A game of cat and mouse....and fox

Being in England, clear night skies are a gift rarely bestowed upon us by the gods. So when one does roll along you'd be a fool not to snap up the chance to do something.

Since we've already visited a large majority of the "good" towers in London, we decided to go back to the Bishopsgate development. Since the last time we visited was over a year ago the building had come along way. Only one final crane remained all the main construction work had been finished and they look almost ready to decorate.

Access hadn't changed a great deal apart from a few new cameras forcing us to make a few "detours". We were thwarted by cars several time before we made our way into the side hiding in the darkness before we began our accent. Well that was the plan , just as we were about to move on we heard some talking followed by a worker/security guard? coming out from a door no more then 4 meters away. We sunk back down praying we weren't seen.

We waited several minutes before we deemed it safe to move off. We headed up around the corner and were just about to enter the stairwell when we came across a baby fox, who upon seeing up disappeared up the stairs.

We finally reached th 36th level and found ourselves on top of the air con fans. The view was amazing as ever, coupled with the perfect weather, it was a sight to be seen. I split off from the other two to photograph the east side of the building, but 5 minutes later i noticed Loops and Random sneaking around, and waving frantically at me.

"We've been seen!!!!!"
"What?, by who"
"A worker or something, there looking for us now!"

Bugger i packed away my stuff an got a further explanation of the events. Workers in the building at 12pm, come on. We headed into the nearby stairwell and suddenly heard a door creek open 2 levels above us. We booted it down several floors looking for a place to hide. It was clear they were onto us. We managed to find cover on one of the floor with a view of the elevators which were descending down each floor with someone walking down the stairs....crap.

PING. The elevator reached our floor and the workers stepped out meeting up with those from the stairs. At this point there were no more the a couple of meters from us and needless to say i was sweating buckets. As we listened in on their conversations of broken English we realized if they looked in the windows they would see our reflections....

"Look over there, they came down here".

I didn't even breath due to fear of revealing myself...

"They've gone" , "No a few more floors"

The lift went down and the remaining workers continued down the stairs...phew. We kept down for another 15 minutes just to be sure and just as we let our guard down and started speaking we heard a mobile phone ring. Sh**, we must be done for now, no way in hell he couldn't have heard us. We prayed as the person spoke on his mobile phone. Time seemed to stand still until we finally heard the clunking of stairs as he continued down.

20 minutes past, the lifts finally stopped there movements, and we presumed it was ok to move. So up we went back to the roof. We split up with loops who decided to climb the crane. We were busy taking pictures for at least an hour and we were in the clear. We headed up to the highest point which involved a bit of a climb and took a few candids of loops.

Well i was cold and wanted some food so we decided to head down. Random was first to jump down and just as it was my turn he looked at me and said.

"A workers coming",he smiled and then said "Im only joking"

Well thats what i thought he said anyway. I looked right to see a worker walk round the corner and into the lift machinery room. Amazingly just nodding at Random, i just down and we made off quickly passing another worker who did the same!. What the hell was going on. Once out of view we charged down the stairs and then though. Fu** loops is still on the damn crane.

We couldn't go back up or wed be seen again, we frantically search the building for any bars of signal. Finally managing a "Get the fu** down now" call. We regrouped and headed straight for the stairwell, coming out at the 27th floor to check the lifts, only to see our dear friend Mr fox walking around before he ran crashing into a toolbox after a failed jump.

We continued progressing down passing several floors with work going on. Before vaulting the perimeter fence and charging off into the night.

All i can say it was an eventful trip, one that i do not wish to experience again!!!!!.

The depths

It never fails to amaze me. The underbelly of London. You think you've seen it all and then something new and even stranger slaps you in the face like a wet fish. So what have we found today, well to be honest... we don't have a clue. It could be something to do with a drain, water main, access tunnel, or just some random bore hole, but with it being in the middle of a random field theres nothing around to give any clues or hints. So, your guess is as good as ours.

Macro, something big

Macro, Bradford. What an impressive mix of old and new, including several truly impressive pieces of British architecture and design. There is only one downside to all this. Being a culvert in the north, the floors once constructed with stone or brick have been ripped up during storms and heavy rainfall and now lay in a mess, an assault course to the unwary traveler. One that proved to much for me the first time around. Earning me the timely badge of "Teh Otter"

This time around we viewed more of the northern parts of macro, including a few sub sections and side branches known as "Academy" and "Pandora's Box".

The first target was to explore a unseen sewer which lay in the depths of Pandora's Box. The only problem was that Pandora is a mean bitch who tests the determination of all who seek to explore her, giving them a challenge in the form of a tiny box.

While the average noob explorer maybe put off. Those that day simply donned their mystic ninja gear and after chanting a protection spell or two, materialized through the portal arriving dry on the other side. Or... something along those lines.

After regrouping we headed towards the main sewer, and after climbing a set of ladders we found ourself staring down a small drop into the channel. Now all we had to do was get down.

The drop was roughly 4-5 meters, a bit to far to jump. Luckily since Mike and DDT had been before we had planned for this and brought a length of rope with us. The sewer itself was fairly uninteresting. A 15ft RCP heading in both directions. To the north the nastiest ladders in the world covered in all kinds of man-mud. At the top a small vortex with the water spiraling around the edge and down.

Whilst walking back to the main chamber we found a little trapped frog trying to escape the sewer flow. Now i knew karma would kung fu kick my ass and make me do the otter dance if i left it there so i stuck it in a box to free later in the day.

Once out we said goodbye to DDT and Pandora the frog and after a brief subway snack we headed back under and on to the next stop, Academy. A newer section in comparison to the rest of macro. Constructed mainly of large concrete sections and bunker style staircases. With a little secret hidden at the top. A huge overflow chamber with 4 "U" bends which would bring flow down from the sewers above in the event of an overflow.

We took a few pictures in Academy and its junction with macro before heading back topside. It had been a long day and food was defiantly next on the agenda so we set off for the maddest curry and planet sized naan bread