Boat rallye in Stoke Bruerne and Blisworth tunnel

Stoke Bruerne is a canal village, which used to be an important point on the Grand Union network. It is now a tourist attraction with a canal museum, historic boats, artisans, guided walks and boat trips and ... the Blisworth tunnel. But more about the tunnel later.

On the weekend I arrived, Stoke Bruerne had their annual boat rallye on, which means that lots of narrowboats descended on the village and everybody knew everybody (except me). It's a small world on the canals.

The top lock at Stoke Bruerne

Raymond, one of the last wooden working boats

I caught up with the Idle Women crew and watched the show again, this time split over the two days of the weekend festival. It was a challenging setting with rain occasionally drumming on the roof of the marquee and the generator droning in the background. But it was great, there was a good audience and it was lovely to meet up with them again.

Working boat Tench accompanying the Idle Women tour

In the evening we went to a party in the marquee, where the live act was a band called Grandma's Wooden Leg, would you believe it. But they were actually really really good. I was definitely amongst the youngest there, but they knew how to party. A nice change from the quiet boating.

Grandma's Wooden Leg

On Sunday I attended an auction of boaty stuff and bric-a-brac, which was full of quirky things and quite a lot of ... crap. It was my first ever auction and I didn't intend to buy anything. I was pressed into taking a number and sitting down. Well what can I say. I bought (amongst a few other things ... ahem) a washing machine for £1! A hand-cranked thing, which I am sure will come in handy in lieu of the washing up bowl.

So the weekend ended and I could put it off no further. The tunnel needed to be tackled. Blisworth Tunnel is the longest wide tunnel on the canal network with more than 3km. Wide tunnel means that two narrowboats can pass each other. I dread to think what the even longer narrow tunnels are like. When I did this tunnel on the way down to London last year I scraped along the tunnel wall for 20 minutes as I was unable to get away from the wall again. It's incredibly difficult to go straight in a tunnel for some reason. This time I was anxious to stay in the middle to avoid that.

Once in the tunnel time and space dissolve. Only the arc lit by the headlight is visible and it seems to never change. In the far distance there is a pin prick of light, which never seems to get any bigger. Or in my case turns out to be a boat coming towards me! Yes, after about one third, I passed another boat. Their crew was more panicked than I was, as they completely stopped. Not a good idea as it's hard to hold the boat straight when stopped. But we passed without touching. There is only about 30cm room between the boats, when both are squeezed up against the wall. Then again the prick of light. No, another boat! This time with a blinding halogen headlight as if they needed to light a football pitch. I couldn't see a thing minutes before they reached me (and after). Again we passed without incident with the other boat being stopped. I was advised that it's much easier to go straight when going faster, which I did and it's true, so they didn't do themselves any favours stopping.

After about 45 minutes I emerged into the sun and dense greenery of Blisworth. I was so relieved. I really felt that humans are creatures made to dwell in the light. This is not my favourite part of boating on the canals.

Boat emerging from Blisworth tunnel

As a change from all the boating I cycled to Northampton in the afternoon for a bit of sightseeing and grocery shopping. Northampton has a Victorian town hall, which has the most amazing interior. And everybody can wander around freely inside. Here is a little gallery of the Northampton Guildhall.

Moody skies over Stoke

Idle Women audience with cows

Towpath in Stoke Bruerne

Stoke Bruerne church

Mooring up after the tunnel. Finally time to bring out the parasol.

Blisworth village