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Dark Fibre: Reg man plunges into London's sewers to see how pipe is laid

We'll let him back in the office at some point

Talking dirty

Outside, Drager Saver PP10 emergency escape breathing apparatus is handed out. Strapping this on, it’s immediately obvious that carrying around a personal life support system is bloody heavy going. Hovering around the man-hole, a group of us is given instruction from our Wick Lane guide, Dan Brackley, a field operator known in the trade as a flusher.

Dan Brackley explains the safety procedures and leads the descent

'Flusher' Dan Brackley explains the safety procedures and leads the descent

Wielding an SSC Portable Gas Detector Brackley explains that he’ll be monitoring the air quality and that there should be no farting about if he says to put the mask on. Dealing with metropolitan merde can create a stink that really can be silent but deadly.

Helmet on, harness wire fastened and down the ladder you go. The whiff isn’t too bad this afternoon, it was a lot worse earlier in the day we’re told. Unsurprisingly, it smells like the more lively London drains you catch a whiff of around Walbrook, near Bank station. It’s not what you’d call a pleasant surprise, but it’s certainly less intense than the morning after real ale and a curry.

Incoming data: each cable contains hundreds of fibre-optic strands

Incoming data: each cable contains hundreds of fibre-optic strands

From the light pouring in from the access shaft, the network infrastructure is visible – four thick, armoured, coloured cables spilling out from a hole just below the inspection entrance and that's it. These fibre 'sub-ducts' sweep across the roof of the sewer, straighten out along the left side and then disappears into the darkness.

Only a couple of guides have lamps on their helmets. The thinking is we follow them and feel the ground with our feet rather than be distracted by the er, scenery. It makes sense, as the floor of the sewer is very uneven in places with submerged gritty mounds of god knows what. Move slow and steady and you shouldn’t end up in the shit.

Descent into darkness

Descent into darkness: it's pitch black, only helmet lamps light the way (left), with camera flash (right)

We follow the red, green, yellow and black/white striped cables into the unknown – they’re just above head height with brackets every couple of feet or so. Away from the entrance passage way, the sewer opens up to show the overall size of its bore – you could run a train down here with room to spare.

Utilities under a London street

Zayo’s Metro fibre network beyond reach of utility works

There are no backup lamps glowing here, just the light from the helmet and the occasional zap of a camera flash.

Further in, the cable colours are barely discernible, coated in the mush of everyday life, but the simplicity of it all is gratifying. It looks like any handyman with a bagful of brackets, a handful of screws and an electric drill could knock this up – forget pile-drivers, aggregate, tarmac and “Sorry for any inconvenience”, being several metres below the surface, nobody would know you’re laying data cables down here. And of course, the seemingly endless mosaic of Victorian brickwork shows no sign of complaint from a few screws here and there.

Brown fibre, anyone?

Brown fibre, anyone? In the distance, these armoured ducts shielding hundreds of optical cables veer upwards to find a route that avoids excessive bending which can degrade performance or lead to stress fractures

Compared to digging, you can cover a lot of ground very quickly by going with the flow, however, you are constrained by the route of the sewer pipes. Overground you can dig a trench in a straight line and then set to work, but channelling these cables through the twists and turns of a Victorian sewer needs planning to minimise flexing – you don’t want a kinky light pipe.

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