Tardebigge and Tunnels

Tardebigge Locks is the longest flight of locks in the UK, comprising 30 narrow locks on a 3.6 km stretch of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal in Worcestershire. It raises the waterway 67 metres, taking us four hours to traverse. We opened and closed all these locks yesterday, as well as six before we got to Tardebigge. By the time we had passed lock number 30 for the day, the fear Helen and I had of walking over the narrow “V” shaped lock gate, high above the lock became secondary to the prospect of the extra walk to cross the lock on the straight gate, so we can claim to be top class winch wenches! During the four hours we experienced the full range of English weather, from sunshine to thunder storms and back again, capped by a lovely sunset, a warm shower and a glass (or two) of red wine. A tiring, but satisfying day!

Today, in complete contrast, there were no locks, for which we were thankful, but four tunnels, the longest being The Wast Hill Tunnel at 2.5 km, which took 40 minutes to traverse. This tunnel was one of the reasons Steve wanted to join Helen and Roger for this particular week of narrow boating. It was built in 1796, another of Britain’s great engineering feats. The dripping water, the cool air, complete darkness and a layer of fog on the water gave the tunnel an eerie quality. But eventually, the pinpoint of light grew larger and we emerged into a scene of greenery reflected in the water.