One Hundred and Twenty Five

Cornbrook Drain, "The Penetant", Manchester

The mighty Cornbrook. Over (9000 lol) 5500 meters long, running diagonally across through central Manchester. The watercourse passes under various places throughout the city including the Universities. For a while, I wondered why not many people have ventured through this drain, However I soon found out exactly why. Myself, Stepping Lightly and Cave-Clans Curly Bean set out to take on the stoopiest, most-backbreaking, shape-changing and longest drain the City had to offer.

pic by: siologen

the cheese grater

After 50 or so meters into the outfall the 6 foot concrete box is knee height in the thickest river mud I've ever had the displeasure to walk though. SL powered through with his chesties, but my hip waders fought against the constant consumption of mud. After the slog, we were greeted with 1800s handmade brick. Belter.

m


b is for broken brick

I seemed to lose count of the drains constant shape changes. Some of the low sections at 4 foot were hard to walk through. It didnt help that my backback ensured I had to bend down even further. At each manhole shaft, I seized the opportunity to gain back the feeling in my legs and back.

tiltneck


fresh

After the first half of the drain, the shape changes seem to get even weirder. Maybe I was hallucinating, such a long drain with stooping messed with my head like you wouldn't believe. Gradually, the watercourse was getting sewer-fresh by the step. Ankle-death debris was now incredibly slippery.

We decided three-quarters of the way in, that we'd complete the entire drain. One particular section was incredibly fresh and deep, we traversed along the ledges untill shallow water was below us. That wasn't the worst of problems. Around 100 metres before the Infall, we needed to traverse a section of pipe that was both deep, and at 4 foot high. The water was so undisturbed, each step let out mountains of methane bubbles.

slanted-stance


pic by: siologen

We arrived at the Infall grill...Our plan was to squeeze through to get back to the surface. I managed to get my head through but got stuck at my hips. This proved a problem since I was the skinniest in our party. After checking one manhole, It seemed we'd popped up into a rather high profile car manufacturing site. The dome cam above our head's really wasn't too inviting.

4 foot weak

backlight

After trekking to the next shaft, Stepping Lightly managed to lift a 2 foot squared Cast Iron manhole from underneath. How he done that, I couldn't tell you. Half stunned, the three of us made a quick escape. Biggest shouts to Curly and to SL, for paying for the taxi back to the car in our stinky ass waders. respect.

ends