Silly things that amuse me...

...this is another post where I shall witter on about the marvels of Google Analytics, in particular the section that allows you to see what keywords people are using to find their way here, some of them tickle me, others leave me scratching my head.

I was going to do a top ten countdown of my favourite search terms but I don't think I can be bothered, I'll just stick up a list of some of the funnier ones that jump out.

Here, in no particular order, is the list.

action plans brunner mond - Ok chaps, why not start by having a meeting to discuss your plan

"the new mendoza" -line explore - I don't remember exploring a line..?

access to brunner mond - We parachute in, honest.

fenix house in derby - A house of torches?? I'm there!

hippodrome : what is it - It's a fooking theatre, innit.

ineos silicas saturday - I'm going back on a Friday, that'll confuse 'em.

stockport salt mines - WTF?

what is going on at ferro alloys glossop - It's being demolished, really, it is.

axel nobel littleborough - AXEL Nobel, ffs.

ace culvert - Lol, there all ace!!

directions to dodge hill air raid shelter - Well, it's like this, you get on a number 43 bus...

And that's that. Roll on summertime...

TnM ;->

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Red Barn, Manchester - Crusty aceness!

A solo jaunt after work, access is esay peasy and this is one drain that keeps on giving. Section after section of red brick, followed by a bit of comcrete followed by more fantastically crusty red brick of all shapes and sizes.

Despite nearly going arse over tit more times than I care to remember, and despite nearly tripping up on various holes in the floor I absolutely love this drain, if only for its crusty goodness.

There are small RBP sections giving way to huge brick stand-up-able sections, all thrown together in no particular order it would seem, a real hotch-potch of drain fun.

Suffice to say I enjoyed this one a lot, think I'm gonna sort myself out with some better lighting gear though.

TnM ;->

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One drain, two culverts, one factory, one army camp and a weekend off...

I think this is going to be another of my round-up posts, I haven't stopped doing stuff since Tuesday, and it's beginning to take it's toll on old Mendo.

Tuesday...

First up, Tuesday evening, shortly after finishing work I spent a gruelling ninety minutes stooping up a dreadful little drain in Glossop, at 5 or so feet high, all the way along for a few hundred crusty feet, my back and legs were absolutely fooked, by the time I re-emerged into the river I discovered my right leg was in no mood to operate at full capacity. Leaving me to stumble about in the drink trying not to topple over.


Wednesday...

The following day over in Nottinghamshire me and Sal hit up a couple of topside places, Coates Viyella, a mess of a worked over factory, bereft of much delight, but made for a couple of interesting pics. I think this was in Worksop, could be wrong though, Sal was navigating, I just drive.


Afterwards we had a look at the nearby Proteus Training Camp which I thought was ace, huge, spread out, buildings of all shape and size and an assault course to boot, winner!!


We spent around three or four hours mooching about, not bumping into a soul all the while, a sunny day relaxed explore, marvellous!

Thursday...

Thursday, lunchtime, I was up at Park Bridge in Ashton seeing a mate, having seen him, I nipped into the river to have a quick nosey around the culvert, wasn't huge by any means, but was a nice diversion for half an hour.


Thursday, evening, I finished work and planned to head over towards east Manchester and do the Works drain, fortunately I decided to stop along the way and do the mighty Medlock culvert (of Big Humpty fame). And it was great!


Spent a couple of hours by myself a mooching and a wandering up and down the river enjoying the last rays of sunlight on what had been a busy and trying day at work, a fine way to relax and wind down.


Only problem was, I managed to get myself lost on the mean streets of Clayton, not really the place for a chap from Cheshire to be wandering in the evening, especially as I looked like I was a fooking gamekeeper or summat.

All in it's been a busy few days, so I think I'll take the weekend off, maybe...

TnM ;->

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Backbreaker...Somewhere in Cheshire...

Spent a good ninety minutes or so mooching up an unidentified pipe in Cheshire somewhere the other day. What started out as a hopefully interesting little stone built tunnel outflowing into a stream, quickly turned into at least a mile of backbreaking, leg-aching 5ft RCP. And fook me it was hard work.


After an hour or so of tramping upstream, stopping at every manhole access chamber to take the opportunity to stretch my back into an upright position, I was beaten, there was no end in site, so I turned back, slightly annoyed with myself, but with a plan to return. With any luck, and some further research, next time I'll be approaching from the other end.


It only took me half an hour on the way back out, caught on the tide of water and in a hurry to stand up straight, I really regretted wearing the exploring cardigan, I was soaked through with sweat.

The pics are fairly random, I don't want to give away exactly where this is yet, not until I've traversed the whole thing anyway, and also because I didn't find it, Ike, get in there!! ;->

Was fun, sort of.

TnM :->

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Just catching up on a few bits and pieces...

..that I've been upto over the last week or so. Stuff that doesn't really merit a post of its own. I did the 'Bendy' warehouse in Oldham last week, just 'cos I was in the area on the way back from Bungle's house.

I don't know how many times I've been past it recently but it's now off the neverending list of 'stuff to do, just 'cos it's there, but doesn't deserve the full explore treatment', that list, you know the one (think Barnes Hospital type of stuff).

Anyway, that's it, done.

Next up was the Derby City Culvert, a consolation explore after I nearly took the top of my finger off on some broken glass climbing into another place not far away. Due to the fact I was in some pain (and bleeding quite heavily) we wanted a walk-in explore and this fitted the bill nicely.

With the recent heatwave we're going through at the minute me and Sal thought we'd seek shelter from the heat under the streets of Derby, was lovely and cool too.


Sadly, about ten billion mini flies had the same idea, so after getting about three-quarters of the way through we turned around, there's only so many times you can swallow a fly before it gets less than amusing. Was a nice little walk up until that point, full of wildlife too including bats and rats. And fish, fish are stupid though.

So that's that sorted. Hopefully, I should have some bigger stuff coming up in the next week or two. But I'll still be finding little things to amuse myself with inbetween now and then.

TnM :->

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A hot day in Buxton....

Had a jaunt over to Buxton the other day with Smileysal to go and hit up Harpur Hill College. Following info received from a contact that there was no security on it any more, it needed to be done. Access this time was a whole load easier than the last time a group of us dropped in sometime in 2007.

I'm too hot to witter on about how stuffed full of interesting stuff the place is, hopefully the pics will give you a fair idea. We only intended mooching around for a couple of hours, four hours later though we were still there (having met up with Gibbo and Havoc), and being escorted off the premises by a random security patrol

Following our tour around we headed over to the London Underground trains at the HSE Laboratories round the corner. Fearing the mighty Triple H directions from hell ('it's just around the corner!') were gonna kick in we were surprised to actually find them, naught but a ten minute stroll from where we dumped the cars. Wow!

Admittedly, there are only so many angles you can photograph an empty graffiti littered train, we still managed to make an hours mooch out of them, before we split up and headed off in different directions.

Was a great day, really enjoyed it. There may also be a short video from these two explores, just need to get my arse into gear...

TnM :->

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Woah!!! Relentless X4 - Oh my!

Wow, whilst mooching about my favourite retail store of choice I spotted this!! A four pack of the mighty Relentless, woot, an entire days sustainance in an easy to carry plastic wrapped four pack (of convenience fame). And it's less than four quid.

It's like this you see, four cans equals breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner, throw in a packet of Marlboro (Red) and a days exploring is complete.

The way to win is right there! Get them from Tesco, or your supermarket of choice (although Tesco is the winning choice, obviously).

TnM ;->

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Bunker...bollox...broken camera... :-<

Made a return trip to the Bunker drain today with Sal and once I'd talked her through the access point we headed deep underground to cries of 'bloody hell, wait for me, your legs are longer than mine!'. Well, at a diminutive 5'3" it's hardly surprising the Shireling had trouble keeping up. ;->


Tramping up the RCP together we spent ages looking at frogs, toads, eels and fish, before heading into the darkness, to more cries of 'don't get so far ahead, I don't like it! Slow down...' eventually we arrived at the huge chamber with the stepped downfall and we stopped for pictures and a mooch up the smaller pipe that led nowhere except to a gated infall. Was nice to see daylight though, and grab some fresh air.


We carried on up the drain after taking pictures, when I thought, 'oh, I'll get a pic of the two of us, either side of this pipe'. So, I set up the camera, tell Sal where to stand, hit the self timer button and then...ouch, the sound of a Nikon D200 and 17-35mm f2.8 lens hitting the concrete as I caught the tripod on my way past, F**K, this could be expensive.

As it turns out, the camera works fine, it just won't switch off, unless I unscrew the battery pack, not ideal, but it does the trick....Calumet here I come!!

All in was a good mooch until I noticed a rise in water levels towards the middle of the drain, at this point we decided to head back to the entry point, lest we get caught out.

Was a thoroughly enjoyable mooch, just wish I was more careful with my gear sometimes, lol.

TnM ;->

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