Oh Paris, once more you have rewarded this humble traveller with gifts and treasures far greater than i could have ever expected. Adventures, memories, quality food and the unstoppable burning desire to return. Sadly, as with all trips, they eventually have to come to a close. But before i bid my final farewell, returning to London from the station i had climbed not 24 hours ago. Paris had one last gift to give. A small kiss goodbye known as the Maillot Loop.

City Road Opened in 1901 on the Northern Line (City & South London Railway) but received little use from the start. On the 8th of August, 1922, when the lines between Euston and Moorgate were closed to facilitate the increase in the diameter of the tunnels up to 3.56m (Underground’s Standard Diameter), the underground review board deemed a platform extension at City Road to be financially un-viable, as such the station was scrapped and never reopened. Like many other underground stations it served as a air-raid shelter, although no evidence of this remains.

‘Official’ photographs of sewers are sometimes fairly scarce on the net, this is especially true for London. Those found have always contained recognisable sections of well trodden locations such as the Fleet or Westbourne, nothing left to the imagination.

Theres just something i love about the sewer network of london. Like a pirate treasure trail of drains, just when you think its all over, bang new possibilities flow from the side pipes like last nights curry. X may mark the spot, but sometimes the map might not be accurate. The past few months have been somewhat of a re-sweep of London, rechecking old leads and continuing along the tunnels and sidepipes we gave up with before.

I’m often asked why i seem to only focus my attention on abandoned stations within the London Underground, why not layups, disused branches and the sub stations that power the lines? Well the short answer to that, i don’t think any of the above are worth the risk.

Our road trip was coming to a close, we had visited several locations which really could only exist in Belgium. Its laid back attitude, variety of locations and lack of security will ensure that explorers will continue to venture forth to its treasures. So before we bid farewell and raised our final glass on the ferry home, we had one more site to see.