Braunston Tunnel

[p6rob]

Once Stockton locks re-open, I'll heading through, down towards Braunston then turning up towards Rugby. I don't 'have' to go through Braunston Tunnel, but was wondering if it's worth making the detour just for the experience.

 

To date the longest tunnel I've been through is Shrewley, it was cold and wet and dark (my tunnel light blew the day before), with no real redeeming features. Is Braunston the same, but longer? In which case I'll give it a miss. Or is it architecturally interesting and worth having a working tunnel light for?

 

TIA

 

Rob

[koukouvagia]

Once Stockton locks re-open, I'll heading through, down towards Braunston then turning up towards Rugby. I don't 'have' to go through Braunston Tunnel, but was wondering if it's worth making the detour just for the experience.

 

To date the longest tunnel I've been through is Shrewley, it was cold and wet and dark (my tunnel light blew the day before), with no real redeeming features. Is Braunston the same, but longer? In which case I'll give it a miss. Or is it architecturally interesting and worth having a working tunnel light for?

 

TIA

 

Rob

 

Go early in the morning. The tunnel won't be smoky and, despite the kink you can see the other end. Then belt through - a wonderful experience!

[junior]

Hmm, i've only been though it once so i'm no expert, but surely one dark damp tunnel is the same as the next? I understand there are some tunnels on the system that have towpaths, some are lit, and some have interesting quirks that make them worth navigating, but from my memory Braunston was just a long dark and damp tunnel. If you have experienced something like this before, i wouldn't bother with a special trip.

[Keeping Up]

Braunston is nowhere near as wet as Shrewley.

[RLWP]

Hmm, i've only been though it once so i'm no expert, but surely one dark damp tunnel is the same as the next? I understand there are some tunnels on the system that have towpaths, some are lit, and some have interesting quirks that make them worth navigating, but from my memory Braunston was just a long dark and damp tunnel. If you have experienced something like this before, i wouldn't bother with a special trip.

 

Shrewley is very special.

 

I disagree with 'one dark damp tunnel is the same as the next' . ​They are all very different with their own features, challenges and scary moments

 

Richard

[junior]

 

Shrewley is very special.

 

I disagree with 'one dark damp tunnel is the same as the next' . ​They are all very different with their own features, challenges and scary moments

 

Richard

 

I've only ever been through Braunston, Blisworth and Islington tunnels. All were long, dark and damp. I look forward to seeing some of the more interesting tunnels whilst on my travels this year though. I've seen pictures of some lit up with different coloured lights, some with interesting stonework inside (Gosty Hill?) and i think i've read about one that you can hear trains while you are in? Having said all that, i'd still class Braunston as a long, dark, damp tunnel and wouldn't make a special trip through just for the fun of it.

[Ray T]

Unless "one" suffers from claustraphobia I think a trip through Braunston tunnel, or any for that matter is an experience to enjoy.

 

Yes, there is a strong possibility of meeting a boat coming the other way but if you slow down and hug the RHS you are unlikely to come to grief.

With regard to a headlight "blowing" in the tunnel I carry a spare light at the steering position I plug in if required.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by redeeming features? No you will not get anything as spectacular as Dudley Tunnels, but Braunston Tunnel and the canal itself are steeped in history if you care to do some research. You can then appreciate the pioneering engineering excellence you are travelling through.

[David Schweizer]

I have been through Braunston Tunnel dozens of times, and it is just a tunnel, very dark, not very wet, with a kink in the middle, but If my experience the last time I went through is anything to go by avoid it. I got hit twice and narrowly mised a third broadside collision by some hasty reversing, RayT was behind me and heard the various bangs and shouting from me!!

Edited February 17, 2014 by David Schweizer

[Ray T]

I have been through Braunston Tunnel dozens of times, and it is just a tunnel, very dark, not very wet, with a kink in the middle, but If my experience the last time I went through is anything to go by avoid it. I got hit twice and narrowly mised a third broadside collision by some hast reversing, RayT was behind me and heard the various bangs and shouting from me!!

 

I still chuckle about that now.

[Leo No2]

I am just back from a double trip through Blisworth this afternoon - cold, dark, very wet but always interesting - lots of water at the Blisworth end and of course the repairs in the early 1980s were to test the initial design for the Channel Tunnel - seems to be holding up very well. But I am FROZEN!

 

There's always interesting things to see - the limescale with all its different colours is wonderful. IMHO a tunnel trip is always worth doing.

[ditchcrawler]

Only thing is you have to do another 3 miles to turn round and come back again

[alan_fincher]

I have been through Braunston Tunnel dozens of times, and it is just a tunnel, very dark, not very wet, with a kink in the middle, but If my experience the last time I went through is anything to go by avoid it. I got hit twice and narrowly mised a third broadside collision by some hast reversing, RayT was behind me and heard the various bangs and shouting from me!!

 

Braunston in my experience is probably the most likely one to have "interesting experiences" with boats coming the other way.

 

I think the relative "wigglyness" of it, (particularly at the Southern end), compared to Blisworth is part of the reason for this, and certainly we have had some interesting encounters at the main S bend.

 

Blisworth is not without its occasional excitement too, (not helped by it being about the first think Alvechurch hire boats encounter if they have just started out from Gayton), but somehow Braunston seems worse normally.

 

(These two are "standards" for us, as every time we head North we are more or less guaranteed another passage though both of them).

Only thing is you have to do another 3 miles to turn round and come back again

???

 

Not so - it is well under 2 miles from Braunston tunnel South end to Norton Junction.

[David Schweizer]

 

I still chuckle about that now.

 

Yes, well by the time they reached you, they had received "guidance" from me as to how to steer through a tunnel, and were rubbing their paintwork off onto the tunnel brickwork!

Edited February 17, 2014 by David Schweizer

[IanM]

First time we did Braunston tunnel I didn't enjoy it very much at all due to the 'wigglyness' of the walls and the s bend. However a few more times through and I think it's a lovely tunnel (if you can have such a thing). I'm now getting to know where I am in relation to the bend so if I see a boat coming through I can either hold back or keep going as meeting on the bend is not a good thing

 

However if you're coming from the Stockton direction to head to Rugby do you really want to be doing 12 more locks (6 each way) just to experience the tunnel?

[p6rob]

 

However if you're coming from the Stockton direction to head to Rugby do you really want to be doing 12 more locks (6 each way) just to experience the tunnel?

 

This is the point. It'll be a lot of extra effort, if it's stunning in some way, I'd make the effort. If it's just a long tunnel, I'd wait until it was actually en-route somewhere (though it might be a year or so before I get near again).

 

Rob

[alan_fincher]

 

This is the point. It'll be a lot of extra effort, if it's stunning in some way, I'd make the effort. If it's just a long tunnel, I'd wait until it was actually en-route somewhere (though it might be a year or so before I get near again).

 

Rob

 

It's just a "quite long" tunnel, with a bit of wiggle in it, (well several in fact, but one is worse than the others).

 

As an aside, any number of books reproduce a myth that you can't actually see through it because of the wiggle. This is bo$$ocks, and proves that some of what gets written in such books is plagiarised from another source, without checking if it is true. You can of course, on a suitably clear day, when it is not full of diesel fumes, see straight through Braunston tunnel, because the much written about "S" bend isn't actually severe enough to stop you.

[RLWP]

Is it Braunston with one of the air shafts off to one side at the end of a short tunnel?

 

Richard

Edited February 17, 2014 by RLWP

[Quinafloat]

If you want to get blinded by oncoming boats, or hit by oncoming boats Braunston Tunnel is your best bet. All the rest seem quite civilised in comparison.

[alan_fincher]

Is it Braunston with one of the air shafts off to one side at the end of a short tunnel?

 

Richard

 

Blisworth certainly has this, but after numerous passages through Braunston, I discovered it also has something similar.

 

It has amazed me that if you are actually the one who almost invariably steers, just how much detail you miss out on by concentrating on the steering.

 

Mind you, that said, I have found that if I do try point a spotlight at the walls to study the detail, I invariably then find I can't help steering towards them!

[Scholar Gypsy]

Is it Braunston with one of the air shafts off to one side at the end of a short tunnel?

Richard

 

Blisworth certainly has this, but after numerous passages through Braunston, I discovered it also has something similar.

 

It has amazed me that if you are actually the one who almost invariably steers, just how much detail you miss out on by concentrating on the steering.

 

Mind you, that said, I have found that if I do try point a spotlight at the walls to study the detail, I invariably then find I can't help steering towards them!

 

I think the cross-passage is big enough for one to crawl through to get to the bottom of the air shaft, but I wouldn't recommend it...

 

Worth going through to get to the pub at Buckby top lock, and to explore the proposed line for the Daventry canal...

Edited February 17, 2014 by Scholar Gypsy

[MtB]

 

Blisworth certainly has this, but after numerous passages through Braunston, I discovered it also has something similar.

 

It has amazed me that if you are actually the one who almost invariably steers, just how much detail you miss out on by concentrating on the steering.

 

Mind you, that said, I have found that if I do try point a spotlight at the walls to study the detail, I invariably then find I can't help steering towards them!

 

I agree. There is nothing like actually stopping properly inside a tunnel and shining a torch around to find interesting stuff. I spent three hours fascinated in Crick tunnel one evening last year!

 

MtB

P.S. And turn your engine OFF!

[Nightwatch]

I wouldn't avoid a tunnel, but find them a bit unnerving and spooky.

 

There you go, I've said it now.

 

Martyn

[MtB]

I wouldn't avoid a tunnel, but find them a bit unnerving and spooky.

 

There you go, I've said it now.

 

Martyn

 

And that feeling multiplies up tenfold if you stop and turn your engine off (provided there is no other boat in there with you). Drink in the spooky atmosphere!

 

MtB

[Nightwatch]

Yes please. Now that would be worth it. It's your round!

Edited February 17, 2014 by Nightwatch

[alan_fincher]

 

And that feeling multiplies up tenfold if you stop and turn your engine off (provided there is no other boat in there with you). Drink in the spooky atmosphere!

 

MtB

What I didn't know when I followed the community (and ex working) boat "Pisces" into Blisworth when under the captaincy a certain well known "character", is that he has a habit of stopping it, and then putting on classical music at very large volumes to blast down the tunnel.

 

Fair enough, (well not really!), but in my attempts to wait whilst the performance continued, I managed to stall "Sickle's" engine. The problem is it can only be restarted in the engine room, (which has no light), and I had no torch available either. Plus, being Blisworth the sloping gunwales were well wet, as I tried to claw my way from the hatches to the engine room and restart the "motor".

 

Different, but not really a recommended tunnel experience!