One of the finest explores I've done to date. A sort of 'right of passage', being one of a handful who had yet to challenge the River Irwell on access to the Arches, the time had finally came. With Gone and Morse patiently waiting all day for me to make the return trip from Liverpool and pick up my camera gear, I made my way to Gone's place where the 2 already there waiting for me. After a short revisit to Optimus Prime, proving to be an excellent opportunity to dust off my waders, we were gearing up for our descent into the Arches and after a few heart in mouth moments, we were in.

Once all 3 of us were in, the first stop for my was the Gentleman's Toilet's i had seen documented so many times before. With all too familiar names, written in the dirt; 'Sneak '08, Morse, Appo...' I knew that no matter how I took my photographs, none would come out unique.

Taken from Wikipedia; "The Victoria Arches were a series of arches built in the embankment of the River Irwell in Manchester. They served as business premises, landing stages for Steam packet riverboats, and also as World War II air-raid shelters. They were accessed from wooden staircases which descended from Victoria Street."

"Regular flooding of the river resulted in the closure of the steam-packet services in the early 20th century, and the arches were used for general storage. In World War II the arches were converted for use as air raid shelters. The arches are now bricked up and inaccessible; the staircases were removed in the latter part of the 20th century."