Report - Futile Undertaking (Blackburn, Lancashire, Mar, 2020)

[urbanchemist]

I first came across this drain last year while walking along the River Blakewater, which runs through Blackburn.

It’s an obvious, easy one so I assumed it must have been done before.
But I can’t find any pictures so it’s duly christened FU since even for a drain it’s pretty pointless - just goes on for a while then gets rather small.

It starts at about 53.756032, -2.474895 and heads north out of the city - not sure of the route since the lids I tried from below wouldn’t open and my phone had died anyway.

Come on in, the water’s loverly..

Some of this…

...then a chamber.

Only 800 m to go...

sploosh, sploosh, sploosh…almost there.

Another chamber with something sewagey but fairly benign pouring into the boxed-in pipe.

And on...

...to a third chamber.

Straight on is a fourth chamber, but beyond this the height reduced to about 4 ft and it was getting rocky underfoot so I called it a day.

Going back to the third chamber the pipe on the left leads straight into a largish space with steps.

The pipe at the top was also only about 4 ft - not worth the backache.

Some more pretty orange gunk on the way out.

I’d be interested to know where this thing actually leads if some enthusiastic draining midget wants to take it further.

 

[Esoteric Eric]

Uncannily similar to Decepticon in Rotherham.

 

[tarkovsky]

Love it. In a way, I suppose all drains are pretty futile undertakings. But then, isn't everything?

 

[jezzyboo]

being a bit hard on yourself here was well worth doing some impressive chambers and good photos them steps provide feature, like eric said similar construction to decepticon and quite a length as well good work on this

 

[Down and beyond]

Nice report mate you captured it lovely

 

[Jane Doe]

Enjoyed your photos

 

[urbanchemist]

Love it. In a way, I suppose all drains are pretty futile undertakings. But then, isn't everything?

Despite the disparaging tone I actually quite like drains and culverts - the underground vibe without being very far underground.

But these things are really only of interest to me if they haven't been done before, in which case it's 'proper' exploring, or if they provide a route into something more interesting like a pumping station or a factory.

 

[TheVicar]

Thanks for posting this, I remember walking past this outfall about 3 years ago while on the way to Cavalier Attitude.
It's a decent size tunnel to begin with and I'd wondered what lay further upstream ever since, until today!
I'd have hoped there would have been some big CSO chamber along the way but you can never tell.

 

[urbanchemist]

Thanks for posting this, I remember walking past this outfall about 3 years ago while on the way to Cavalier Attitude.
It's a decent size tunnel to begin with and I'd wondered what lay further upstream ever since, until today!
I'd have hoped there would have been some big CSO chamber along the way but you can never tell.

There are some pretty heavyweight-sounding noises coming from upstream somewhere but could just be cars on manholes I suppose.

 

[HughieD]

Wow! Another fantastic drain set @urbanchemist

 

[Calamity Jane]

Really enjoyed this, quality report

 

[stranton]

nice stuff, a lot like pandora & bypass
drains are the last frontier yet to be ruined by the goons.

 

[tweek]

Really good find, looks a pretty interesting one if you ask me, helped along by mint photos.

 

[tallginge]

Good effort

nice stuff, a lot like pandora & bypass
drains are the last frontier yet to be ruined by the goons.

and long may it continue

 

[concreteJungle]

Nice report, it was found by Nckt and Littlemike a while back now and they called it Hydration Compatible.