Starting today at 8am our first lock was within a hundred yards so it didn’t take long. A quick stop at the Red Bull service block to top the water tank etc. and we were off to transit the next three locks that would see us pass the Macclesfield canal turn and head for the Harecastle tunnel. On arrival at the tunnel the tunnel keeper asked us to moor as we would have a wait of about 45 minutes. The tunnel keeper gave us our brief about what action to take if we had problems in the tunnel and also asked us to take a parcel to the tunnel keeper at the southern portal (other end). After a boat came through we were given the go ahead to go through the tunnel. It took just a shade over 30 mins to transit the tunnel and of course hand over the package to the grateful tunnel keeper. Once clear of the tunnel we made our way through Stoke. It has been noticably quiet with very few boats on the move, even the tunnel keeper said they were over 50% down on the amount of boats going through the tunnel. Being Saturday we did encounter some hire boats around Stoke. We carried on south and cleared the locks in Stone and moored on the outskirts.
Entrance to the Harecastle tunnel
how cute
Is this the smallest Narrowboat or do you know better