This is a fairly lengthy, culverted section of Kirk Edge Dike in Sheffield. We previously discovered and reported on the upstream section of this earlier in the year, but ended up bailing after stoop induced tiredness and bad-air paranoia set in, coupled with the prospect of 4ft RCP and a strong scent of sewer: https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/unknown-pleasures-sheffield-january-2018.111395/
I hadn’t expected to be returning here any time soon, until the recent discovery of a sizeable (6ft+) and well-concealed outflow into the River Don seemed most likely to be the downstream end of the same stream. A bit of mapwork later confirmed this suspicion, so me, @Esoteric Eric and @Sheard set off to investigate. Getting access to this part of the river was interesting, but the plan worked and we soon made our way in to find a satisfyingly large, long brick tunnel...
The first section featured some nice stalactites. Water was really clear here, with some fish swimming around our feet.
A chamber above showed that we were already quite deep in this section. Later sections were much more shallow.
Now familiar Sheffield brick and stone, similar to the upstream section but thankfully more sizeable.
Another inspection chamber with a ladder leading up above.
Some sections had been spraycreted.
Another chamber.
Not sure if this was a fence post or a pipe - I assumed the former when I was down here but now I’m not so sure...
This next bit reminded me of the triple section that leads into the final large chamber of Megatron. This is much smaller, though. I’m assuming the nearer section was later addition than the three tunnels as the joining is rather uneven here, but I could be wrong.
Through the central tunnel - this was a proper st00p...
Out the other side, looking back - the newer brick and roofing suggest that the triple tunnels could maybe have been an older bridge incorporated into the culvert.
Moving on again, stooping here... again...
Two options, one more obvious than the other. I went some way down the left tunnel, but the air was heavy and the small pipe made it really hard to make progress. After a bit there was a small chamber and another pipe leading off 90 degrees into the unappealing distance.
Looking upstream...
Photo looking back downstream...
Heading upstream, this wasn’t pleasant - in height and length it was pretty much identical to the outflow of Decepticon. Argh!
At the end here again met with two options. The main stream flowed from the left pipe, so I briefly investigated the one to the right. The tunnel to the right wasn’t giving off good vibes so I snapped a quick pic of this brick chamber and headed back...
The rest from here onward upstream is some fairly standard RCP with intermittent chambers...
Until we reached the stepped chambers where we previously abandoned ship.
From here I headed to our expected exit, only to find the shoddy fence that had previously been our entry point has since been repaired and reinforced! Argh again... None of the lids we tried were shifting either, so we packed up and headed out the way we came...
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