Resident Eelville, also known as the "Wandle Valley Relief which also incorporates the Wandle Valley Sewer network and two smaller tunnels which didn't even merit a name. The pipe runs from the lower sections of tooting connecting into the Streatham Relief all the way up to Wandsworth where it overflows into the Wandle, although all content is dumped into the high level extension long before this.

This however means the upper sections are teeming with life. Or more precisely eels!

I met up with Dsankt near London bridge and we both headed down towards Wandsworth. I had recced the entrance last year but due to the fact i still wore wellies back then i couldn't explore it. We had a quick look in the river as i didnt check to see how it came out into the Wandle. Two large wooden gates stood half way up the bank, rocking with the current.

We kitted up, torches on and down we went. The tunnel was a bit smaller then i remembered it but thankfully nowhere near as deep as before. We stood in a red brick chamber to the north the pipe run in a sideways D shape and to the south the pipe split into two and continued on to their respective outfall.

We began our walk up to the pipe and the water level slowly dropped as we progressed. Midway up i saw something long and black dart towards me. Lets just say if i had eaten anything that day it would have been a messy pants situation. I thought it was a sewer snake or something but on closer inspection it turned out to be a eel probably 3-4 ft long. We looked at each other and we both knew what had to be done. Catch it!.

We tried for over 40 minutes to catch the thing but it had alot of murky water which we had disturbed to hide in and also the fact that we were wearing marigolds so a slippery eel and rubber gloves weren't the perfect tools for success.

We continued on and before long we heard a rushing sound in the distance. A little further up we came across a small concrete box pipe coming in from the east and just ahead.... well what can only be described as a sewer speed bump.

I had never seen anything like it. Just on the other side was the Wandle Valley sewer which was diverted off down a tunnel of certain death. Much like the slide at Westbourne. The pipe curved round down some stairs and then dropped. There was even a emergency rope tied on to stop you from going down it!.

We pushed on up the pipe and after a while we came to another little feature a smaller sewer connecting in from the west and the pipe we were in went up 4 stairs and then shrunk by a foot or so. Since the connecting pipe was crouching height we pushed on up the main line which by now was uber slippery and after 10 minutes we decided we didnt have time for this as we were going less then a meter every 10 seconds.

We headed back to take a few pictures and then headed back out to the fresh air.