(Re) Visited by WB, aem & Muttley
Its been some time since I visited this challenging drain with Ojay & Thompski HERE and I never intended to EVER go back here due to the awful 4ft stoopy entrance!
However I was out and about with aem & Muttley looking at other things in the same area and neither of them had seen Decepticon...
So off we went up the 150 metres ish of 4ft stoop.
This time I was determined to follow the drain up as far as I could and find its eventual source, or even a mid-point manhole for convenient non-stoopy access!
We spent 20 minutes or so walking up the tunnel until we reached the previous CBA location... I had CBA last time due to wet feet.
After this point it was all RCP, and slippery as hell!
Starting off with 6ft RCP
There were a few inspection shafts along the way as we followed the pipe, but no real major features until we reached a staircase which looped back and over the RCP and led to a tiny RCP... must have been 3ft-ish.
Needless to say I didn't go any further up this pipe but the equipment list should there be a 'Next time' will include a skateboard.
Anyway we returned to the main pipe and kept following it upstream while trying not to fall on our collective arses. Much to Muttleys dismay (he's at least 6ft tall) the RCP changed diameter down to 5ft from here on, requiring all of us to stoop slightly as we carried on.
From this point onwards, the CBA-meter was quickly dropping due to the stoopy progress! Finally we reached the 'staircase' which i've seen on Yaz's photo collection from his visit here. At the top of the staircase was a huge 6ft RCP which raised my hopes!
However...
Drain FAIL!
Now thouroughly disappointed, we returned once again to the main pipe and kept following it upstream, only stopping at an inspection chamber to get a quick people shot.
Along the way there were various leaks from the ceiling which we had to either walk around without falling over or just run through and hope for the best! However this one was different.
Looks as if the concrete has collapsed here, exposing the reinforcing rods!
The only other feature we found on the way up the pipe was this interesting intersection..
Quite possibly a sewer pipe added at a later date?
Beyond this point the 5ft RCP continued past another two inspection chambers with no more major features, by this point we had walked a LONG way, and could hear the rumble of the Sheffield supertram going overhead so we had a pretty good idea where we were...
I wanted to be sure though, after so much time & effort and only being rewarded with miles & miles of RCP. It was kinda like bunker but without all the cool shit! Anyway I found a manhole with a small gap between the covers, just big enough to poke my phone GPS antenna through and get a position lock!
That was my prize, after walking all that effing way I wasn't going to endure this freakin walk ever again.
CBA had now set in, all I could see ahead of me was another endless section of 5ft RCP. We had been underground for 3 hours so decided to head back towards the killer-stoop outfall and outta here!
Thanks for looking.
WB
Last edited:
