Blisworth

Here I am Rune

Distance 5.7 miles

Total 461 Locks 9 Tunnels

Running total mileage 624.9 miles

Through Stoke Bruerne and now at Blisworth, a reasonable day’s travel. Stopped off at Stoke Bruerne to visit the canal museum and take in the sights. Then it was onto Blisworth Tunnel which is always a pleasure. Nothing beats a cold shower in  the pitch black of a tunnel as you pass under the air ducts out of which water pours.

 We had a bit of luck in that we managed to get to the tunnel portal whilst our extremely slow boat from yesterday was still untying his mooring lines. Sounds as though it was a good move since when we got to Blisworth to moor up, he moored behind us (some 1½ hours later) and whilst tidying up the roof of our boat I noticed that he had left his tunnel light on. Since that would otherwise flatten his battery, like a good neighbour, I went back to tell him of his error. Whilst doing so he revealed that he had just been subjected to a tirade of abuse from a load of hire boats that had followed him through the tunnel, can’t think why that would happen!! It actually must be quite unpleasant for him travelling the waterways since I would think that the abuse he received probably wasn’t a ‘one-off’. Personally I was desperate not to follow him through the tunnel if he was likely to travel at the speed he went yesterday as repeatedly putting the boat in neutral on the open canal,as we did yesterday, was just a nuisance but in the tunnel as soon as you do that the boat will drift towards one side of the tunnel or the other so you will be constantly trying not to hit the tunnel wall, I would think the hire boaters were seething by the time they got out of the tunnel.

Stoke |Bruerne

South Portal of Blisworth Tunnel