Zero
October 21st, 2007, 21:33
So it was the end of our "Manc-fester" road trip and we had just one little possibility to check out in Sheffield. Although slightly tired by now it was on the way back so we thought why not. We had a quick curry and headed down and after a quick hours power snooze we were ready to rock and roll.
We kitted up, bought a few rations from a local store and headed on down. Now which was to go we had to pipes one leading east in a small channel brick pipe and another down a concrete box. For some reason we chose concrete over brick and headed on in. 5 meters in the floor lowered via a slide and the pipe split into two brick pipe, both seeming to connect to a chamber at the end.
Sure enough we emerged in a massive stone chamber, with small brick pillars holding the roof up and also 8! pipes running off from it!, 3 concrete to the north and 3 brick to the south, down some stone stairs. As we shone the torches around we noticed how the three tunnel to the south were all connected by old stone arches as far as the eye could see which must have been a good half a mile. We headed down the stairs and along the central southern pipe.
After a good walk the central and left pipe converge into one with the most amazing ceiling while the right pipe grows to match, both opening out into a small open section with a tiny weir controlling the flow of water back down into the drain.
We carefully made our way across the weir on the deadliest stones ever and headed down into yet three more high arched red brick pipes. By this point we were thinking this was too good to be true and continued on. The stone arches now changed to a squashed oval shape and continued on before dipping down a little as the water level slightly rose.
As we were walking along Dsankt commented "Wouldn't it be sweet if these three pipes merged into one big ass one". We all agreed and after another 10 minutes of walking. It happened!!!!.
Wow this is so far probably the biggest chamber i have seen so far. It was a mad collection of several different heights, some brick some stone, some new some old. And it was bloody fantastic. In the distance we could see another opening and the pipe coming aboveground before heading back down into two more pipes but due to the pipes converging the water level had risen more then our waders could take. One for next time i guess.
Oh well camera time!. We slowly headed back past each feature photographing it and each walking down a different pipe just incase there was any pipe coming off them. There was, but they all had massive outfall flaps preventing our entrance.
We spent over two hours before we eventually made out way back to the 8 way chamber and felt we should just take a quick look to the north. So we headed up the pipes and 400 meters they all connected in a concrete square box before splitting into two brick pipes and finally converging into one giant pipe at the end which housed a massive "jetty" style screen and a sloping infall. We found yet another outfall flapped drain and decided it was time to head on home. Wed been draining for two days straight with less then 5 hours sleep total between us all.
Fooking excellent stuff
Anyways the pictures kind of in order of how we came across them
The 3 southern pipes with stairs
http://www.silentuk.com/megatron/images/img_2669.jpg
Right pipe after convergence.
http://www.silentuk.com/megatron/images/img_2666.jpg
Back under
http://www.silentuk.com/megatron/images/img_2645.jpg
New arches just after opening
http://www.silentuk.com/megatron/images/img_2652.jpg
A bit further on
http://www.silentuk.com/megatron/images/img_2638.jpg
The end of our trip here uberpipe
http://www.silentuk.com/megatron/images/img_2633.jpg
and again minus the "emo" lighting
http://www.silentuk.com/megatron/images/img_2632.jpg
Enjoy other people have pics of the other stuff but my battery almost kicked it so i had to be mega selective on what i shot.
We kitted up, bought a few rations from a local store and headed on down. Now which was to go we had to pipes one leading east in a small channel brick pipe and another down a concrete box. For some reason we chose concrete over brick and headed on in. 5 meters in the floor lowered via a slide and the pipe split into two brick pipe, both seeming to connect to a chamber at the end.
Sure enough we emerged in a massive stone chamber, with small brick pillars holding the roof up and also 8! pipes running off from it!, 3 concrete to the north and 3 brick to the south, down some stone stairs. As we shone the torches around we noticed how the three tunnel to the south were all connected by old stone arches as far as the eye could see which must have been a good half a mile. We headed down the stairs and along the central southern pipe.
After a good walk the central and left pipe converge into one with the most amazing ceiling while the right pipe grows to match, both opening out into a small open section with a tiny weir controlling the flow of water back down into the drain.
We carefully made our way across the weir on the deadliest stones ever and headed down into yet three more high arched red brick pipes. By this point we were thinking this was too good to be true and continued on. The stone arches now changed to a squashed oval shape and continued on before dipping down a little as the water level slightly rose.
As we were walking along Dsankt commented "Wouldn't it be sweet if these three pipes merged into one big ass one". We all agreed and after another 10 minutes of walking. It happened!!!!.
Wow this is so far probably the biggest chamber i have seen so far. It was a mad collection of several different heights, some brick some stone, some new some old. And it was bloody fantastic. In the distance we could see another opening and the pipe coming aboveground before heading back down into two more pipes but due to the pipes converging the water level had risen more then our waders could take. One for next time i guess.
Oh well camera time!. We slowly headed back past each feature photographing it and each walking down a different pipe just incase there was any pipe coming off them. There was, but they all had massive outfall flaps preventing our entrance.
We spent over two hours before we eventually made out way back to the 8 way chamber and felt we should just take a quick look to the north. So we headed up the pipes and 400 meters they all connected in a concrete square box before splitting into two brick pipes and finally converging into one giant pipe at the end which housed a massive "jetty" style screen and a sloping infall. We found yet another outfall flapped drain and decided it was time to head on home. Wed been draining for two days straight with less then 5 hours sleep total between us all.
Fooking excellent stuff
Anyways the pictures kind of in order of how we came across them
The 3 southern pipes with stairs
http://www.silentuk.com/megatron/images/img_2669.jpg
Right pipe after convergence.
http://www.silentuk.com/megatron/images/img_2666.jpg
Back under
http://www.silentuk.com/megatron/images/img_2645.jpg
New arches just after opening
http://www.silentuk.com/megatron/images/img_2652.jpg
A bit further on
http://www.silentuk.com/megatron/images/img_2638.jpg
The end of our trip here uberpipe
http://www.silentuk.com/megatron/images/img_2633.jpg
and again minus the "emo" lighting
http://www.silentuk.com/megatron/images/img_2632.jpg
Enjoy other people have pics of the other stuff but my battery almost kicked it so i had to be mega selective on what i shot.