[Ojay]

Foxdenton Drain - Visited by Ojay.



Here the River Irk is culverted underground before continuing on it's ever winding journey towards Manchester.

Due to the levels being a lot lower at the momemt I decided to tackle this one in wellies, however it did present one or two challenges!

The section of drain that I explored was relatively short, but did have a number of interesting features on the way.

The infall itself protrudes from the ground for a while before dissapearing out of sight altogether. It was once protected by a large grille which has long since collapsed into the water to create quite a handy dam, perhaps just as well because the initial bit was deep and no chance of getting past in the wellies.



Anyway in I went into the darkness once again. The entire section was a combination of half brick half concrete, with various side pipes, manhole shafts and overflows on the way.

The first section downstream was straight for about 60 yards



it eventually started to curve left





before opening up into a larger chamber with a manhole shaft



at this point it straightened up for about another 150 yards



before arriving at this larger vaulted section with an overflow & manhole shaft





ahead, you can see this section of brickwork has been treated to some spray crete and steel re-inforcement



On the way were a number of manhole shafts, with lids that looked ancient, and wouldn't budge





I also spotted this curious plant formation



As I continued it became more and more difficult as it was silted up quite badly and getting deeper with every footstep



Further mooching through the silt brought me further to the thunderess sound of water in the distance. Here there was also
more side pipes and some steps off to the right which led upto a grated outfall





Looking back down into the drain



Further up on the right was another section of RCP poking out, which I walked up for about 10 yards before it opened up into this
large concrete vault complete with giant steps and a sump. Presumably some kind of CSO, although the upper pipe was dry and no flow present



The sump itself was very deep and no chance of crossing it in the wellies, I reckon it would be near on impossible in the chest waders,
but I'm gonna go back and take a closer look.

There was also this concrete side tunnel to the left which was heavily silted up and seemed to go on forever



At this point the roar was immense, there was obviously some serious flow ahead, and sure enough as I went a bit further there was
what looked to be processed treatment from the works being pumped in here, it was a major force!



Here marked the end for now, as there was no way I could carry on without the waders and possibly some rope, it was seriously fast flowing
and much deeper than the upstream section I had just walked through

Anyway a short mooch back to the infall and it was just starting to go dark



Thanks for looking