For over four years now, myself along with many others have stooped, stomped and slipped under and across london's bowels, through sewage, grease, fat and mystery content "X", always wondering what the next bend had to bring. Our deep fascination with the history that Victorian sewers had to offer encouraging us to brave even the most poopiest of pipes. But what happens when the sewer is less then a year old, holds no immediate constructional intrigue and has a historical value of 0. What then is left to tempt the bright eye' d traveller into its depths?

Constructed in 2009 the West Ham Relief Sewer is a new 3.3km, 9ft diameter storm relief built to relieve the stress from the existing sewer network in east london. The tunnel was completed in early 2010 as part of a £65 million scheme to protect the area against flooding.

For a simple sewage tunnel, there was a whole heap of security measures. Cameras, PIR traps and on site security watching the ladders at each shaft. Admittedly this was likely just to protect the TBM and tunneling gear which at the time still sat in situ in the eastern portal. In other words for all the sewers we had been in, this was one tunnel Thames Water and co really didn't want us wading through.

Thankfully though, security devices are only as good as the people who install them. Poorly positioned cameras creating inviting blind spots, diggers, trucks and machinery providing ample protection against PIR's and the wonderful flaw known as human nature and nuts magazine taking care of the rest.

With time and patience we carefully worked our way around the yard, edging closer to the shaft with every step, the guards occasional check the only cause for concern. The lightweight ladder rattled and clanged as we descended, the sound amplified and echoed in the shaft. My heart was racing, at any moment i expected the yelling to start, running away impossible.

Touchdown, my feet sank into half a foot of bubbling worker grade fudge, trainers yet again the wrong choice in a English drain. With security unaware we pushed on, two small goods wagons stationed in the shaft providing dry passage into the western tunnel, lights flickering in the distance. From here on the story was the same, a white, endless concrete tunnel extending into the distance, its only feature, itself.

We walked for almost a mile before we decided to turn back, returning to the original shaft and making a run for it upon our exit. Although It may not have had any of the historical qualities that make older sewers great it made up for in other ways. Adventure, thrill and a little pinch of infiltration.