Category Archives: Volunteers

Oleanna V Tunnel. 15th April

Star City to Cambrian Wharf, Birmingham

Last nights mooring was very quiet, well apart from the air conditioner unit on the side of the cinema. Only one boat went past us and despite the padlock being no more we felt safe, C&RT did say someone would be out this morning to fix it.

Time to explore, well tick of another stretch of the BCN that we’ve not cruised before. Now when I say BCN, it is actually part of the Grand Union Canal. The working boatmen used to call this the ‘Bottom Road’. Coal was needed for the power station at Star City, there were gas works and numerous goods sheds along the 2.6 mile stretch. Fellows Morton and Clayton had a boat dock where boats such as President were built. On the Alarum talk the other evening Kate had suggested it was one of those arms where the grime and dirt from years gone by still seeps out from the silt at the bottom of the canal. So we expected a lot worse than we actually got.

No single bottom gates on the Garrison flight, so the double gates would all need kicking open. Thankfully all the top gates had held the water back so each and every lock opened without any fuss.

Bottom Lock

Alongside the bottom lock was what looked like a side pond. Drawing from the side pond before drawing water from the pound above would save water, similar to the Hanbury Locks at the top of the Droitwich Canal. None of the other locks seemed to have the same arrangement, but we did notice something we’ve not seen elsewhere.

Grandeur overgrown

At the second lock as I lifted the top paddles Mick heard gurgling behind him, then bubbling up by the bottom gate recesses. This lock not only filled at the top but also the bottom a bit like some Thames locks. Maybe that was what the side pond had been for at the bottom lock.

A few more of the locks also filled at the bottom end on one side or the other. We made good progress up the flight and then ducked our way under numerous bridges before reaching Bordesley Junction where we came back onto familiar water.

Bordesley Junction looking the way we’d come

Towards the end of last year we’d come down the Camp Hill Flight which continues the Grand Union on towards Knowle and Hatton. Today we turned right and onto the Grand Union Digbeth Branch.

There are works of art in amongst the tags

Here just about every wall has been covered in graffiti. boards on posts have been put up and these now obviously are covered too, painting in front of a mass of painting.

Through Warwick Bar where building works are still on going and past Minerva Works all shades of blue.

At Digbeth Junction we decided to turn left and go down into Typhoo Basin, new water again, not much of it. Here three arms used to spread out and Typhoo packaged tea here from 1925 until 1978 despite being badly damaged in WW2. There was just enough room give or take a tree or two to wind.

Curzon Street Tunnel

Once through Curzon Street Tunnel we faced the Ashted flight. The locks here also pretty water tight, but these were all set against us. We soon got into the swing of working an uphill flight, the locks here closer together than on the Garrison flight.

University and HS2

Today all around us was quiet, nobody working on HS2 and most of the students away on their Easter holidays.

Ahead lay Ashted Tunnel, today we were going to win the battle against it. So far the tally stood at Tunnel 2, Lillian 0, Oleanna 0. Lillian lost a nav light on our first trip through, then last year Oleanna gained extra gouges out of her grabrail, all patched in now but not a pretty sight.

Ashted Tunnel ahead!

We remembered the advice others had given us so as soon as the lock below the tunnel was filling I walked ahead to empty the lock on the other side of the tunnel. This we’d done last year, you most certainly don’t want to be part way through the tunnel when the lock empties!

Mick busy filling the pound below

Last year we’d waited for the levels to settle before going through the tunnel. This had been our mistake. Today Mick opened the gate to the lock below the tunnel then lifted a paddle at the bottom end of the lock, letting water flow through it to lower the pound through the tunnel.

I returned and gave up dates on the level, 4 inches below, 5. That’s when we thought we should drop the paddles, the short pound below the lock now really quite full. I took the centre line and as Mick drove Oleanna through the tunnel I kept her towards the towpath side.

Safely through

No bumps or scrapes, the lower level doing the trick and the rope just incase. This time we’d won! Tunnel 2, Pip and Mick 1! Thank you for your advice Brian and Adam it worked a treat.

We paused on the bollards for lunch which meant we were overtaken by another boat. They and the boat a distance behind them most probably taking advantage of the new lower pound through the tunnel, possibly not even aware of the possible trouble that we’d averted.

Words from on high

With a cuppa and refuelled we were ready for the Farmers Bridge flight. We knew we’d be following another boat so every lock would have to be turned.

We started at a steady pace, Mick closing up behind and me going on ahead. Then a volunteer arrived, the boat ahead had four crew so he’d come to offer his services to us.

After one lock we got a rhythm going. The volunteer heading up to the next lock to empty it, open and close the bottom gate. I would then lift the top two paddles, as Oleanna came up Mick would step off and be ready to open the top gate allowing me to close the off side paddle before crossing the gate which he then opened. I then closed the other paddle and closed up behind.

The lock in a tunnel

Through the dark, under the buildings. Then past all the scaffolding on the tower blocks having their cladding removed.

Entering the tourist attraction

On reaching the top three locks we were now a tourist attraction, gongoozlers watching our every move. Mick enlisted a German lady to help with the gates, then I had a Japanese chap help with another.

At the top

At the top a space sat waiting for us right alongside the lock, a 14 day mooring at that. Mick brought Oleanna out from the lock and then reversed her back into the space. Job done, we’d reached our destination.

Our mooring right by the lock

The sun had been out all day, so we made the most of sitting on the bench by Oleanna and watching the world go by. Tilly however was a little bit perturbed as other people seemed to be moving the outside with all of us in it!

Hmmmm……!

24 locks, 5.08 miles, 1 right, 2 lefts, 1 straight on, 1 victory, 1 reverse for a mooring, 1 sunny day, 1 disgruntled cat.

https://goo.gl/maps/JaTBQgkQtNVb3sX3A

Panto Postcard 4, 2021

Apologies, as this will be a short postcard this week, so I’ll stick to last Saturday as that was a very busy day both here and up North.

Mick was up seriously early and on a train at 5 something silly o’clock, he was heading to Goole to try to make the most of what hours of daylight there were. I on the other hand had a little bit of a lie in, well it was going to be a long day for me. Between the two of us we spanned 23 hours.

The curtain going sideways on Act 2

At Chippy Theatre it was time for us to be joined by Will Burgher the Lighting Designer who came in to watch a run of the show. The Pippins were also in and the three teams took it in turns to do scenes. Minimum scene changes happened so it was a little bit hard for me to make notes on what I still needed to work on, but it was good to see the show from start to finish.

I think it was Thursday that I’d received a message from Ann Marie and Dave from NB Legend, they had pulled up in front of Oleanna. We’d hoped our paths would cross earlier this year around Trent Lock, but we were just a bit too quick in passing on our way down to London. Legend has been down the Trent visiting all the off shoots, Boston, up the Chesterfield and when they came off the river at Keadby they had headed on up to Sheffield. We actually thought our paths might have crossed at Bramwith Junction a week or so ago, but due to Oleanna being poorly that hadn’t happened. Instead the boats met in Goole and they helped to keep an eye on Oleanna from the bow whilst Wendy and Martin kept an eye on the stern.

Mick arrived in Goole at 8am and cycled the mile to Oleanna, there was time for a cuppa and a catch up with Ann Marie and Dave before he needed to be on his way.

Heading west

By 9:30 the pram hood had been dropped and Oleanna was winded to face west. Mick waved goodbye to Goole, NB Legend and WB Lullabelle most probably for the last time this year and headed out through the caisson.

The breach site

He motored on along the long straight passing the breach site and on to Sykehouse Junction where we turned left onto the New Junction Canal. This had been planned to happen three weeks earlier and Bridget and Storm had kindly offered to come and operate the bridges for Mick, but today he was going to single hand them.

Some are lift bridges

Now when I operate lift or swing bridges I keep a tally of how many vehicles I hold up. Admittedly I’m not single handing, trying to work the bridges as quickly as possible to hold up as few vehicles as possible, but I was a touch disappointed when Mick told me he held up ‘a few, not many, but a few’! That’s no good for the numbers!

Approaching Sykehouse Lock, is that a green light?

He worked his way along through the first lift bridge. As he approached the second bridge Kirk Lane Road Swing Bridge he thought he could see a green light at Sykehouse Lock. But at distances the lights can be a touch confusing and once he got that bit closer it was most definitely amber, self operation. I’d passed on my knowledge of this lock to him as there is a swing bridge over the centre of it and to be able to operate the panels at either end you need to insert your Key of Power into the panel by the swing bridge and open the bridge to the canal before either of the gate panels will work. However as he approached the amber light turned to green, there is an enthusiastic volunteer who can quite often be found at this lock and today it was Mick’s lucky day. The lock was set and waiting for him, he didn’t have to step off the boat once. Thank you.

By 1pm Oleanna had passed through the last of the six moveable bridges. Ahead lay the Don Doors, two guillotine gates that can be dropped when the River Don goes into flood stopping the river from backing up along the canal from the aqueduct. Earlier in the week I’d seen the River Ouse in flood so there was a possibility that the Don was high, but thankfully not high enough for the doors to be closed.

Don Doors in the distance

In Chippy by now we’d finished the run. The show was running at a half hour too long, some trimming would be needed, there is nothing worse than an over long panto, yet Rapunzel hadn’t felt too long. Dash headed home to work out what could be cut over the weekend.

Notes after the run

Reaching Bramwith Junction Mick battled a touch with the wind to turn the sharp left to Bramwith Lock. Sadly no help on hand here so the ladders were used to get on the boat once she had descended. By 2:30 he’d passed through Bramwith Swing Bridge and was on his way to Thorne.

This left Thorne Lock with it’s swing bridge to do, all operated by the Key of Power, well apart from the road barriers that are manually swung into position. Then it was the renowned Princess Royal Swing Footbridge.

Don’t Look!

Mick moored up and went to operate the bridge, he followed the instructions to the T, but the very particular barriers on the far side got the better of him! Two barriers pull out and lock into position, you then cross back over the bridge and pull out the barriers on the control panel side. This means that unless you are as skinny as a heron you cannot get back across the bridge to wiggle the far side barriers to encourage them to locate properly. Fortunately a local came along and knew what to do. The bridge opened, Mick brought Oleanna through and another local closed the bridge and returned the key to Mick, handy as the bridge landing on that side has deteriorated so much it would have been just about impossible to get off Oleanna safely and tie up.

Oleanna’s home for a few months.

Not much further on they had reached their destination shortly before it got dark. Mick turned Oleanna into Blue Water Marina, her winter home this year. We’d hoped to be able to return to Viking Marina in Goole, but Laird had no room for us, our mooring from last winter now occupied by a go faster cruiser. Mick secured Oleanna to the short pontoon that we’d been allocated, closed her up and headed to the station. Today’s mission was accomplished, winterisation will happen on another visit.

Back on stage the technicians spent the afternoon adding more lights, they were meant to be focusing the lights on stage and then moving to the front of house bars handing over the stage to me to paint. I got myself ready with pots of paint, brushes on sticks and the model to follow. We were all in a position for me to start painting a little later than originally planned, they carried on working in the auditorium until I’d painted too much of the stage for Will to be able to play Hopscotch anymore.

The stage flooring was recently resurfaced which should have made for a nice floor, but somehow the boards were laid rough side up, this made the painting of washes quite a bit harder than it should have been. When Ash left at 11pm I thought it might take me another four hours to finish painting the floor and get two coats of glaze on it, but time just evaporated.

Once the washes were complete I stopped for something to eat, then thankfully enough of it was dry for me to add green hedges, the heating in the auditorium having been put onto it’s highest setting to aid the drying. Next came white and purple for a touch of floweriness. Gavin hunted round for several fans to help with the drying and by 3am I was applying the first coat of glaze. This should have had two hours before the second coat was applied, but by the time I’d finished getting into all the nooks and crannies it felt dry enough to walk on. The second coat went on in 18 minutes, the roller sleeve was left in a bucket of water to be cleaned out properly on Monday and I was out of the door just before 4:30am.

Floor finished

A long day for both of us.

3 locks, 17.6 miles, 9 bridges, ? held up, 3 lefts, 1 lockie, 2 helpful locals, 1 winter mooring reached, 2 weeks late, 1 run, 30 minutes too long, 1 hour late starting, 9 hours of floor painting, 2 coats glaze, 4:30am, 1 pooped Pip.

Rangerless. 10th October

Lock 31E to Lock 8E

Beautiful

What a beautiful mooring, even if we were on a list and in a winding hole. We woke up this morning quite late considering we’d gone to bed early last night. After a cuppa in bed Mick pulled us forward onto the lock landing to take advantage of the morning sunshine hitting our solar panels.

Lovely, who needs electric!

This morning the battery bank was down to 34% so any solar we could gain today would help this evening, thank goodness for Lithium. We do have lots of night lights, but we’re too old for candle lit dinners!

Out comes some more

After breakfast, sausage sarnies to help use up the defrosting freezer, Mick decided to have a go at removing more of the cable from the alternator pulley with the aid of a hacksaw. He allowed himself fifteen minutes and came back with a handful of copper wire. There is still more around the pulley!

Time to get moving, think it was about 10:30, hard to know exactly with no trip computer to refer to. We hoped to make up for yesterday and get a good distance in towards Huddersfield and a good number of locks lower. Richard yesterday said he’d send round a message to other volunteers to see if anyone could help, but sadly we’d not heard from anyone, we’d be on our own.

The sun made the day another stunner. Bright blue skies, views just about everywhere you looked. There were plenty of people out for a walk, some sauntering, others far more serious about it. I was out for a walk to get locks filled ahead and then back to let Oleanna free from the locks above. This of course means walking three times the distance. I kept this up going through the closer locks but stopped when they became a touch too far apart, I was going to walk far enough as it was!

Look at that blue!

The bywashes were flowing yet we still managed to have one low pound. Between 28E and 27E there is a line of moorings, the paddles on the lock above have stops on them so you can’t flood the pound below. Mick wound the off side paddle up as I walked back from below, then I lifted the other. When it came to lowering the paddles again this proved almost impossible on the off side, as there wasn’t enough space for me to be able to lift the mechanism to release it from the pawl. I tried everything including hitting it with my windlass, in the end I somehow managed to get it moved and lower the paddle.

Shhh sneeking past

We’d been warned of a vocal local moored above Lock 26E. I’d already set the lock for us in advance so hoped we wouldn’t get abuse. Anyhow I was hoping to cut him off with what a glorious day it was before he got started. His genny was running and washing hung around the trees. Mick brought Oleanna into the lock, lining her up meant being very close to shouty mans boat. But we did okay and didn’t hear a bean from him, I was slightly disappointed!

Shuttle Lock 24E is a guillotine lock, the top gates are operated as normal but the bottom one has a large metal rising door. Within this is a fairly standard paddle, wound by a windlass. The guillotine gate is also windlass operated, the spindle kept safe from nare do wells by a cover opened with a handcuff key. Six years ago the lock was operated by C&RT as there were safety issues with it. Today try as I might I just couldn’t get the handcuff key to open the cover, it had been over tightened. Mick and I swapped over, in the end the mallet was called for to get it shifted.

Mick worked the lock and I descended into the dark chilly lock with numerous gongoozlers peering down at me. The guillotine raised and below I could see a pipe across the top of the opening at an angle restricting the height somewhat. Our fresh bucket from the toilet only just fitted below it.

The pound below seemed slow going to me and sadly there was nowhere for us to pull in by The Handmade Bakery, a must if you visit Slawit. I got to walk back to lock the guillotine, but had no mask or money to buy Mick a lovely loaf of bread and wish I still could eat their wares, they used to do homemade baked beans on toast!

We still waved

At Darmouth Lock we missed the jolly waves from Pete’s (Mikron Producer) Mum and Dad who used to live there, earlier this year they moved away. So all we got today was the silhouette of someone sat at a computer screen.

Now in a new channel the canal is low and very narrow, thankfully our bucket fitted here too. Below Pickle Lock 22E there was the Hippie Boat, they were busy and we’d only stopped for a quick lunch, szechuan pork on toast another defrosting thing eaten up. Salmon came out for our evening meal, not much worth saving now.

At 21E Waterside Lock there is a local celebrity, Tinker. Tinker has taken a fancy to sitting around the lock, C&RT have put up signs saying he lives nearby so not to worry, he’s not lost. I thought Tilly could spare a couple of her Dreamies. Well blow me down, Tinker is the first cat I’ve ever met who turned his nose up at them! Well I hadn’t come home had I, I was still out!

Blackberries past their best now

The narrow channel beyond reminded me of last time, Frank had joined us to help crew and he’d spotted the bank of Blackberries, he and Mick became mountain goats collecting that nights pudding whilst I stood at the next lock all wrong handed.

I gained two very keen crew a few locks on, they both demanded to help with the gates, then ran down to tell their Dad all about it. The next lock I then had six extra crew, their brothers and sisters and Dad now helping. I hardly had to lift a finger. A close eye was needed to keep everyone safe, Mum and the youngest stood and watched. I asked how it was at home with eight of them. She asked if she could run away with us and pleaded with me to take her with us.

Titanic Mill

The big Titanic Mill built in 1911 has been converted into 130 apartments and sits proudly at the bottom of the valley. What a lovely place it would be to moor with such a great view, but I seem to remember it being shallow, we still had quite a way to go

.

Narrow locks, both paddles up to fill locks, overhanging stones locks through Linthwaite.

The pumps have stopped pumping from the river to the canal, the levels are too low

Did you know that in 1931, Bank Bottom Mill in Marsden set a record of 2 hours 10 minutes for making a suit of clothes, direct from sheep to wearer? The cloth industry was big round here.

Dappled sunlight

Back into the woods, my step counter clicking away. There is one pound longer than the others on the eastern side, I could have got a lift, but I’d walked all the way from Marsden so I might as well carry on. This did mean I got to walk over Golcar Aqueduct and see the horseshoe falls on the River Colne.

Horseshoe falls at Golcar

The final three locks of the day, I was pooped and found bottom paddles left up and gates open, not a welcome sight. But they were soon sorted and we were on our way down. Last time empty pounds had held us up here, today the levels were good.

Nearly there

Last lock of the day Isis Lock 9E, one of the locks on the network with poetry on it’s beams.

We pulled in onto the bollards below, almost into the side. This would do us for the day. The sun had boosted our batteries to 49%, so phones could be charged again. Laptop still off and showers on hold until things improved again.

9E last of the day

Salmon pasta and wine tonight, Mick is now 3/4 of the way through the book on the Standedge Tunnels, the most of a book he’s read in years! I wanted to do some crochet, but with Tilly sat on my knee a large blanket would have been too warm for us both.

https://goo.gl/maps/K4WoHm3n8TGpZwAy7

22 locks, 229ft 10″ descended, 4.3 miles (?), 9+ miles walked, 1 more handful of freed wire, 0 rangers, 1 constant stream of walkers, 2nd blog handwritten, 1 more stunning day on the HNC, 1 guillotine, 1 Hippie Boat, 1 Tinker, 3 wasted Dreamies! 2 aching knees, 1 aching back, 1 big sense of achievement, only 8 more locks to go.

No One Can Hear You Scream! 8th October

….. to Marsden Pipe Bridge

On our way in

Straight away we had a request from Trevor at the helm to adjust our tunnel lamp, to point it straight ahead. Mick did so, then we didn’t hear another word from Trevor for almost two hours.

Differing bricks and arches

Last time we’d both been on the back, our volunteer/guide gave us a fascinating running commentary as well as guidance to Mick at the helm. So much history and interesting facts was passed onto us. Sitting at the stern meant there was a limited amount you could see though. My photos were pants!

Sooty brickwork from the days of steam trains

This time sat in the bow I had my camera on handheld intelligent night auto mode along with the camera on my phone, both fully charged. Our volunteer Trevor, had turned out to be the author of a book all about The Standedge Tunnels (available from here), he’d become a member of the Huddersfield Canal Society in 1976 so if anyone knew their stuff about the tunnels he did. Just a big big shame there was about 50ft between us all. We did however buy a copy off him which he signed for us before entering the tunnel.

Rocky

There are four tunnels in all through the hill, the canal being the first to be built and it was then used to remove the spoil from the construction of the railway tunnels, two of which are now disused. Each tunnel is connected, walkways cross above the canal, and the support van drives through another alongside.

Rocky and misty

The railway tunnel crosses over the canal twice through the hill and when a train passes mist collects in front of you which then gets dragged away with the motion of the train, quite eerie!

At the western end the tunnel was extended when the last railway tunnel was built, so you start off in a brick arch, then a flat roofed section.

Reflections

All the way through different surfaces surround you, it’s like being in a 1970’s DR Who set at times, except this isn’t made from polystyrene!

Curves

Brick arches.

Bare rock that was blasted away, the drill holes for the dynamite quite visible towards the eastern end.

Arch meets rock

A mixture of rock and brick, sometimes brick above, sometimes below.

Spraycrete and rock

Then the creepier sections where concrete has been sprayed onto the bare rock to help stabilise it. This is very Dr Who or Star Trek, Captain Kirk would have set his phaser to stun! The spraycrete was done during the restoration of the canal.

At times the tunnel twisted in front of us, dug out from the ends and from the bottom of shafts the tunnel went off course several times. There are now several S bends

Rock bolts on the ceiling

Other places big bolts have been drilled into the rock face to hold it all back. The ends painted yellow so you can see them better, or know when one of them is going to scrape down your cabin side! There are numerous places where the sides of the tunnel look to jut out further then the gunnels of your boat!

I believe there are four wide sections, passing places. These tend to have wider brick arches helping to support the roof line. When boats were originally legged through the tunnel, it took four hours, this is where the boats going in different directions could pass. But the boatmen meeting elsewhere in the tunnels would refuse to go backwards to the next passing place, so two way traffic was abandoned. Official leggers were employed with traffic going in one direction for four hours before the direction changed. This then led to queues to get down locks at either end of the tunnel.

NO exit

Numerous gaps go off to the sides, some marked as exits, others marked with no exit.

As you approach each of the four adits a security light can be seen on the tunnel roof. Motion activated, the lights come on, a ticking noise can be heard as we passed. Apparently Tunnel Control would be able to tell that we’d passed each adit because of this. However not calling in would mean we didn’t know if there was a problem up ahead.

Walkways from the old rail tunnel to the new

The tunnel was built with quite a few air shafts. None of these can be seen now, well some are around 500ft deep! But you certainly know when you pass under most of them as this is where the water tends to get in. The further east we got the more water cascaded in. Waterproof coats did a good job, but when a flood hits the locker you are sitting on you also need waterproof trousers or better still a swimming costume! I got soaked twice and stood up for the last one, but still I was soaked through to my knickers!

Changes in height

But how was Tilly faring? I was glad we’d kept her confined to our end of the boat. I could see her most of the time and she could see us too.

But?!

Well who stole the sun?!

I’m kind of used to bridges stealing it, although I do tend to duck when that happens. Tunnels are worse as they usually time their theft of the sun with me requiring to use shore based facilities, very inconsiderate! Yes I know I can see in the dark but I’d rather not have to when visiting my box.

Rock and arches

Apparently Tom moved this tunnel once, before I came to be second mate. He bumped into it two times, She is quite proud of that. But today they were not where they should have been, I could see them, slacking at the front! They’d left it to Hard Head Tom to move the outside today.

BUMP, scrape, BANG!!! I sat on the floor not wanting to see what Hard Head Tom was doing to the outside, well lets face it I was really the only one who could see everything properly. BANG!!! How many more times!

Can anybody hear me!!!

I screamed at She and Tom to go and sort it all out, but they couldn’t hear me. Maybe I could do something? But black stuff was over the emergency bathroom gap, how was I meant to escape if I needed to!

Brick profile changing

BANG BIFF Scrrrrrrapppe!

In the end I decided that there was nothing I could do but to curl up on the bed and pretend everything was okay. Maybe this was going to be it for the rest of our lives! I certainly didn’t sleep. Who’d be able to sleep with no sun to warm your back and all that noise!

Light at the end? Or the trip boat?

As we approached the last adit I could see the lights from the trip boat ahead, quite a distance off.

Hi John

A torch light was flashed from the adit. John, the volunteer who’d driven through in a van was waiting for us. He informed us that the trip boat was in the tunnel, but we should just keep going.

After at least a year of my life Tom came through the bedroom, he had a hard head to put on too. Gradually the sun fought it’s way back into the cabin pushing away the tunnel. I could tell Tom was back moving everything, it got quieter and lighter.

Handing the equipment over

Mick had walked through for the very last part of the tunnel. This was so that the boat could be stopped at the tunnel portal to hand all the safety equipment to shore with ease. A plastic crate of first aid, life jackets and a large fire extinguisher were handed ashore. Just a case of retrieving the light from the bow.

Back in the sunlight

We pulled in to where the little shuttle boat moors, it had just headed to the top of the locks to drop people off near the station.

Trevor

Time to thank Trevor who admitted he’d bumped Oleanna a couple of times! There was nothing to see on the port side, but then he did favour starboard side in the tunnel.

No smile just yet

As we pushed off past the visitor centre a train sped past and into the rail tunnel, the sun shone brightly, as much as the tunnel is fascinating it was good to be back in the light.

We pulled in at the top of the locks, the first stretch a touch shallow for us so we hoped that further towards the lock would be better for NB Idleness. A quick check up and down the starboard cabin side of Oleanna, a couple of lines which when rubbed vanished. Our passage may have been a touch noisy at times, but other than a couple of new scrapes on the gunnels there was not one scratch. Thank you Trevor for looking after Oleanna, maybe I should have repainted the grab rails earlier in the year after all.

Soggy bum!

Time to check on Tilly, get changed and have lunch. All was fine with our little thug, who within half an hour of arriving used her on board facilities. Well I couldn’t hold on any longer and you weren’t letting me out!

This way out!

What a great day. Thank you to all the volunteers who make the passage through the longest, highest, deepest tunnel on the network possible.

0 locks, 3.76 miles, 1 tunnel, 3 miles underground, 1hour 48 minutes, 1 more wonder of the waterways for Oleanna and Tilly, 3 boats, 3 volunteers, 2 crew in the front, 2 soaked boaters, 17 years, 1 screaming cat, 2 nav lights in tact, 2 more scrapes on the gunnels added to the 5678 which were already there.

https://goo.gl/maps/qbzszmzTKAy1D1p9A