Subterranean

You know those times when you just can't choose your blip. When the best quality picture is a bit dull in content. Or the scene you perceived just doesn't translate into the captured image. For this, after long deliberation, I chose the image that reveals almost nothing, but captures the atmosphere of the moment.

It's from an underground tour of Manchester. You go (with a guide) about 40' under the streets and explore the old subterranean Manchester & Salford Junction Canal that once linked the Rochdale Canal with the Manchester, Bury & Bolton Canal. Completed in 1839 it was designed to address the concerns about traffic congestion in Manchester. The death knell was already sounding for this 3 quarter mile navigation even as it opened, due to the sheer expense of building it underground, along with the option of transporting goods across the city overground via a cheaper alternative canal nearby. In WW2 parts of it were turned into air raid shelters. More on the history here.

It's eerie down there. You have to take torches because most areas are pitch black. Happily, in this age of risk aversion, it hasn't been made visitor-friendly. You really are seeing abandoned subterranean spaces, untouched for many years, untidy, a bit mucky in parts and quite spooky if you get separated from the group momentarily. The guide does, of course, tell you about an oft-reported ghost ... what self-respecting subterranian tour guide wouldn't.

The image is one of my companions down there, after we hung around a bit too long when the main group moved on. I was actually trying to take pictures of Andy close up but his head torch stopped my flash from operating. But I like the image of a distant person down the tunnel because it's quite eerie.

At least, I think it's Andy. I don't acutally remember taking this shot ....