Dis-used Cable Tunnel, Bradford

Another night of lid lifting around Bradford...

...We stumbled upon this dis-used cable tunnel

It was a tight squeeze, but easily walkable once inside, although a bit muddy in parts!

The tunnel was split into 2 sections, with a couple of bricked up access points along the way, it has been backfilled about halfway through, so a return trip with spades for a spot of digging me thinks.

Smurfs Hollow Re Re-visited

4th visit to this place now with Oldskool.

We finally got around to properly checking out the other Infall and working out this drain properly.

It's essentially 2 culverts rolled into one...

The Elton Brook Infalls from the West and is culverted underneath Bury, This section we covered on previous visits.

The Walshaw Brook Infalls from the North and joins up with the Elton Brook as it's culverted underground.


Elton Brook Section - An interesting mixture of RCP, Stone & Brick, it does become stoopy in parts, but on the whole is easy to traverse until it joins up with the coit somewhere near the Outfall, this is as far as I have ever bothered to go, you will understand why from the final pic.

Heading downstream from the Elton Brook Infall

The stonework soon gives way to a section of RCP

Before reaching this large concrete construction shaft, which is now capped with a housing estate above

Heading downstream the RCP changes back to stone briefly

It is here where the pail of water hangs from some old rope down the bottom of a manhole chamber

The culvert now changes to much older victorian brick, which has collapsed in parts

Back again to stone, briefly

Then brickwork

Before reaching a rather stoopy Coit

The water is real deep under here, so fook that back we go!


Walshaw Brook Section - Somewhat shorter and rather stoopy. Largely stone with a renewed section of RCP and a number of manhole chambers eventually leading upstream to the Infall.

Not much too see here really versus the amount of stooping required, still good to finally get some pics and check it out properly.

Heading upstream from the Elton Brook Infall

This stone tunnel is similar to the previous section, but initially longer and much more stoopier.

Shrinking to under 4ft it takes a sharp turn right, I really struggled here as it was also quite deep. Wellie fail ensued, I twatted my head, sprained my bad ankle and nearly dunked my camera...

...Why oh why do I do this shit!

Just past this ridiculous stretch of culvert the stonework changes to some rather stoopy RCP FFS

There were a number of large inspection chambers along the way, which allowed us both to stretch our spines out

At the end of a never ending array of pipework it eventually changed back to a brick tunnel which led to the Walshall Brook Infall.

Arndale House/Tower, Manchester

Arndale Challenge WHUT?

Constructed between 1972 - 1975, this place has had it's fair share of attention over the years for various reasons, the 1996 IRA bomb attack, the infamous 'Arndale Challenge' and the fact it's probably Manchesters biggest eyesore

It's yellow tiles have earned it the inauspicious nickname of 'Europe's biggest public toilet'

Also it is said by some to be the low point of Manchester's architecture where utilitarian modernism had become dominant

The Arndale is one of the few buildings that dominates Manchester's skyline, I took my first ever shot of this place whilst on the roof of the Premier Inn last year (Goodtimes)

I have tried to crack this place for a long time now, I don't even believe anyone else has made it up to the roof, although I know of a couple of n00bs that have failed... s'all in the planning ;)

Despite months of planning my recent injury put plans on hold but I was still determined to get up there

Security is real tight here, the sun wasn't shining, so not wanting to be spotted I only grabbed a few pics before heading out

Clapham North Deep Level Shelter

A flying visit with MJS...

...We didn't have chance to see it all, but still glad I managed to see a good chunk of it. We bumped into a few other explorers whilst down there which wasn't really surprising!

There were eight deep level shelters built between 1941-1942 underneath existing London Underground stations.

Since the war, plans were drawn up to utilise the tunnels as an express rail route, but were soon dropped due to lack of funding.

London Underground have since took control of the shelters, all of which have been leased out except for Clapham.

30M Down the mainshaft via a spiral staircase are two 1400ft long tubes, with connecting tunnels and a now bricked up link to Clapham North Station.

The shelter was originally designed to house 8,000 people during the blitz of WW2.

Pillbox surface building - Contains lift machinery and double helix staircase 30M down the main shaft to 'Deep Level'

(Pic © Nick Catford - Subbrit) 

Shelter Diagram

Top Of Main Shaft/Spiral Staircase

Once down we entered the short cross-link tunnel, linking the 2 x 1400ft tunnels heading North & South.

The tunnel construction is unique, in that 2 bisecting circular tunnels had been mined to form the top and bottom level of the shelter thus providing more space.

Northbound Cross-link Entrance/Passageway

South Tunnel

Gents Toilets - You can still see the urinals on the walls

Flight Of Stairs - Leading to Clapham Station platforms

Ventilation pipes for Clapham Station

Bricked Up Access To Clapham Station

North Tunnel

Stairwell - Down to lower section of Deep Level Shelter

We were pushed for time so I headed back up leaving MJS to take a couple of pics down here whilst I stalled the others

It was great to finally see this place...

Colossus of the South

It's fucking Hooj!

In 1995 Southern Water built Black Rock, Europe’s largest storm-water storage tunnel under the seafront at Brighton & Hove to stop pollution during storm conditions.

@ 4.8km long and 6m in diameter, the retention tunnel stores excessive flows of storm and waste water during heavy loads and after each flooding episode, the combined waste water is pumped in controllable volume to the waste treatment works at nearby Portobello.

Myself & MJS have talked about paying this place a visit for time. Finally the talking was over and we were on our way to Brighton. Rain had been forecast but no real cause for concern (hmmm).

After an afternoon and tea with Rooks, we headed out under the cover of darkness. Inside we made our descent over 100ft, down the various ladders & stairways.

Once down it really does strike you.... Fuck me this place is Hooj!

We kept a close eye on the water levels due to the fact it was raining when we dropped in. (Note the lack of water initially in the dropshafts).

Including 'Eddies Vortex' we managed to see 4 dropshafts in total.

No.1 Vortex

Next we headed West as per the above map, where the second vortex could be seen, beyond that there was a seemingly never ending section of stoopy RCP which we eventually gave up on in favour of seeing better stuff.

No.2 Vortex

Stoopy RCP

Next, we headed East in search of more features, we noticed that the water level had dropped a good few inches which was a relief, although the tunnel was still quite wet & slippy we proceeded with caution..

Having spent a considerable amount of time walking about, we chilled for 10 mins, grabbed a few people shots and carried on towards the next dropshaft.

Mandem

No.3 Vortex

We seemed to have walked an absolute age without seeing anything new, as MJS shone his torch up the tunnel all we could see was more 'crete.

Knowing that 'Eddies Vortex' was somewhere in the distance we pressed on, the walkway was now dry and made walking much easier.

After around 5 minutes I heard an almighty roar coming from behind us which was odd, as aside from the usual drain noises it had been fairly quiet up until this point.

"hey man somethings not right, you reckon it's raining hard above us, as it sounds like a shit tonne of water is about to come down that pipe".

I think it's fair to say we both required a change of undies at this point, which was made worse by the fact that the once dry tunnel now appeared to be filling up fast with surface water (GULP)!

Despite my foot still being fooked we both ran as fast as we could in a desperate attempt to find refuge. 15 minutes later and we finally arrived at 'Eddies' which was now in full flow.

We clambered up the ladders to the first gantry level and got all our gear up safe and away from the main tunnel. We sat it out another 10 minutes before I went down to check the levels, which thankfully had only risen a few more inches...

Before & After

We reluctantly grabbed our cameras for a few shots each down below before making our way to safety at the top of the vortex.

'Eddies Vortex'

Looking Down

We sat it out for a good hour before making our way back out. Much LulZ were had as we both emerged, we managed to scare the living shit out of a young couple dogging, who literally ran like fuck :D

5 Hours of WIN, it was good to be back above ground, where it was obvious it had been pissing down