Megatron Drain, Sheffield oct 09

Hmmmmmmmmm Sheffield, a place that is made of fail for me, EVERYTIME i explore something in steel city SOMETHING goes wrong. BUT luckily today that wasnt to be and we had an enjoyable 3 hours in MEGATRON a place that truly lives up to its name!!














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LIVE INFIL- Lafarge cement, Hope, Derbyshire, 06/09

This industrial giant, hidden in the hope valley, has been begging for an explore for AGES. it has been talked about and talked about for as long as i have been expolring for!!!

Well finally after a drain fail (rain and high water FTL :( ) we decided to go to hope for a snoop round!!

well after a few comedy moments, and some stealthing around dodging from shadow to shadow and from tree to tree taking pics as we went, we decided to have a go at the chimmney. we could see what we thought was the walkway so we went for it!! anyhow we were MAJORLY dissapointed to find this walkway didnt go to the platform, BUGGER. it was preety late by this time and not wanting to outstay our welcome we were off into the darkness, laughing like a pair of hyenas!!

anyhow, im only going to post 5 images, the rest can be seen on this thread http://www.nwex.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4404

I have to say Thanks to lafarge for giving us the opportunity (without realizing they have) too see this ;) and thanks to mendo for the reccy's and stuff!!

LIVE INFILTRATION FTW!!!

OASIS concert, manchester, 06/09

Ok, not posted on here for AGES, mainly due to the problems posted in earlyer posts, but i couldnt resist posting this. one shot taken from the air of the OASIS gig in heaton park manchester.

sorry for the watermark, i think its OBVIOUS why i have done it. if you require a copy then e-mail me please, the address is at the bottom of the blog!!

just click for some big pic action folks!!



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The Works drain, IT WORKS!!

After looking at pics of this place for ages, i finally decided to get off my arse and explore it, and before long i was meeting with peanuts, lil-lilly and andyj23uk,

we made our way towards the outfall only to be met with a symbol of this area of manchester that no only made a nice forground to this pic but provided a handy access to the river!!



anyhow the precarious river crossing safely completed we were staring at the outfall to "the works" a lovelly mix of brick and stone which heightened our anticipation of what lay within.

the works is only around 400yards long, and most of the features are near the end, the twin pipes are the first feature you come accross, with the drain fairy watching over you like a guardian angel!!


the last 50yards is much like the first 350, BRICK!! untill you come to the giants steps, these have to be seen!! as they are truly awesome!!


well, the only was is up as they say!! your met at the top by the twin pipes that come from the otherside of the overflow chamber above, its the attention to these little details that gets me, and i find them stunning!!


the finall set of steps (to the left of the above pic) takes you to the overflow chamber, the drain that runs through it is called "inhospitable" and apparently lives up to its name, the big door of sluice gate loom large and the little steel bridge sags and groans with your weight as you walk on it!!




possibly the most intersting part of the explore, is the little room above the sluice that contains the winder for the gate itself!! it must be a heavy beast for 2 men to shift it!!

that done it was time to move out, but not before a few final pics!! the first of some drain finds that a previous explorer has stacked up in a manhole shaft recess!!

the final 2 were took on the way out in the outfall, i think these are my faves of all the trip!!



thanks for looking!!

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New camera, and a trip to fletchers. perfect!!

I have been looking to get a new camera for ages, now dont get me wrong there is NOTHING wrong with the fuji S5600 i have been using, its just i have outgrown it, SO i have aquired a NIKON D40!! and i must say it really is marvellous!!

anyhow the day after i got it i thought to myself hmmmmmmmmm where can i got to test it out?? ahhhhhhhhhhh fletchers of course!! and as peanuts hasnt seen it yet i organised a last minuite trip!!

now it must be said, fletchers has been done by myself before, and it really is a marvellous place, i had expected it being TRASHED afterall every explorer in the country has been now, but suprisingly it wasnt that bad and i STILL managed to find stuff i hadnt seen before even after 4 visits!! and i came out with 100 ish images, a small selection i will post below.
not too bad for a first outing with a new camera eh!!

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Padiham, memorial park air raid shelters 11/08

Visited with sparkuk and thenewmendoza

NO BATS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS REPORT............

i got this lead earlier in the week and after some online investigation i found there was an access wasnt too sure about it at first but i found this photo on geograph http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/755046 and it piqued my interest somewhat.........




the size and layout of the park gave the feeling that this place was BIG, but sadly it wasnt, it was a small double U shaped shelter with the main antrance in the middle of the U, it is worth noting that the building facing the entrance was a school at some point and the shelter appers to have been used solely for the school...


After a half hour of tramping round the park in the rain we found the way in, and after getting the equipment set up, we made our descent into the shelters. our first impressions were WOW this is cool, but we soon realised how small the shelters were, and ended up slightly dissapointed, it must be said, BUT we had come all this way and we wernt going to give it up as easily as this!!

the shelters themselves were of a formidable concrete and construction, and the tunnels were VERY narrow, nothing like the wide passageways of brinksway/dodge hill or bidston hill, this set us to wondering how people would have "sheltered" in there and we came to the conclusion that the kids would have sat on a narrow wooden bench down one side of the shelters with a toilet cubicle at each end of the long corridor. it has to be said it was VERY dry down there, probably the driest shelter i have EVER been in, and i couldnt beleive the light fittings were still in there and sockets were still on the walls!!




this for me is what exploration is all about, this may not have been a big site, BUT it was an intersting site, that i REALLY enjoyed seeing!!



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Victorian Valve house.............................

Well, here we have something to marvel at!! a mixture of underground and overground, a tricky access, explorers getting wet after falling in the water, explorers getting muddy, and a whole host of other problems!!



BUT sadly im not going to give anything away, due to the nature of the site, and other factors im keeping this one close to my chest!! as i would expect anyone who THINKS they know where this is todo aswell!!

not much more to say really other than it was worth all the effort, i hope Stepping Lightly has dried out now :) and it was nice to meet north star!! thanks again chaps, this was ace!!

pics...............


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Crisp Delf mine, Skelmersdale, 14/09/08

EEK!! didnt realise it had been so long since i posted on here!!! so an apology to all my regular viewers for the lack of blogspot adventure pic action!! although if the truth be told i havent really done that much recently, i have been dooing a huge amount of reccying, and not too much exploring!!

However, i did have the pleasure to visit crisp delf mine the other day, thanks to bigjobs for the tour btw!!

apparenty it opened in the 16th century to mine flagstone, and it has been open ever since!! although we have NO idea when they stopped mining here.......

anyhow, on with the pics!! afterall its the reason why you all come on here!!! lol

The mine seems quite deep, i reckon it as deep as 300Ft although it could be more, the STEEP drift doesnt seem too bad until you have to go back up it to leave!!

theres also PLENTY of rock waiting to fall, you need to be carefull and watch what your standing under!!

hope that made up for the lack of update action!!!

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