Brapford

I've been lazy in updating.

Here are a few pictures from Yorkshire.

With nckt.

Brap.

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!

The Works

The Works is a massive CSO pipe in the Collyhurst ghetto.

Visited with Morse.

Vin Diesel

Visited with Eotech.

Named after the stench of diesel that fills the air. Easily one of the dirtiest, most polluted drains I've ever been in.

Here's a video of it...

Hyde Falls

This deep culvert was discovered by Dan Helsing who first walked its length from the infall to the falls with nckt where they couldn't continue without rope.

The following night I tagged along with them and we headed up through the outfall.

It starts as a concrete box with a plughole draining into it.

This way to my secret lair...

Dan Helsing keeps a look out...

From here it gets rocky and bastardly treacherous. Proceed with caution. Seriously.

It then opens up into the chamber that Dan and nckt reached the night before. WOW. The chamber is vast and echoes the sound of the water hammering down onto the rocks below both falls. I'm sure I have tinnitus from that place.

Gripper Pt.2

After planned visits to big drains were rained off, Dan Helsing, nckt and myself spent most of the afternoon looking for new drains in Manchester.

Stood in the rain, getting piss-wet through lifting manholes on scrubland. Not glamourous, and not successful.

We had new torches and were getting desperate. Off to an old favourite then!

Sidedraft Induction

It was about 10pm one night this week when I was talking to Gone and on a whim we decided to re-visit this well known Manchester drain.

Parking and wadering-up we walked through the infall. The flow was lower than our last visit and Gone had a pair of waders by now, so I wasn't piggy-backing him through the deeper bits. He rode me like that fox on the dog in The Labyrinth.

After walking down this pill-shaped tunnel for a while it comes to a taller, wider chamber with a side pipe. A quick excursion up this pipe lead to the motherload.

A massive overflow chamber with two floors of concrete and a rapid river of poop.

One of Gone's...

Heading back to the clean(er) water of the brook we headed downstream to the outfall. Proceed with caution from here. It's silty and full of potholes. We got back above ground and walked back to the car in our waders. Weird looks FTW.

Hulme Flume's Little Brother

Having had my cast removed in the morning, I popped round to Gone's residence to say hello. Obviously, we ended up going out exploring. After a quick sussing of our entry point, we donned waders and entered the Medlock on a snowy Manchester evening.

Hulme Flume's Little Brother is, I assume, a sewage overflow pipe headed towards the River Medlock. It follows Princess Street up to a small penstock chamber which dissects its course with sewage at Whitworth Street.

This six foot diameter round brick pipe is beautiful. Lots of fun, and quite dry (after initial entry).

Gone gets sewerfresh...

Gone again...

Me...

Bunker Drain, Warrington - Jan 2010

Visited with Gone, Ojay and Rookie.

Ojay and Rookie

Gone

As Gone opened the manhole cover to get back out he shouted "There's a bus!". A bus had stopped right next to the manhole and all of its passengers were staring at Gone as he emerged from this drain. Subtle!

Bunker was also the birthplace of "Wet drain free climbing".