Nearly stuck in Braunston Tunnel

[mykaskin]

I happened to be filming in Braunston Tunnel yesterday, when I found myself coming to a bit of a stop. The wiggle got us!

 

Click for the fun and games!

 

I don't like them wiggles, they jump out of nowhere  

 

Cheers,

 

Mike

[Rickent]

When we went through a few weeks ago, we bounced off the sides a few times.

[Nightwatch]

I wouldn't avoid tunnels but I do confess to not liking them. I easily get disoriented and have to work hard to avoid a zig zag. 

[dm6045]

I hate braunston tunnel! Last time we went through we had some (insert word of choice here) racing up behind us and then when he caught up proceeded to try to push us along fender to fender. Now i admit i never do braunston at full cruising speed but also dont do it at tickover, pulling over to let him pass was impossible as there was a steady stream of boats coming the other way. When we got out and let him pass he said ‘sorry i didnt see you’. Utter rot seeing as we had afew two many solar fairy lights festooning the boat at the time and his tunnel light was pointed straight at us rather than at an angle. He chose not to share the locks down with us!.

[TheBiscuits]

57 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

I wouldn't avoid tunnels but I do confess to not liking them. I easily get disoriented and have to work hard to avoid a zig zag. 

Try a worklight or bright torch on the rear slide.  It's much easier to line up the boat with the tunnel if you have two bright lights - one at each end of the boat.

[Nightwatch]

I will.

[Heartland]

Ah the problems of working Braunston Tunnel. Yet that might explain something that bothered me yesterday. OWL passed me as I walking along the towpath at Norton Junction and yet it came  from behind at Braunston Locks.

 

 

[Captain Pegg]

10 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

Try a worklight or bright torch on the rear slide.  It's much easier to line up the boat with the tunnel if you have two bright lights - one at each end of the boat.

Good advice. I haven’t had a working headlight for about 3 years but having a glazed front to the cabin I’m very easy to see when other boats approach so I just illuminate the boat on the inside and use a head torch. Being able to pick up the front corners of the cabin in relation to the arch of the tunnel is really helpful in steering.

 

I must mend that headlight this summer though. Have plans to head for Cheshire some time and they might not let me through Harecastle without it.

 

JP

[Mal in Somerset]

We used to moor near Braunston Tunnel and we got used to its little quirks, but this summer we have done the three tunnels near Preston Brook a couple of times. Now they are nasty tunnels!!! One way so very narrow and very wiggly!!

[BruceinSanity]

2 hours ago, Captain Pegg said:

Have plans to head for Cheshire some time and they might not let me through Harecastle without it.

They likely won’t. We’ve seen a boat turned back at Harecastle because he was planning to rely on a lamp inside his cratch. Poor bugger had just had a Wincham Wharf style clerestory roof cut off in Stone so that he could get through, too. A case of spoiling the ship for a ha’porth of tar...

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Mal in Somerset said:

We used to moor near Braunston Tunnel and we got used to its little quirks, but this summer we have done the three tunnels near Preston Brook a couple of times. Now they are nasty tunnels!!! One way so very narrow and very wiggly!!

Interesting how we all see things differently. I enjoy going through these tunnels!

[Captain Pegg]

29 minutes ago, catweasel said:

Interesting how we all see things differently. I enjoy going through these tunnels!

Me too. I love tunnels. The weirder, the better. Although I have to say that we had a bump with a share boat when on a hire boat in Braunston a few years ago and it upset my then 6yo daughter to the extent that she was worried about tunnels thereafter. If she’d have been on that hire boat in the video she might now refuse to go in tunnels. You don’t want to argue with a Royalty anywhere let alone in the depths of a tunnel.

 

JP

[Chris Williams]

4 hours ago, Rickent said:

When we went through a few weeks ago, we bounced off the sides a few times.

I have been through with Jaguar, loaded and empty, and honestly have never noticed the wiggles, or had any problems.  Maybe because I was always flat out going through, plenty of depth, and seldom any other boats, which just got pushed aside by the bow wave.   Go too slow and you will hit the sides.

[Pluto]

Working single-handed, I looked on Foulridge as an opportunity to go and make a cup of tea while the boat found its own way through.

[hider]

5 hours ago, dm6045 said:

I hate braunston tunnel! Last time we went through we had some (insert word of choice here) racing up behind us and then when he caught up proceeded to try to push us along fender to fender. Now i admit i never do braunston at full cruising speed but also dont do it at tickover, pulling over to let him pass was impossible as there was a steady stream of boats coming the other way. When we got out and let him pass he said ‘sorry i didnt see you’. Utter rot seeing as we had afew two many solar fairy lights festooning the boat at the time and his tunnel light was pointed straight at us rather than at an angle. He chose not to share the locks down with us!.

Don't wimp it, name and shame the git.

[ditchcrawler]

5 hours ago, Mal in Somerset said:

We used to moor near Braunston Tunnel and we got used to its little quirks, but this summer we have done the three tunnels near Preston Brook a couple of times. Now they are nasty tunnels!!! One way so very narrow and very wiggly!!

They are much wider than most one way tunnels 

[cuthound]

1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

They are much wider than most one way tunnels 

 

Indeed and one really improves your reversing skills because there isn't a clear line of sight through it. ?

[rgreg]

4 hours ago, BruceinSanity said:

They likely won’t. We’ve seen a boat turned back at Harecastle because he was planning to rely on a lamp inside his cratch. Poor bugger had just had a Wincham Wharf style clerestory roof cut off in Stone so that he could get through, too. A case of spoiling the ship for a ha’porth of tar...

Last year at the Harecastle one of the boats waiting to go through had its headlight fail and, when I left them, I am sure the CRT chap was sorting a portable light out for him. 

[PeterCr]

8 hours ago, Mal in Somerset said:

We used to moor near Braunston Tunnel and we got used to its little quirks, but this summer we have done the three tunnels near Preston Brook a couple of times. Now they are nasty tunnels!!! One way so very narrow and very wiggly!!

Agreed, perhaps not quite as narrow or as long as some but you've really got to keep your wits about you with all the kinks to navigate.

[rgreg]

8 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

Try a worklight or bright torch on the rear slide.  It's much easier to line up the boat with the tunnel if you have two bright lights - one at each end of the boat.

Yes, I wear a head torch in addition to the front headlight and it makes a big difference to judging the tunnel profile.

[Chris Williams]

4 hours ago, Pluto said:

Working single-handed, I looked on Foulridge as an opportunity to go and make a cup of tea while the boat found its own way through.

That's the way to treat tunnels.  I was told that some of the GU boaters used to tie the tiller over so the boat rubbed on one side.  Then went to make the tea.  Saves getting wet in Blisworth. 

People seem to get worked up about tunnels - no different to boating at night.  I have done the Oxford Summit at night - at least tunnels are reasonably straight.

[ditchcrawler]

2 minutes ago, Chris Williams said:

That's the way to treat tunnels.  I was told that some of the GU boaters used to tie the tiller over so the boat rubbed on one side.  Then went to make the tea.  Saves getting wet in Blisworth. 

People seem to get worked up about tunnels - no different to boating at night.  I have done the Oxford Summit at night - at least tunnels are reasonably straight.

I don't like boating at night, I find it quite a strain. Happy with tunnels, even twisty ones

[Chris Williams]

1 minute ago, ditchcrawler said:

I don't like boating at night, I find it quite a strain. Happy with tunnels, even twisty ones

Nice moonlit night, engine throbbing away, no-one else on the move.  Helps if you know the channel, though.  Even Cabbage Turn was no problem.

[Opener]

I've got one of they sowla loite thingys stuck in a planter near the front of the roof. Keep the glimmer lined up with the light at the end of the tunnel - never touch the sides (well......)

[Up-Side-Down]

Nice rope though!