Connect 4 Storm Relief Drain, Manchester
Just like everything else we set out to do, we always seem to stumble on something else and get distracted..
..Rewind to October last year and myself and Stepping Lightly went in search of something else and stumbled across some lids
We have since made a few visits back here to follow it upstream, with bad weather and the fact I couldn't walk for 4 months getting in the way
Despite the various trips, we never managed a picture of the outfall due to various explainable fails
Essentially a stormdrain for the surrounding areas, including the M60 motorway. Also a smaller stream constantly flows through here, eventually outfalling into the River Medlock
On the first visit we dropped down a manhole past a couple of penstocks
Next, we headed up a 4 ft stoopy RCP which went on for a good distance, passing underneath the motorway at one point and shrinking to 3ft
Luckily it hadn't been raining for a few days, so was more than happy to go a bit further, but having seen it in full flow also, you deffo don't want to be in here when it rains!
Further ahead we could here loud noises, (the sound of water which always ends up been exaggerated in drains)
We climbed out of the RCP relieved to straighten our backs, and found ourselves in a 20 ft split level chamber, with a large dropshaft from the plughole above
We climbed the ladder to the side and made our way up to the second level
A concrete walkway and a wall concealed the vortex/plughole on the otherside
The remaining ladder was to a split lid above, which despite our best efforts wouldn't budge, I took this shot looking down
You can carry on up the 3 ft RCP for an age before the next real feature, SL actually did this whilst I was laid up and discovered another lid upstream
On our return, we dropped in upstream to a fairly large insepection chamber
Following the 5 ft RCP up we now entered a GRP (Glass Re-inforced Pipe) which was floating above a huge storm tank situated next to the motorway
Knowing exactly whats below here as we saw it during construction I was a little nervous in case the thing broke away, good job it was bolted good and proper, but the movement did give a false sense of security
Once you get to the otherside, there is no way past as the tank is split into two, with inspection shafts above, presumably for measuring the levels
(The depth here is unknown, but certainly more than 30 ft judging by the size of the crane used during it's construction)
Back above ground we went in search of more liddage
Here we dropped into another smaller chamber and headed up moar stoopy RCP
Eventually we came to a dead end.. Aka this festering pit of filth which unless you fancied a swim wasn't happening
We climbed the ladder out of this hooj concrete tank, in attempt to find a way upstream but it wasn't to be
Despite our best efforts searching through the vegetation, no more lids could be located
After 11 months I finally made it back for a quick shot of the outfall, which we had both failed to grab previously
