We drove through Notting Hill around 5am on a Sunday morning, car filled to the brim with drainers and equipment. I remember thinking this must be the height of luxury.
Baring in mind along with my travelling companions Nckt and Eotech, we had been on the go, walking around, since we arrived in London the Friday evening. The lift from Winchester was just what was needed for knackered legs and seeing the Labyrinth junction was a great way to round off the trip.
July 2013.My first visit to Labyrinth was short and sweet, so I went back with TheVicar to take a proper look. Officially known as the North Western Storm Relief(NWSR) the main pipe was built in 1924, stretching under the streets of Notting Hill and Kensington it serves several large sewers.
We dropped down the access shaft into the North Kensington Relief(NKR), this 5ft pipe begins up a tumbling bay to an overflow weir on the Mid Level Sewer No.1.
Continuing a short way downstream we came to the NWSR which cuts through, a dam of oak boards sends normal NKR flow down the larger pipe.
Just downstream of the junction the NWSR drops down several meters, it then goes onto more overflows and the outfall on the Thames.
We travelled upstream, being a storm relief the pipe should have been dry however a new concrete sewer had been spliced in further up giving a steady flow. This made the walk upstream a bit of a trek fighting the slippery floor and dissuaded us getting the cameras out for a small overflow that connected in via more steps.
Eventually we came to the start of the NWSR, the overflow on the Mid Level Sewer No.2, stairs went upto a large chamber while a smaller pipe takes flow from a dropshaft.
The chamber features some rather nice bracket fungus that appears to have grown since the last photos I saw.
