by bridge 137 we were told by a man that the original canal built by Brindley use to go to the right, as now the canal that Telford built goes straight on and up a flight of locks.
We carry on towards Kidgrove originally a iron and coal producing town, and canal builder James Brindley is buried here.
The turning for Macclesfield canal junction is by here and what is unusual if that it crosses the T&M canal by an aqueduct.
We stop and take on more water and then head for the famous Harecastle Tunnel which is 2926 yds long. We have a wait here as the boats are controlled by a canal trust operative, with boats going one way in turn.
Harecastle tunnel is one of three tunnels the first built by Brindley and being only 9 ft wide the barges had to be legged through, this meant that the boat operators use to lie on top the barge and physically walk the boat through.Because this process was slow Thomas Telford built the one that is use today, but originally there use to be a towpath but this has now been removed.The third tunnel was built above these two as a railway tunnel, but was closed in 1960 and the train now runs around the hill.
The Canal operative came back after his lunch and gave us a list of instructions of what and not to do, and off we went, the journey took about 35 mins and was dark but straight forward, the tunnel door is closed at the end we traveled too as there is an extractor fan in operation to get rid of the diesel fumes.
We left the tunnel and moored Longport over looking Westport lake as I attempted to moor the throttle cable came of the lever, and luckily we were able to drag the boat to the canal side by one of the mooring ropes, I then repaired it , but was thankful that it didn't happen in the tunnel, leaving us stranded.
We then had dinner and another night by the box.
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