The Winchester

April 2011

My own sense of reality struck as I harnessed up at the base of the jib. The City of London is a noisy city, sirens screaming at all hours of the day, and as Neb explained how he would lead up the crane, climb down and then allow me to top-rope up, my legs turned to jelly and cotton-wool mouth took over. As often as we big ourselves up on blogs and forums, it’s remakably easy to feel very small when faced with a new and intimidating task such as this. I withdrew, electing instead to play a supporting role in Neb’s climb by belaying for him.

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January 2010

After sleeping in most of the day following a night of drinking and telling stories at Nckt’s, we eventually left the flat in the middle of the afternoon. YouMissed was the destination, a sizeable concrete box culvert that goes for a few hundred metres under the city. Compared to normal conditions, the rain of the night before had caused it to shit itself, in drain speak. We stepped into the flow and walked over the weir, carefully navigating our way past the gushing waters which threatened to push us over.

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January 2011

Following a rainy day in North Wales, I met with Jim Gillette and Agour, notorious ne’er-do-wells of the North West. Clutching packets of 3 for £1 tesco sweets and already sopping waders, we bundled down a hill towards a brick outfall that turned out to be a 30 metre pipe to an open brook. Wow. Sticking close to the bank of the river, we moved down towards the real deal, Bunker. Read the rest of this entry »

January 2011

The International Drain Meet was a celebration of drainors, and a great chance to meet parties from other areas that we haven’t taken the opportunity to acquaint ourselves with yet. Represented were  London, Manchester, North East England, Paris, Canada,  Brescia Underground and UE Kingz, and it was a pleasure to meet and spend time in The River Westbourne with all present.

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