At the point where we joined Moonwalker, as we left Baptizer, Moonwalker's downstream flow falls
into a 7ft rcp via a steep slide at quite some rate, it eventually
meets the River Rea some half a mile north east of our start point. We headed upstream
and straight off the bat we were surprised at the height of the tunnel. As seems to be the case with other culverts
along the brook, Moonwalker was previously an open air channel conveying the brook through
the city. Industry and housing encroached upon the channel and it was covered over in varying stages
as development demanded, it must have been a deep cut previous to being covered over.
Due to my moisture laden denim leg wear each step resulted in a little more chaffing and so it was
uncomfortable going, I'll blame my lack of photos on that. Now, when it rains in Birmingham it
must really rain! There was debris in this drain the likes of which I have never in my
draining life seen before. Sections of double course, concrete rendered brick wall in some case
about fifteen foot by six foot were scattered about the tunnel, unbelievable. The debris is likely the
worst point of the entire drain, it makes going pretty slow at times and causes the usual sections of
backed up deep water. The main pipe has a myriad of adjoining pipes of all knds of shape and size,
the larger ones tended to join the main pipe via a fall of four or so steps and the few that were investigated
further were all overflows on sanitary sewers. There's still many side pipes that haven't even been
ventured into, Birmingham is crying out for a dedicated drain explorer!
