Wheaton Aston

Here I am Rune

Distance 5.3 miles

Total 734 Locks 27 Tunnels

Running total mileage 1111.3 miles

Today has brought us to Wheaton Aston, probably the last town of any significance until we leave the ‘Shroppie’. A pleasant day’s cruise here from Gnossal although I did have a bit of a chuckle at Cowley ‘Tunnel’ on the way. Since it is about 40 years since the last time I travelled this particular bit of canal I can’t really remember a lot of it and Cowley Tunnel is one of those bits I can’t remember from last time. It is stretching a point to call it a tunnel since it is only about 4 times the length of our boat but having forgotten about it I did make the point of checking my tunnel light before setting off this morning. A bit unnecessary really since it is such a short tunnel (I’ve passed under longer bridges) but the bit that made me chuckle was the fact that as you pass through the tunnel there are the arrows on the tunnel side (that you always find in longer tunnels, Harecastle, Blisworth etc) that tell you which way to go for the shortest distance to the entrance. If you stood by any of the arrows and threw a stone along the tunnel it would come out into the open air!

Tomorrow we’ll do our ‘boatie’ things with the water, rubbish and toilet then head on down to the end of the Shroppie.