Keep arms and legs inside the cart at all times

Please exit through the gift shop.

Peeling paint

I've done some peeling paint. Somebody alert the UE authorities.

Please note, the nearest exit may be behind you

You'd think there was more difficulty involved in infiltrating a live airport. Especially in today's anti-terror climate. But as long as you keep your wits about you, and remember where the last escape point you passed is, you should be fine (Also: be white).

I thought I might find the keys to that luggage buggy so that I could take it for a spin. Well, they were stupid enough to leave it unlocked.

London Craning

I was in London for a few days and had a gap in my schedule. What better way to keep myself occupied than by climbing a crane some 25 storeys above central London?

Shouts to Lovely (for being a muthafucking BOSS), Winch (for being my main man in The South) and Nebs (for being the sickcunt who climbed the jib on this crane).

Chester the Molestor

What's the point of having motion detectors and alarms on scaffolding if you don't bother arming them at the end of the day?

Comical works

You'd be surprised how easy it is to get balls deep into a live chemical factory.

Theme Parks

Sometimes people visit Manchester from other countries. What better way to keep these foreign visitors happy than to take them to theme parks and to go on a few rides?

Windmillin'

Two posts within 24 hours? I'm spoiling you.

Rhyl Flats is a huge offshore windfarm.

The base of operations is Mostyn Docks.

These windmill blades are huge, incredibly light, and amplify the tiniest of sounds to deafening levels.

One does not simply walk into live dockyards.

Local History

When you live in Manchester and immerse yourself in that city's rich industrial history, it's easy to overlook the rich history of the town where you grew up.

From the 1790s onwards, copper production was tha shiznit in Holywell, Flintshire. Thomas Williams developed Greenfield valley to reach this end.

Holywell copper was used to line the hull of Nelson's HMS Victory. The copper produced here was also used to make shackles on slave ships. Something, unfortunately, I'm sure a large number of Holywell's citizens would be proud of today.

Before Boulton and Watt's steam engine became the catalyst for industrial explosion in the 19th century, running water was the necessary tool used to power industry. Greenfield valley has a high number of hidden, tiny culverts which are truly ancient in terms of industry. These stone-built passageways are tiny and have a low flow of crystal clear water.

There's a lot more here that I'm yet to explore here, but this is the starting point.

Railway stylin'

Run on tracks.

Supercharged

When you move house, sometimes you have to go into the drains that are 100 yards from your new place.

Castlefield Viaduct 2011

Sometimes it's nice to see the same places again.

Cathedral Steps

For about 24 hours, this "holy grail" of Manchester exploring was so easy to access every n00b from all over the country was driving up to follow the tourist trail, only to learn that the builders developing the site got wise to things and locked it up tight. Better luck next time eh?!

Bunkons

Warrington. Drain. Winch. Agour.

Peace.

Hoenoez

Brapford

I've been lazy in updating.

Here are a few pictures from Yorkshire.

With nckt.

Brap.

Manchester Salford Junction Canal

The Manchester Salford Junction canal was opened in the 1830s to take boats from the River Irwell to the Rochdale canal. The Great Northern Warehouse was built above it at a later date.

The canal closed in the 1920s, and this huge space was converted into air raid shelters during the Second World War.

Medlock Tomfoolery

Met up with my boys Gone and nckt today.

After we failed to reach one drain because it had been raining all night and Gone got a wader-breach on his way in, myself and nckt headed down to YouMissed and HFLB for some epic drain lolery.

Walked home with nckt fully wadered-up through the city centre. You love it.

Optimus Prime

Optimus Prime is probably the largest culvert in Manchester.

It leads the River Irk beneath Victoria railway station before it reaches the Irwell near the MEN Arena.

Visited with nckt and ConcreteJungle, surprisingly none of us had visited this well-known Manchester drain before.











I'm so poor at the moment I can't afford batteries. The ones in my camera died before I could take any decent shots of this drain's main feature - a wooden, Victorian cattle bridge that has been culverted over. FML!

In My Sights

"In My Sights" is a giant sewage storage tank in Greater Manchester.

When I say "giant" I mean GIANT. This place is huge.

Visited with nckt and ConcreteJungle. CJ made his first visit a few weeks back. A lot of safety rails saving workers from an 80ft drop into raw sewage had been removed by pikeys before he visited, but when we opened the same manhole on our joint visit we were in for a surprise.

The lid lifted, flies, heat, steam and the horrible stench all billowed out.

"In you go" suggests ConcreteJungle.

nckt and myself look at each other.

"Err... how?"

The pikeys who had removed the safety rails had been back and taken the ladder that had been bolted to the wall. There was now a 20ft gap between the manhole and the platform we wanted to get to. Luckily, the place was vast enough to have about 5 or 6 other options.

Many grated off, some locked, we eventually got lucky and found a ladder beneath one manhole. Only this ladder was roughly 80ft in height and completely exposed to the drop.

Leaning back on this ladder to avoid the debris and raw human waste caught on the rungs was terrifying and disgusting in equal measure.

Wading through raw sewage, slipping on the sloped concrete floor and getting used to a smell that could only be described as "Ungodly" was all part of the fun.

Unfortunately my pictures only really showed the filth and not the scale of the place. Check out ConcreteJungle's pics (http://substormflow.blogspot.com/2010/06/in-my-sights.html) to truly understand the scale of this epic shit tank.