringing it up in chat. For the purposes of judging, only upvotes will be considered; downvotes will not affect the score of the photo.
  • The photo may have been taken any time.
  • The photo competition will begin October 1, 2020, 0:00 UTC, and continue until the end of the month (again in UTC). If there is no tie for the highest number of upvotes at the end of the month, the winner will be announced then; if there is, the voting period may extend beyond the month.

If you'd like to suggest a theme for a future photo competition, please add it to the list of possible photo competition topics. Also, you can join us in chat to help us make the decision on which topic to choose.

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  • 1
    I hope Mike is going to enter!
    – Mark Mayo
    Oct 1, 2020 at 0:11
  • 2
    Mike says - the pics posted so far are exactly the sort of imaginative answers I'd hoped this question might get
    – Willeke Mod
    Oct 1, 2020 at 17:50
  • "You posted it, stand by it." Does this allow editing the picture after posting? Oct 4, 2020 at 20:38
  • 2
    @WeatherVane If is soon after posting, say up to 10 minutes, no problem. If it is a minor edit and the photo is basically the same, I do not mind when you edit. This rule is mostly to stop people to change their photo after voting on it has started.
    – Willeke Mod
    Oct 5, 2020 at 8:14

14 Answers 14

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Warning: Anti-climb paint

I have no idea what anti-climb paint is, or why it was necessary to use it or to warn of its use. But, I guess, it's now impossible to climb this wall.

This was taken in London, on November 16, 2015.

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    Anti-climb paint is quite common in a lot of areas, especially in London. It consists of a thick oily coating. My guess here is that some people have tried to be stupid and climb wherever that is. Not really sure how this relates to the theme?
    – Xnero
    Oct 1, 2020 at 15:36
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    @Xnero because it's impossible to travel up the wall by climbing :)
    – Mark Mayo
    Oct 2, 2020 at 9:14
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Upturned tank that clearly isn't going anywhere. Tajikistan, on Pamir Highway, 12 July 2011.

ƒ/51/10018 mmISO200

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I actually wish I had photo / video of the time two elephants charged me in a game reserve in South Africa. I had to reverse at full speed, swearing as they gained on us.

However, I do have this, where the silly zebra refused to move. Animals get right of way!

15 April 2005

SONY DSC-V3
ƒ/4.51/50028 mmISO100

Kruger National Park, South Africa

enter image description here

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One of the few Ferraris it‘s impossible to travel with.

A bench in Maranello, Italy. Jun 1, 2019

Ferrari bench

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Another animal blockade, encountered around Christmas 2019 on Easter Island:

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which made me wonder when the road is blocked by animals, what's the proper way to proceed?

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This little guy was crawling across the path in a conservation area, and wasn't making much progress even without my wife's foot. (We did let him go on after the photo - I really just wanted the foot for scale)

blocked baby turtle

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Uluru / Ayer's Rock. Taken 27 Apr 2014.

The local people always disliked people climbing their sacred site, and as of 26 October 2019, the climb closed forever. It's now (legally) impossible to climb Uluru.

enter image description here

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"Going nowhere"

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Taken by me in September 2007 in East Anglia, UK.

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Taken by me, June 2016, near Busan, South Korea. This is the wrecked ship “Ocean Tango”, which ran aground April 17, 2016. The ship was cut into sections, which were then taken to a scrapyard. Not only was the travel of this ship made impossible, the cars that were going to be its cargo had to be taken by another vessel.

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In these times of Covid, travel options are very limited. For some it's about closed borders and limited flights, for some communities that means isolation from most of the surrounding world. In Canada, many First Nation communities are protected from the propagation of the virus with bans on visits to their community. Some are enforced with checkpoints on a road access to the community, some like here in Manitoulin Island have a sign to prohibit stopping in the community.

Taken during the 2020 summer on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada.

No stopping in M' Chigeeng

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Solitary Confinement, Île Saint-Joseph

The once-fiercely-impossible solitary confinement barracks on Île Saint-Joseph in French Guyana (part of the Îles du Salut, which also include the more evocatively named but less harsh Devil's Island). While humans weren't generally allowed out of here, iron bars can't stop the plants from getting in. What was once a site of unimaginable hell is now an extremely pleasant tourist boat ride.

I was there on January 25, 2019.

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Shake hip and follow the steps... into the Pacific Ocean at Yonaguni, the southernmost island in Japan. Perhaps you can swim to Taiwan, just 70 km away?

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After the 2016 election, New Yorkers wrote their thoughts on Post-It notes and put them on the walls of the subway station. Hope feels even more impossible when there's a fence between you and the community coming together.

This photo was on November 23, 2016, at the Union Square subway station in New York City.

I wonder what'll happen this year.

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Last year I took part in a drive of some sport cars through Germany and Benelux. Unfortunately the german police didn‘t really like the idea or the way of driving of some cars. They blocked the road for 2 hours and checked our papers, but at the end everything was fine and we were allowed to continue our trip

April 13, 2019

Road blocked by police

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