Pyestock Diaries

Tom hurried on ahead and I could hear him splashing through another flooded section of the cell. Eventually he returned. "It leads to where we went under Cell 3 on our first trip," he explained. So if we’d continued going on that first day, we’d have traversed all of Cell 3 and eventually emerged at the back of Cell 3 West. I wondered if the area we explored the previous year was now similarly flooded.

We took the steps back up and continued to duck and dive under the pipe array as we made our slow progress towards the back of Cell 3 West. It was a neglected part of Pyestock and made for slow progress; both as we photographed as much of our cramped surroundings as possible and were slowed by the pipes, gullies and walkways to navigate. There was a laugh when we discovered exhaust pipe 8 blanked off with a huge metal blank and a normal household tap; and there was the unexpected drama when a step sheared off under my foot as I climbed over the top of the Cell 3 metal casting. (It was welded on at an angle which allowed water to collect and rust through the weld).

Ducking and diving westwards under the exhauster pipe array alongside the Cell 3 trench. 05|05|07 © Simon Cornwell 2007