What are your jeans doing today?

[JDelage]

Wow, that's amazing!

I've never tasted birch sap... I used to read that blog of a guy in California who's big into foraging. You should check it out: https://honest-food.net

[Duke Mantee]

Great stuff Neal - mini soul is going to be one well sorted adult

By the way, where do you forage linguine? 

[Double 0 Soul]

5 minutes ago, Duke Mantee said:

By the way, where do you forage linguine? 

Italian, Swiss border

 

[Duke Mantee]

[dau]

3 hours ago, JDelage said:

Wow, that's amazing!

I've never tasted birch sap...

pretty much great when prepared properly

[tg76]

reusing some old denim curtains

pleated and rolled and folded now simmering in fresh ground coffee. Will leave over night to get a really deep colour. 
will not leave due to reuse another day like this avocado one.. oops 

[edmond]

hmmm

[Double 0 Soul]

Think of me as a denim-clad Bob Hope, entertaining the troops in times of crisis...

This was a rainy Saturday afternoon subterranean explore back in January a few of years ago. We parked the car up at Bakewell (famous for its tarts) under the old viaduct and went looking for the old Haddon Tunnel between Bakewell and Rowsley, it passes underneath land owned by my old chum the Duke of Rutland, access used to be a small hole in the previously bricked up tunnel but i had heard that the estate had recently sealed all the entrances.

You might recognise Haddon Hall (the duke of Rutland's residence) as Prince Humperdinck's castle from The Princess Bride which was filmed around the Peak District.

I knew we was on the right track when we passed this old railway workers cabin

 

..after a brief yomp x-country

 

..we found the Bakewell entrance to the tunnel  and it was indeed, bricked up

I had no idea where the Rowsley end of the tunnel was so we climbed the gates and headed over the Duke of Rutlands estate, y'know casual like.. keeping our heads down because of the pheasant shoots and it is private land after all. Shh! Don't tell social services about my parenting skills.

 

 

This is one of the air shafts from the tunnel. You can just about see the castellations of Haddon Hall in the background, we followed five of these and an open air section en route.

 

The tunnel is below our feet.

 

The old railway line passes underneath the entire Rutland estate simply because the Duke couldn't bear to see fucking plebs on trains traveling over his land, and who could blame him?

The Tunnel was built by the Midland Railway in 1863 as an extension of its Buxton branch-line, into the Peaks, it was closed in 1963, unused ever since, the estate bricked up the tunnels but wherever there's a will there's a way... We made it across the estate following the airshafts to the Rowsley end of the tunnel where water was gushing out everywhere...

 

 

..its aprox 3miles from Rowsley to Bakewell and about half of that distance is underneath the Haddon Estate

 

 

 

 

The ground and walls are covered in calcite where the water has flooded in for generations.

Who you gunna call?

 

Walled open air section...RMC M-65 making an appearance

We made it up to the 'bricked up' Bakewell tunnel... turned around and headed back to Rowsley.

 

 

On the way back to our car at the viaduct, rather than risk capture for (pointless) trespass we headed around the estate on a footpath only to find the river Wye had burst its banks and we had to traverse it on this cold metal fence for 45mins Brrr!

This would explain the water gushing out around the tunnel..

 

I ask you, what kind of a father doesn't take his kid trasspassing through a dark abandoned tunnel on a weekend?...Pfft! not a very good one

 

Edited April 23, 2020 by Double 0 Soul

[Duke Mantee]

Love these adventures

[shredwin_206]

Amazing adventure @Double 0 Soul! What camera are you using for these shots? 

[Double 0 Soul]

Same as ever, a battered old Canon 400D with the cheap kit lens, grim January lighting above ground, zero light long exposures from the tripod below ground.

[volvo240thebest]

Last wild asparagus of the year I think. Just found a new spot for them.

[Geeman]

Angry gardening?

[volvo240thebest]

Fierce hunter gatherer mode. There is a wild asparagus battle going with my neighbour and this year I am by far the winner for the first time  in ten years.

[fresh1]

Smoked a brisket today.  It was on sale for a really good price, so I couldn't pass it up.  However, it was 15 lbs and there were only four of us...if you guys have suggestions for leftover brisket, let me know. 

 

[JDelage]

Left over brisket is great as "burnt ends". Just cut it in bite size pieces, and pan sear it with a bit of butter, then when you have it nicely browned, finish it with a bit of your favorite bbq sauce.

[fresh1]

I thought about making burnt ends on the smoker last night, but by that time I was wiped out and just didn't have the energy. 

I was thinking of making some breakfast tacos with some of the leftovers.  I thought brisket chili sounded good, but my wife doesn't care for chili. 

Edited May 4, 2020 by fresh1

[JDelage]

Burnt ends really don't benefit from the hassle of the grill, IMHO. If you have it going, it's one thing, but starting de novo to recook something for a few minutes that was smoked to start with... I would just do it on the stove top, + oven if needed.

[heyson]

built this Judd-esque coffee table for a friend.

went for a stroll

 

[Double 0 Soul]

6 hours ago, heyson said:

built this Judd-esque coffee table for a friend.

Cool!

I made myself a table for my woodburner/bbq

It had to be heatproof and portable which ruled out most materials and after scouring our antiques quarter in vain for folding metal tables which were solid enough to support cast iron cookware...i decided to just make my own.. so i went to Swifties our local architectural salvage joint and after hours of rumaging, i bought the largest piece of hand cut roofing slate which i could find and using it as a template, cut out a piece of WCB exterior grade birch throughout plywood, stuck it down with heatproof gasket, and screwed it down using antique screws through the original holes, which should rust up a treat.

Followed the conteurs of the slate, and using the rest of the plywood, laminated some legs together, assembled and sealed from the elements.

...and there you have it.

 

Edited May 5, 2020 by Double 0 Soul

[Thanks_M8]

Got around to sorting the local part of my vinyl collection. The rest is at my parents house, but I didn't want to move boxes of vinyl into a tiny flat, so this works for now. Listened to “yessir whatever“ by quasimoto/madlib while doing so. Missing a few by waxahatchee and guts, sadly. The courtney barnett collection is split between here and my parents place, same with the blu and exile collections.

[Kit Carruthers]

Love Waxahatchee. New record is ace.

Had pretty mixed feelings about moving back to the U.K. from Toronto, but one of the big positives is being reunited with the record collection. Been buying ‘em since I was about 13, and used to get lots from pluggers when I was working at 6 Music. 

Mine’s in need of some organising itself at this point...

[Thanks_M8]

Yep the latest album is great, didn't order it yet cause my usual store didn't have it on preorder.

Having the collection all in one place is a huge pleasure, also saves you from getting things twice.

Edited May 5, 2020 by Thanks_M8

[thedapperdane]

Just came upon this awesome thread. Spent my Sunday am crawling up the famed creeks of central Texas with a bottle of Mezcal....a friend imports this and needed a promo shot...so there we were...my jeans with someone else's fades  (Levis made in the USA from maybe late 70's found in a used clothing store.) Yes i got to keep the bottle. If you are a Mezcal sipper apparently this is the top of the pops. It's not the sort of drink you have while it's daylight fair warning.

[Double 0 Soul]

Right... i'm considering going back into work next week (if it's still there) so this will be the last of these old adventures..

From January, a couple of years ago... 'Subterranean Cold Wet Shoes'

You might have noticed that a lot of these posts are from January... well it's my birthday in Jan and i always take the day off and go on some adventure to 'celebrate' plus the weather is shite in Jan, you're better off out of the elements.

I headed towards Heeley in Sheffield at 6.30am to explore a mile long 'surface water' drain...  ukdraining! honestly it's a thing

 

My entry point was to drop down from a railway bridge followed by a brief walk through the river Sheaf against the flow of water in the darkness, with our rivers currently in flood and the freezing January temperatures it was certainly a rude awakening especially when the cold water rose above penis level

 

With my pack above my head, photographs of my entry are nonexistent (i'll come back to that later)

I took two pairs of running leggins, spare socks and carried my wellies strapped to my pack so i would at least have dry feet.

I left my wet 50's repro UDT shoes by the exit for ....erm... exiting purposes.

 

 

You can see at this point, an old (c1800's) stone bridge built into the culvert wide enough for a horse and cart, with a later brick extension built alongside where it would have been widened to accommodate cars.

 

The culvert has been built/extended over the last 200 years to carry rain water down to the Sheaf, the water flowing in at this point is surface water from the nearby railway line. Once upon a time it would have been an open stream flowing throught he city with little bridges over the top.. made into a drain to accomodate the cities expansion over the top.

 

Soon after i found myself in this large circular chamber made from concrete blocks.

 

 

 

On i pressed... i was covered in spiders having walked through their webs, they all seemed friendly.

 

The ceiling became very low, i was almost on my hands and knees in the water at this point, you can see rusting gas pipes overhead in the distance.

 

I was starting to hear very heavy flowing water when i was greeted with this amazing double staircase.

It was very 1970's New York subway-esque, like a scene from The Warriors.

 

After the staircase the brickwork disappeared turning into a narrow concrete channel, the ceiling became very low (less than 3') and the water level became high and fast flowing making it impossible to take photographs, this went on for a good 400m, it was the more recent 1957 section of the culvert.

At the end of the channel my back and knees were ruined, i was thankful of this large re-enforced concrete pipe.

 

It was very slimy and slippy in the bottom of the pipe below the water level so i had to 'Vitruvian Man' it.

 

On it went winding its way this way and that through three more waterfall sections.

 

The concrete turned back to Victorian brick as i reached the final sections.

 

And there you have it.. folks always say 'There will be light at the end of the tunnel'

 

It's about 1mile in each direction, i had been down here for 3 hours taking long exposures so i headed back to collect my UDT pumps and make my escape.

 

..looking back you can see my entry point through that arch down river...

..Last summer i took a few of the kids who live on out street on the same adventure but they couldn't stand still for 30 seconds for the long exposures so all the photo's were ruined mini-soul on the left, his friend from next door but one on the right, getting dried off at entry.

Here's to getting outdoors more often when all this shit has passed

Edited May 8, 2020 by Double 0 Soul

[JDelage]

@heyson - Where are those pics from? It reminds me of Phoenix...

[Double 0 Soul]

Oh... and if you find any bullrush/reedmace (top of the page) don't throw the rest of the plant away, at this time of year (May) the more trad brown velvety pollen spikes are still young/green/edible

..you can boil them up much like corn on the cob and eat with butter or they can be dried and used instead of flour for cornbread, pancakes ect.. the Native American way

..and if you pull up the root system you will find these pointy things called corms, these can be pealed and eaten raw (or cooked) same flavour but starchier and can replace potatoes in salads and wot-not

 

[MJF9]

@Double 0 Soul brilliant adventure... no issues social or physical distancing down there... 

Looked like quite an effort wading through - @Maynard Friedman is surely thinking it looked drain-ing...

[heyson]

@JDelage las vegas

[JDelage]

Doh, I should have recognized the towers....