There's not many 'rules', if any, that can be loosely applied to what we all call our hobby. But one adage that's quite regularly agreed on is "When it rains, don't go into confined spaces underground".
I'm stuck in traffic driving towards OMJs house on a cold October evening. I can just about hear the traffic report on the radio over the rain hammering down on the windscreen. I don't need to listen to the traffic report though - I can see the cars being towed out of a lake which now stretches right across the A-road on which I'm also sat.
There's so much that can go wrong with tonight's plan even without it raining.
It takes me 1Hr 46 to drive the 30 odd miles to meet OMJ.
106 minutes, sat on my own, contemplating all the things that can go wrong tonight, none of which involve the fact we're about to go 100ft under this road... which is flooded.
There's just two of us going tonight. If one of us were to twist our ankle 100ft underground, there's no we could get ourselves, or each other back up to ground level. If one of us were to get injured, the other one would just have to leave them there, entombed underground while they went for help - mobiles are less than useless underground. We both know the location of the manhole that we'll be using tonight. We both researched it separately and both came up with the same exact location.
The rain is still hammering it down as we open the boot and slide our hi-vis on. OMJ grabs the manhole keys, I grab the cones. Quickly and nervously we set up a cordon around the manhole. We grab a key each, as I push my key into the slot water bubbles out. I rotate the key and feel it lock into place. "1...2...3..." We lift the cover which must be a Good 50Kg. We strain and struggle to slide it to one side. The noise of metal dragging on the tarmac booms and echoes from the cavern below, we know we’re in the right place.
The circumference of the manhole…or should I say 'the circumference of me' wont allow me to get through with my camera bag. So I awkwardly hold it above my head, while trying to lower my bodyweight onto the ladder with one hand. I cant see below my waist let alone where my feet are, or where the bottom of the ladder is.
Entry - Photo by UE-OMJ
We both reached the bottom of the ladder, where we were met by a staircase descending even deeper into the earth. The terrifying sound of cars whizzing past the open manhole gently faded away as we walked further into the darkness.
Staircase:
We soon came to a T junction. We turned right, and walked for what seemed like ages. The ground sloped up, it ramped down, we passed several entrances all of a similar style that we’d come down.
The tunnel construction never changed from this:
Lighting the way:
So most of our shots were just 'people shots' to add a bit of interest & scale:
Vandal:
A large staircase blocked off, with a ladder to a manhole above. When we reached the final entrance I scaled the ladder right up to the manhole where I could hear cars rushing past. With each passing car a dribble of cold muddy water would splash my face. I held onto the ladder in the darkness with one hand and fumbled in my pocket for my phone with the other.
Holding it right up to the metal cover I finally got a GPS signal, I took a cheesiest selfie I could - knowing that it would record an accurate location for later procrastination.
Chilling 1:
Our fears of being flooded in were quickly realised to be academic. The air was really dry, and dusty. I was soon sweating, allowing a layer of course dust to cover my face, irritating my skin every time I instinctively tried to wipe the sweat from my brow.
UrbanX & UE-OMJ
We walked for what seemed an eternity in the other direction, passing junction on both sides. We passed another six exits.
Eventually we could go no further. We had been going downhill for quite a while, meaning that the final ladder was a lot taller than the rest, we were around 80-100ft under a busy street. I climbed the ladder and was pleased that not only could I get a GPS fix, but I had 3G coverage! I cant even get that at home!
There wasn’t an amazing amount to see down there. There was an old garden gate, a couple of bike wheels, and a saucepan. But the brickwork which lined the tunnels was in mint condition.
There was however the remaining benches lining the tunnels. We sat imagining what it would have been like to be sat here, hearing bombs going off all around, sirens wailing, kids screaming…
Quiet Contemplation
The thoughts of danger being in close proximity soon took over, (albeit more likely that a car would have parked over our access than a Nazi bombing raid) and we decided it was time to leave.
Arriving at the base of the final ladder we could see that it ascended to a small triangle of yellowy purple night sky above us. We both breathed a sigh of relief into the fresh cool air which was circulating around the open chamber. I exited first, emerging at the feet of a passing pedestrian, who took absolutely no notice of me whatsoever.
(Phone pic of UrbanX emerging into the street by UE-OMJ)
We were both soon out, quickly sliding the cover back into place and hurriedly walking back to the car where we sat, panting, exhilarated in almost disbelief of what we’d just got away with!
Thank for reading. Here's the video:
[ame]http://youtu.be/SvR4XSa629E[/ame]
Epilogue: The two points I plotted on my phone were exactly 1000m apart, although UE-OMJ and I are currently trying to source / make sense of the actual layout of the tunnels and how they would look when transposed to street level.
I'm stuck in traffic driving towards OMJs house on a cold October evening. I can just about hear the traffic report on the radio over the rain hammering down on the windscreen. I don't need to listen to the traffic report though - I can see the cars being towed out of a lake which now stretches right across the A-road on which I'm also sat.
There's so much that can go wrong with tonight's plan even without it raining.
It takes me 1Hr 46 to drive the 30 odd miles to meet OMJ.
106 minutes, sat on my own, contemplating all the things that can go wrong tonight, none of which involve the fact we're about to go 100ft under this road... which is flooded.
There's just two of us going tonight. If one of us were to twist our ankle 100ft underground, there's no we could get ourselves, or each other back up to ground level. If one of us were to get injured, the other one would just have to leave them there, entombed underground while they went for help - mobiles are less than useless underground. We both know the location of the manhole that we'll be using tonight. We both researched it separately and both came up with the same exact location.
The rain is still hammering it down as we open the boot and slide our hi-vis on. OMJ grabs the manhole keys, I grab the cones. Quickly and nervously we set up a cordon around the manhole. We grab a key each, as I push my key into the slot water bubbles out. I rotate the key and feel it lock into place. "1...2...3..." We lift the cover which must be a Good 50Kg. We strain and struggle to slide it to one side. The noise of metal dragging on the tarmac booms and echoes from the cavern below, we know we’re in the right place.
The circumference of the manhole…or should I say 'the circumference of me' wont allow me to get through with my camera bag. So I awkwardly hold it above my head, while trying to lower my bodyweight onto the ladder with one hand. I cant see below my waist let alone where my feet are, or where the bottom of the ladder is.
Entry - Photo by UE-OMJ
We both reached the bottom of the ladder, where we were met by a staircase descending even deeper into the earth. The terrifying sound of cars whizzing past the open manhole gently faded away as we walked further into the darkness.
Staircase:
We soon came to a T junction. We turned right, and walked for what seemed like ages. The ground sloped up, it ramped down, we passed several entrances all of a similar style that we’d come down.
The tunnel construction never changed from this:
Lighting the way:
So most of our shots were just 'people shots' to add a bit of interest & scale:
Vandal:
A large staircase blocked off, with a ladder to a manhole above. When we reached the final entrance I scaled the ladder right up to the manhole where I could hear cars rushing past. With each passing car a dribble of cold muddy water would splash my face. I held onto the ladder in the darkness with one hand and fumbled in my pocket for my phone with the other.
Holding it right up to the metal cover I finally got a GPS signal, I took a cheesiest selfie I could - knowing that it would record an accurate location for later procrastination.
Chilling 1:
Our fears of being flooded in were quickly realised to be academic. The air was really dry, and dusty. I was soon sweating, allowing a layer of course dust to cover my face, irritating my skin every time I instinctively tried to wipe the sweat from my brow.
UrbanX & UE-OMJ
We walked for what seemed an eternity in the other direction, passing junction on both sides. We passed another six exits.
Eventually we could go no further. We had been going downhill for quite a while, meaning that the final ladder was a lot taller than the rest, we were around 80-100ft under a busy street. I climbed the ladder and was pleased that not only could I get a GPS fix, but I had 3G coverage! I cant even get that at home!
There wasn’t an amazing amount to see down there. There was an old garden gate, a couple of bike wheels, and a saucepan. But the brickwork which lined the tunnels was in mint condition.
There was however the remaining benches lining the tunnels. We sat imagining what it would have been like to be sat here, hearing bombs going off all around, sirens wailing, kids screaming…
Quiet Contemplation
The thoughts of danger being in close proximity soon took over, (albeit more likely that a car would have parked over our access than a Nazi bombing raid) and we decided it was time to leave.
Arriving at the base of the final ladder we could see that it ascended to a small triangle of yellowy purple night sky above us. We both breathed a sigh of relief into the fresh cool air which was circulating around the open chamber. I exited first, emerging at the feet of a passing pedestrian, who took absolutely no notice of me whatsoever.
(Phone pic of UrbanX emerging into the street by UE-OMJ)
We were both soon out, quickly sliding the cover back into place and hurriedly walking back to the car where we sat, panting, exhilarated in almost disbelief of what we’d just got away with!
Thank for reading. Here's the video:
[ame]http://youtu.be/SvR4XSa629E[/ame]
Epilogue: The two points I plotted on my phone were exactly 1000m apart, although UE-OMJ and I are currently trying to source / make sense of the actual layout of the tunnels and how they would look when transposed to street level.
