Heading north

We’re on the move again and heading for higher ground! This stretch of the Trent and Mersey has taken us through three tunnels in two days delivering us onto the Bridgewater Canal – the first and oldest canal on the system. It was built by the young Duke of Bridgewater following his Grand Tour. He was inspired to start construction after seeing the canals that had been built throughout Europe. Opened in 1761, the Duke built it to provide a faster and cheaper route to supply Manchester with coal from his mines in Worsley. At its peak, over 3 million tonnes of traffic used the Bridgewater Canal and it forms a strategic link between the North and South canal networks.

This week we passed over a unique feature which is known as one of the Seven Wonders of the Waterways. The Barton Swing Aqueduct carries the Bridgewater Canal over the Manchester Ship Canal. It’s not far from the Trafford Centre and is an amazing feat of engineering. An aqueduct is a stretch of canal built onto a bridge. But this one is special, both ends can be sealed off and the whole aqueduct can be rotated to allow tall vessels to pass along the Ship Canal underneath it. This is the first and only swing aqueduct in the world, opened in 1894 it’s now a Grade II listed building and is still in regular use today.

The first time we visited Worsley was in 2007 to view Meridian, the first shared ownership boat that we bought into. It was a brand-new boat and all very exciting. Ironically, we saw Meridian a few months ago and she’s still looking good. It’s still a shared ownership boat and I’m sure the person steering her on the day thought we were a bit bonkers as we waved at them with such enthusiasm.

Our enthusiasm for tunnels has been tested on this stretch, as the three that we’ve just passed through were a little challenging. These canals were the first contouring canals to be built and the engineers struggled to find a solution to get past hills. Rather than building multiple locks to go up and over the hills, they opted to save time and money by creating tunnels  through them . The first tunnels to be built were at Barnton, Saltsford and Preston Brook. The tunnel routes were plotted across the hilltops and then shafts were sunk down. Miners dug in both directions from the bottom of the shafts and inwards from the tunnel entrances, theoretically joining up to create perfectly straight tunnels.

Unfortunately, this method of construction was on a learning curve (pardon the pun) and these tunnels have very obvious kinks in them. They are too narrow for boats to pass each other and not straight enough to see all the way through, so boats entering from each end would meet in the middle. To solve this historic problem the Canal & River Trust (CRT) have set up timed entries for each direction, which is great if everyone follows the guidance.

There are still over 50 tunnels on the canal network, ranging in length from 25 yards (23 metres) to over three miles (5,210 metres). You can get married underground in the Dudley Tunnel (Birmingham) as it now has a licence for civil weddings. The Dudley Canal Trust tugboat is used as the wedding vehicle with the ceremony taking place in the Singing Cavern.

Some tunnels have not survived, Greywell Tunnel on the Basingstoke Canal was closed in 1932 after a roof fall. It’s now home to Europe’s largest bat colony, estimated at 12,500 bats of at least five species. Thankfully we’ve only come across stalagmites hanging down the inside of the tunnels that we’ve passed through!