Tunnel Terror

Six more locks and some very low bridges later and at 2pm we arrived at the “touer station”. Cabling hung precariously overhead. We were the largest vessel there so were put at the head of the queue. We were given strict instructions to standby with two 30m towing ropes which would be used in a crossed formation. Behind us were four launches of varying size. Whilst we waited the other boats linked together with towing ropes. We were waiting in a deep cutting and there was no breeze, no noise and no respite from the heat.

Just after 4:15 we heard the chains clanking. The touer juddered into view and the two man crew shouted commands which meant very little and did not match the orders given to us on the translated information sheet. We did not use our ropes. We took one rope from the touer and hooked it onto our starboard bow. The crew did not check the other boats but asked us if everyone was ready. Our shrug was considered to be good enough and we all set off on a crazy zig-zag route to the tunnel.

 We entered the tunnel and Lobelia squeezed into the space with her portside scraping along the towpath and a mere 2 feet available on her starboard. With the wheelhouse down Lobelia’s air draught is about 3.2m. Air draught in the tunnel is 3.5m. So it was a snug fit!

For the next two hours the touer pulled us through the tunnel. Wheelhouse still down, we dodged and ducked the occasionally low slung electrical cables and marvelled at the work which had gone into building these tunnels 200 years ago. The stone bore the scars of prisoners’ picks. The wartime shafts gave us glimpses of daylight far above. The chain clanked and echoed. The electrical connectors sparked electric blue. The boys retreated to safety inside and watched a movie.

We emerged from the cool dark of the tunnel and gazed up at the bankside where the photograph of those British soldiers had posed in 1917. The touer reclaimed its rope from us and Andy restarted the engines. We felt a little apologetic about Lobelia’s trademark diesel fumes which clouded around everyone behind us, but we were all under strict instructions to maintain a 4km/hour speed limit and overtaking was not allowed.

Forty minutes later and the second tunnel came into view. This time, however, there would be no towing and Andy would have to drive Lobelia through under her own power. It was a hell of a squeeze and Andy, despite initial shock, was brilliant.  Fifteen minutes later we emerged safely and continued to rural Lesdins where we moored up for the night.