Hatton

Here I am Rune

Distance 3 miles

Total 1565 Locks 80 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2221.5 miles

A slow ‘potter’ back to the top of the Hatton Flight of locks today during which the rain more or less held off (just a bit of drizzle). Once moored however it started to rain like it meant it, which was unfortunate since I had to travel the 3 miles down the flight by bike to get the weekend shopping! 

Shrewley Tunnel (with the separate towpath tunnel)

The only curiosity that we passed on this section of the canal was Shrewley Tunnel, the design of which I do find a bit puzzling. I get the canal tunnel bit since there are loads of them but don’t quite get the reason behind the towpath tunnel which has been cut separately and above it. If they wanted a tunnel to take the towing horses through then why not build the main tunnel bigger, on the other hand if they are going to lead the horses over the top of the tunnel I’m sure the horse would prefer to walk in daylight all the way rather than having to lead him through the unlit towpath tunnel, all a bit odd I thought.

The jury is still out on whether we go back down the Hatton flight tomorrow, we’ll see how we feel about it.