Marta was kind enough to invite us to her home town of Lodz in the heart of Poland. Zero came along as well, and we met up with the lovely Angelina from Russia. A mixed bag of races all together with a common interest, exploring. At the time I was on a high from finding out I was going to be a father for the first time, so immediately I became wary of doing anything super dangerous or risky. While one must be irresponsible and carefree to do a lot of things on this site, there's still room to have fun and adventure.
After a long drive through the early hours from Warsawa, we ended up in Lodz (pronounced Wodj). All knackered and exhausted after a full night of shenanigans in Warsawa, we all climbed into bed. Unbeknown to me, I would have to share a bed with Zero! Luckily it was quite a wide bed, and we were both happy to hug our respective edges.
After waking and seeking out food, we set off to explore. Waders handy, we walked over to the entrance of the so called 'Big Chamber' part of the Retkinia system. On the right is the tiny 'River Karolewka.' (!Please don't attempt to enter without good knowledge of drains and the weather forecast! This is what could happen here very quickly - click here.

Once passed the heavy grill, we were into some lovely bricked arch tunnels. There was no flow, so progress was easy. Although I've seen pictures of the drains here in full flood, and it's not somewhere i'd want to be! You can view it in the second half of this short video, seen here (referred to above as a warning).

180degrees from the above picture, and the chamber splits. The lower tunnel has been bricked up at some point. The right hand chamber leads to an interceptor.

The interceptor flows on the right away from the camera into poop oblivion. An inspection chamber from the surface sits above it. Lighting maestro Zero was taking pics in the left hand tunnel towards the entrance.

Another 180 degree shot of where the channels merge in the chamber.

The other side of the inspection bridge, as the flow heads off to be treated. A curious tall narrow window on the left, that no one was interested in checking out. Odd that! There are clearly rungs going up the wall here.

After coming out of the Retkinia system, I had a quick squeeze up the tiny 'River Karolewka.' As can be seen, it was nothing special. Typical drab ex-soviet grey slabs.

A ramp on the Karolewka before it exits to the shot above.

I can't remember much about this sewer, or it's name. It's a sewer that runs below one of Lodz's busiest train station, Kaliska. It was built by William Heerlein Lindley around 1925.

Lindley was a British engineer, that trained under his father, William Lindley. His father trained with engineering God, Marc Isambard Brunel. William Heerlien Lindley was an excellent engineer in his own right, and designed sewer systems in Prague mainly, as well as a water supply system in Iasi, Romania and Baku, Azerbaijan. He planned out Lodz sewage system, but never saw it built, as he died before it was started.

This drab grey stretch of the sewer has all the hallmarks of a Soviet builder.

Things lighten up later on, with this white bricked section. Marta helping with the lighting.

The presence of cleanish bricks marked the entrance to a large interceptor chamber. Thankfully we crouched down for the left hand tunnel, not the right.

The mass of arches. The higher arch by the railings, is the entrance from the inspection chamber.

A reverse shot of the above. The large wide tunnel on the left, shrinks down to the one seen above before entering the chamber.The interceptor flows away form the chamber, below the diversion gate.

A fisheye shot that didn't quite work in the chamber, taken from the inspection gallery.

Diversion gate above the interceptor. Or as they're known in Eastern Europe, Collectors.

The tunnel from the inspection gallery back to the surface access.

Some plaques on the wall, and a spiral staircase access to the surface.

After all that, it would seem rude not to climb the stairs and exit. We emerged beneath a number of flyovers, and left to find food and beverages of a refreshing nature. Tired, I left the bar and headed back to Marta's relatives to sleep. I got worried in the morning, as I woke to find Marta sharing my bed, not the hairless Zero! Turns out Zero had been getting into Russian in a big way after much persistence!

Huge thanks to Marta and her relatives for putting us up.