Corn brook, Manchester

End to End by Ojay & Thompski.

First things first, a bit of a bone of contention here, as despite some of the crazy shit that has taken place I have a lot of respect for YAZ, despite what people think he has done, never the less he's has done some serious draining!

When I spoke to him ages and ages ago about this place, this was his response AND I QUOTE....

"lol, it’s the hardest drain in Manchester, it took nearly 5 hours to traverse its entire length, and most of it is at 4 foot high, It requires a spine of steel". - (This bit I already figured BTW)

"There are some pretty dangerous parts, there’s a lot of rock death, and be careful of popping manholes, some of them come out in some rather on top locations"...

"By the way, you can't get out of the infall, so think twice about where you exit. This drain is the hardest drain I’ve ever done, and I’ve done a lot of drains... take it from me, it makes men out of boys. the last people to venture into it that I know, done it in 3 parts because the conditions are that bad. I only know two other people who've traversed the drain in one sitting. Even Siologen who first explored it, did it in a number of parts".

"I HAVE NO INTENTION OF EVER EVER EVER EVER VISTING THAT DRAIN AGAIN".

Fast forward 3 months and it's time I went along to Cornbrook to see what all the fuss was about.

(Hardcore, 3 parts, bad conditions etc Pfft. Bring it on!)

Ok one slight problem, all this enthusiasm about the biggest underground shit hole in Manchester and I had no volunteers? As above, anybody who has done this vowed they would never return, WORD!.

WTF, I needed someone who had a spine of steel and was up for an epic mooch..... Err Thompski?

It was to be his last night in Manchester forever, so what a way to send him off but to haul his ass down to this grim place.

As always, we were armed to the teeth with enough lighting and fodder to outstay a nuclear fallout, however my 'Tesco Value' rucksack didn't survive the journey.

Thompski ditched his DSLR in favour of the 35mm film affair for this trip, well in, except his manual shutter release cable failed miserably after about 2 hours in, and he only managed to get a few shots before a serious bout of CBA kicked in, so it was up to moi to get the rest. I have to say though, he makes a good lighting bitch.

Comedy moments ensued; whilst some dude was fishing opposite, 2 losers wadered into the brook opposite. The Outfall was horrid. Besides the initial 'slide on our arse' approach down the embankment through killer nettles and under the stoopy bridge we were eventually greeted with a concrete box section. FFS is this some kind of optical illusion? Afraid not..... As I stepped forward I vanished into what I can only describe as capital punishment.

In a normal drain the next 300 yds would be piss simple and take around 3-5 minutes depending on conditions, except to say that this was Cornbrook. 30 minutes later and we had somehow miraculously made our way through the most ridiculous fast sinking silted shitfest I have ever had the mis-fortune to encounter. Each step was a joke, :popcorn whilst leg sinks fast, :popcorn whilst it takes another 30 seconds or more to lift the frigger back out! (If you checkout the first video below, you can just about see where we could start to move a bit easier).

After an eternity we were clear, but remained in the most stoopy silted, shitty concrete box I have ever had the mis-fortune of being stuck in!

So far around 40 minutes had passed by and we had gone fucking nowhere, boy was it going to be a long day/night/day LOL.

SOME SHIZZLE:

The Cornbrook is one of the 'Lost Rivers Of Manchester'. At over 5500 meters long, it runs diagonally under central Manchester, before emerging at the far reaches of Aardwick and the edge of Gorton.

Its deffo the longest & hardest drain in Manc without fail, if not the North West and possibly even the UNIVERSE.

At mainly 4ft throughout and occasionally reaching the dizzy heights of 5 and 6 ft and changing shape so quick and often you struggle to keep up, (Oh and the longest concrete box sections ever). Man made manhole to stretch back!

Anyway on with a few pics, sadly not too many due to the 'nothing short of ridiculous' conditions down there, and the fact that Thompski had camera fail followed by CBA (Can't be arsed Attitude).

The dreaded 4ft stoopy as shit, never ending concrete box....

After nearly 45 minutes, enough already, time for some drain meal

Ojay - "Fuck me there is an end to this stooping"

Err not really, around 500 yds of brick and stone tunnel,

and it was back to more miles of stooping.

This fairly long stone section was a real bastard, excuse the French.

It was rocky as hell and like everything else down here, seemed to go on and on and on

Eventually we could stand up, yay, however the air quality wasn't great in here and there was no manhole escape either

As we neared the end, lots of weird and wonderful shaped brick tunnels passed us by

Over 7 hours later Thompski managed to receive a signal on his trusty Nokia whilst dangling from some rather fooked looking manhole... Out comes the iPhone to check the GPS position, WINNER we were less than 200 yards from the Infall, but wait up what’s this ahead?

This looked disgusting, infact it was far worse, and we were now chest deep in some real fester.... Obviously I went first :rolleyes: about a third of the way in I managed to disturb some drift wood that was seemingly holding back the shit fest I was about to traverse. Oh my days this was horrid, methane bubbling around the place and the most sinister of drain surprises you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy.

By this point, the Red Bull had ran out, the back was fooked, Thompski had lost the will to live, so it was unanimous we wasn't going to do the last 200 yds to the 'Grilled' Infall, which we knew there was no way out...

Here it is the following day, grinning at you through the undergrowth, knowing full well anyone stupid enough to come this far aint getting out alive!

Some Video....

ONE

TWO

THOMPSKI's 35mm CLASSICS

Where in most drains it would be a huge relief to see the Infall, Cornbrook now presents GTFO challenge. I had already sussed a manhole close by, could we lift it could we fook. infact over an hour later and several failed attempts we seriously needed to get out, as another 8 hours back was not happening.

Finally I found some liddage I could move, one giant shove for mankind and it was pure comedy as I popped my head out to find a dome cam above said liddage. (GULP). There was no turning back, we'd had enough, "fuck the CCTV, pass me my rucksack, were outta here", shortly followed by Thompski it was now 5am and we were wandering around a certain University campus with a rather trance like disposition knowing full well we had a mother of a mooch back to the car. Oh well at least it was over ground.

It was over, the fresh City air was a blast, we got some seriously weird looks as we crossed the city, covered in god only knows what before heading back to the Outfall to recover our dry gear.
2 days later to recover and well over a week later, I manage to find enough energy to write a report.

Silver Jubilee Bridge Climb, Runcorn

Climbed By Ojay, Stepping Lightly, UserScott & Yaz....Legends!

Massive respect to S.L for motivating us to get up here, it's something we had looked at for some time and just never got around to 'doing'. Imagine my surprise when I got a text out of the blue with "It's a good night for climbing a bridge ;)" LOL, I had already had a drink or too :D


Er, Ok, go on then, like I didn't know which bridge it was.......


Credits were never given on the forums originally as it was hinted that names were not to be mentioned; SEE BELOW PRESS CUTTING for a reason why! (Self Explanatory).


Anyway, not sure what all the fuss was about, it's a bridge, in RUNCORN!

The Silver Jubilee Bridge crosses the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal at Runcorn Gap between Runcorn and Widnes in Cheshire, England. Constructed in 1958, it is a through steel arch cantilvered bridge that was officially opened on 21 July 1961 by Princess Alexandra.

It has since been widened between 1975–77. It carries the A533 road and a cantilevered footway. The bridge is a grade II listed building.

Picture taken from the official opening - 21 July 1961.

The main arch is 1,082 feet (330 m) long and each side arch measures 250 feet (76 m). During its construction 720,000 rivets were used. Its height over the river bed is 285 feet (87 m) and the headroom over the ship canal is 80 feet (24 m). During its construction 5,900 tons of steel were used and 7,500 tons of concrete. The bridge requires constant repainting and for this one coat uses 6,000 imperial gallons (27,277 l) of paint. On the Runcorn side, the approach viaducts are 1,076 feet (328 m) in length, and on the Widnes side 498 feet (152 m). The cost of constructing the bridge was £2,433,000. At the time of its construction it had the third longest steel arch span in the world. It had the longest vehicular span in the country, but this record was held for only a few weeks until the Tamar Bridge was completed.
By 2001 it was the 10th longest steel arch bridge, and at that time was just 20 centimetres (8 in) short of having Europe's largest span.
Having travelled across this magnificent structure many times over, I often wondered about climbing it, and what the views from the top would be like...

This is a busy thoroughfare, and no matter what time of day/night, there is a constant flow of traffic, including the Police. Oh and not forgetting the place is camered up!
Tonight was the night, a few energy drinks later it was a case of free climb up quick, minimal exposure time on this one. One giant GULP for mankind and I was off up to the top of the bridge.
Once up, it's difficult to stay out of sight, as it's lit up like a Christmas tree and you are visible from miles around. It seemed like forever to reach the 'high point'. Once here, I bravely got out my camera and grabbed a few shots, before packing up and getting the fook down...FAST!

Apologies for the picture quality, as no tripod and very windy, not to mention the constant movement.

(Oh, and think twice before doing this one - See Below)

View from the top

Handrail; I suggest you use it

Work is currently taking place on the bridge, therefore scaffold has been erected underneath, so I figured it would be rude not to take a closer look whilst I was here.

(WARNING - It's alarmed up, the security van came by soon after) Could actually see the infra-red beam on the camera live view, once it was too late. GTFO.

Thanks for looking

Drain Roundup

May, and the start of June has been a busy time for drains.......

 

 

Pipemare, Halifax

Visited By Ojay & Thompski.

 Having had a quick mooch round some mills, and a can't be arsed approach to some roof-topping, we headed over to Halifax to do what we do best, draining.
Thank fook, I've seen enough Mills and dereliction for one week, back to the underground stuff.
Anyway enough of the banter, 'PIPEMARE' is an interesting culverted section(s) of the Hebble Brook.

The River Hebble, or Hebble Brook, rises just above Ovenden Moor, Yorkshire, and flows South down the geological fault which passes from Ogden, through Halifax to Salterhebble. The River has many names as it flows through the district: Ogden Brook, Mixenden Beck, The Dodge, Jumples Beck, Ovenden Wood Brook, Halifax Brook, Salterhebble Brook.

I decided to take some shots of the infall before it went dark, I was beginning to wonder why Thompski stayed on the bridge? No sooner had I slid on my arse down, I was sinking fast into silted shit sand, whilst trying to balance on the biggest pile of nettles I have ever seen. (They seem to be following me around since the incident at Leeds).
Anyway after what seemed like ages, I managed to haul my arse out, up and down into the Infall, which was pretty cool in itself as you climb down past the 'mini falls' before heading downstream.

This drain changes shape and size that often and is so varied it even makes the concrete a pleasure to walk through for a change.

Now then if you plan and 'doing' this one, be prepared it's a reet old ankle breaker. It makes the WORKS DRAIN in Manchester a piece of piss....
At around 1400 metres in length, excluding the 'Pipemare' it's a right old mooch; Walking, stooping, climbing whilst passing through Stone, Spray-crete, Brick, Rcp, Cso's & 130ft Dropshafts before finally heading down to the pipes themselves. On the way we passed the 'Sump Of Doom' which judging by the effects of the boulder I wrestled in, death is immenent if you fall in there, be warned, it's on the left, just before the culvert opens up for the first of 2 tiny sections before the downstream bit.
We spent a good few hours in here, largely down to the fact that it was rocky as fook, and a right old stooper in parts. After an eternity we made it to the pipes, bloody hell what a clusterfuck! a few photos later and it was time to call it a night....until....BANG! My fucking head, as I managed to walk straight into a supporting steel strut..

I just wanted to GTFO by this point sporting my new cartoon lump, and as I was waiting for Thompski to finish dicking around, the strangest thing ran by, I thought I was hallucinating again? It wasn't a Rat, infact it was more like some mutant ferret, even better I stood there grinning whilst Thompski had to walk past it's nest (Winner).
We even considered walking back overground at one point, but as we seem to both share the same can't be arsed attitude at the minute we headed back the way we came. LOL

Rusty Pipes & Fanny Plasters FTW....

'Falls' - Other side of the Infall

Once down, 150 yards up this stone/spray-crete tunnel

before it opens up into this much larger stone/brick tunnel

WARNING - Slippy as Fook, we had to shimmy along the side, but on the way back I just wadered in....

Another 300 yards down and we could hear the loud roar ahead, sure enough it wasn't long before we arrived at the 2nd 'Falls'

A quick climb down and we are now into this rather long concrete section, with the main trunk sewer flowing through the box section below our feet

After stooping for ever and a day, it opened up into this much larger RCP, we had slip 'n' slide along this rusty sewer pipe for an age

before being greeted with the smell of sewerfresh from this rather large CSO

Before it eventually widened into another stone/brick come spray-crete tunnel

This section was rather relentless and a real ankle breaker (FFS where the pipes?)!!!

15 minutes later we were greeted with more sewerfresh smells from the following overflows

and then into some red brickwork, not often seen in Yorkshire.

Not long in we could see daylight, we passed the 'Sump of Doom' on the left before we went back under again,

more ankle breaking stoopyness brought us to the following split in the system

The Brook continued down the LEFT section

Whilst on the RIGHT was dry for a while

before it eventually joined the Brook again and turned into a right 'Pipemare'

A worthwhile mooch, but doubt I will be returning anytime soon. Thanks for looking.