Revolver

Revolver is a small sewer overflow where the designers went a bit silly and added an access tunnel (which is gated and locked) two access shafts to the river below and the overflow chamber which has quite a few outfalls to the river.

Access is still by no means easy as both the infall and outfall to the river have grates and to get to the overflow chamber you can climb up to the walkway or duck under which is about a foot above the water and swim for it

The river of turds looked quite low but the waterline on the brick would have been waist deep any way on with the pics





The overflow chamber complete with lady plasters and crap






The outfalls to the river

Gripper

I had a job interview in Manchester and fancied doing something on the way home that wasn't too dirty

it was a toss up between this and Prime but I didn't fancy putting the waders on so I decided to head back via Rusholme

This runs across Platt Fields, on the fenceline between Manchester High School for Girls and the Park. At its end it is culverted underground and exits into the lake.

"Part of the Very Ancient Mickle or Great Ditch sometimes called Nico Ditch Well-known A.D.1200. Extending over Five Miles from here to Ashton Moss and Bounding Several Townships Described fully in Vol. xxiii. of Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society".

The above quote has been lifted from the inscribed stone placard situated beside Nico ditch, which runs through the park. The ditch is said to have formed a defensive line against Danish or Viking raiders attacking up the Mersey. The story is that it was dug in the space of one night - quite a feat in the ninth century-as it measures at five miles, 183 yards.

You're names not down and you're not coming in

Deep Dale

A small cave in Deep Dale, on the opposite side of the valley to Thirst House Cave. Several sources suggest that Deep Dale Cave and Thirst House Cave are in fact one and the same, although Ordnance Survey field investigation has identified two distinct caves on opposite sides of the valley, and some early sources imply that each was explored around the same time. The entrance to Deep Dale Cave is 10 metres wide and 5 metres high, which quickly reduces to 1.5 metres wide and 1 metre high. Excavations by Micah Salt recovered some Romano-British pottery and "bones". The pottery is in Buxton Museum.

I'm not sure which cave I was in but it went a lot further than 20 metres as quoted by ordnance surveys









After dropping to a 1 metre high crawl it opened out into a large chamber with really old grafiti









All in all not a bad day

Manchester Salford Junction Canal

The wife has wanted to do a ghost walk for ages and I always wanted to see the Manchester Salford Canal Junction so it was pretty much a perfect compromise.

The walk itself can only be described as Horrible Histories for adults and if you don't have kids chances are you don't have a clue what I mean :D

The host for the evening was brilliant and even if it was sold as a ghost walk it was all very tongue in cheek and more like a comedy show.

He recognised my name from the ticket (yay I'm famous) and offered that after the show finished I could head down for half an hour to get a few extra pics

it was a brilliant night and if you get the chance I fully recommend it

The lack of any direct canal link between the Mersey and Irwell Navigation and the Rochdale Canal meant that goods being transported using both waterways had to be offloaded onto carts and carried across the city, before being loaded back onto boats to continue their journey. This was costly and time-consuming, as well as adding to traffic congestion on the streets of Manchester.
In 1799 the nearby Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal company proposed to connect their canal to the Rochdale canal with an aqueduct across the Mersey and Irwell Navigation. Due mainly to strong objections from the Mersey and Irwell Navigation, who would have suffered a loss of trade, the link was not forthcoming. In 1805, John Nightingale was asked by the Mersey and Irwell Navigation Company to estimate the cost of a canal link between Manchester and Salford.
Nothing would happen until 1836, when John Gilbert was appointed as engineer. In 1838, just as the canal was being built, the Bridgewater Canal Company were completing their Hulme Locks branch canal. This provided an alternative route from the Rochdale Canal to the River Irwell, and cargoes from either direction could navigate onto the Irwell without the need to use the new Junction Canal.

During the war, the canal tunnel was brought back to life as a public air raid shelter. It was divided into bays, each separated by two offset parallel brick wall for protection against blast. The eastern end had been obliterated, but the basins adjoining the Rochdale were not filled in until after the war. Today the only easily accessible traces of the expensive and little used junction canal is the exit to the Irwell, the link with the Rochdale above lock 89. However the tunnel also remains intact although hidden from view. It is now divided into two parts, one part lying beneath the Granada TV studios and the other longer section under the former Great Northern Warehouse.

Like an idiot I totally forgot to take a pic of the winch housings that I walked around twice

Victoria Arches

I had a few hours spare so decided to head under Manchester for a bit.

The Victoria Arches were a series of arches built in the embankment of the River Irwell in Manchester. They served as business premises, landing stages for Steam packet riverboats and as World War II air-raid shelters. They were accessed from wooden staircases which descended from Victoria Street

Regular flooding of the river resulted in the closure of the steam-packet services in the early 20th century, following which the arches were used for general storage. In World War II they were converted into air raid shelters. The arches are now bricked up and inaccessible; the staircases were removed in the latter part of the 20th century.

A brilliant explore but as I went solo it was a bit strange when I heard voices, at parts the sounds from the street echo down manhole covers which is a bit un-nerving