At 1 3/4 miles long, Harecastle is one of the longest tunnels on the system, and it's one-way working only. No more than 8 boats are allowed through at a time, alternating between southbound and northbound passages. It takes around 40 minutes to get through.
We didn't really want to be first in line (there's some sense of security in following another boat) but we were. The tunnel keeper told us we'd have about an hour's wait, so we'd obviously just missed the last passage. Still, it gave us time for coffee and a bit of photography.
The arch on the right is the entrance to the "old" Harecastle Tunnel, completed by James Brindley in 1777 after 11 years' work. Because it had no towpath and boats had to be "legged" through, it eventually became a bit of a bottleneck, so Thomas Telford was commissioned to build a new tunnel, which was completed in 1827 after 3 years' work. It's towpath has since been removed. The whole concept of these constructions is quite breathtaking, considering the lack of modern building aids and methods.
Eventually, the tunnel keeper came to take our details and give us our safety briefing. Any animals on board? he asked. Brian mentioned that we'd collected 5 snails since last night, but was told that if they didn't have names, they didn't count. However, rather than transport the poor creatures 1 3/4 miles out of their comfort zone, we gently released them into the wild on the towpath,
Soon the sole northbound boat emerged from the tunnel and it was our turn. Thankfully the tunnel is completely straight, but the profile of the roof changes throughout and some sections are really low. On and on we went, hoping to see that elusive light at the end... but there isn't one, becouse the south portal has doors which are kept shut until just before you conme out, so that huge extractor fans can do their job of taking out the diesel fumes. After 35 minutes, the sound of the fans became louder and louder, and a tiny pinprick of light appeared between the doors. Finally the doors opened and we were out into daylight again. The south end tunnel keeper had our details, including the boat name, and had prepared some French phrases to greet us with!
We motored on for a short while until we reached Westport Lake, where we moored up for lunch just as a loud rumble of thunder resounded around the very black and rainy sky. We now realise that this must have been the tail end of the storm that assailed the West Midlands earlier.
By 3.30 we were turning into the Caldon Canal, where we encountered a staircase lock and an electrically operated lift-bridge in fairly quick succession. The late afternoon /evening sun was beautiful and we wanted to take advantage of this to reach the more rural part of the Caldon for our night's mooring. But not before we'd witnessed some sad reminders of the industry that this part of the world was built on
Two bottle kilns in a field - how long before they get swallowed up in yet another "canalside" housing development?
But it's 9.20 pm and still a lovely evening, so mustn't grumble.
13 miles, 10 locks, 1 tunnel, 2 lift bridges
Wildlife: today we have been mainly seeing snails
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