Compared to the 106 or Micra sleeping in the Toyota was like a 4 poster bed. Silky drapes, quilts covered in roses and a chocolate left on your pillow every night. Well ok maybe not, but at the very least i was able to stretch my legs out without having to wrap them between the pedals. However no matter which car we chose i always seem to wake up the same way, with my face stuck to the window. Such is the plight of someone too cheap to pay for a hostel. Oh well its 5am, we were somewhere south of Manchester and it was raining, heavily. Hurray for British summers.

As we drove through Manchester we passed the Mcvitie's factory, its aroma overpowering the smell of sweaty men and for a while it smelt like i was driving a cake with wheels. But the smell lurked and overstayed its welcome making me hungry, Mcdonalds anyone?.

Accrington is a weird town; it was once a huge industrial metropolis of cotton and textile mills. Accrington was also know for manufacturing the hardest and densest building bricks in the world, "The Accrington NORI". These were used in the construction of the Empire State Building and also used for the foundations of the Blackpool Tower. However little remains of this now with the most active destination being an Asda. This also meant the culverts now flowed under grassy fields and woods and felt completely pointless. I guess the Victorians were such a bunch of hard nuts they just built them for fun. Joseph Bazalgettes Culverteering 101 for beginners.

Warmden grotto appeared to be the most interesting of the Accrington culverts so we headed there first. By now it had been raining solid for at least two days. 'When it rains, don't go in drains' right?. Well we were here now, it couldn't hurt to take a quick look at the outfall.

Hmm, something wasn't quite right. The roads either side of the river were flooded and the car park had small lakes forming in its corners, so why was the river barely a foot deep?. We peered into the stony void, a calm clear stream flowed out from the darkness. If this was London i wouldn't even consider entering a drain now. The London sewage system has too many unforeseen and uncontrollable circumstances surrounding its turdy dwellings, floodgates, penstocks, storage tanks, tides and interceptors to name a few. But here, it was just a straight forward culvert, does that mean its ok?. We decided to proceed with added caution.

Warmden didn't disappoint, its shape changed every hundred meters and its construction materials included rock, stone, brick, metal and concrete. As it was a northern drain i expected it to be a debris ridden assault course of ottery doom, but instead after thirty meters we climbed up a step to find a smooth rocky floor for the rest of the journey, result. We spent a few hours exploring the grotto and trying to catch the biggest fish i have ever seen before heading back out into the rain.

So, if the rain doesn't flow into Warmden it must go somewhere else. Maybe to the 'Hall of Giants'?.

Go south a tiny bit ->