Very dark and very long!

We met up with some other local HE'rs for a bit of a dark adventure this week! 

This is Netherton Tunnel in Dudley. It runs along the canal from Windmill End right underneath the middle of the town to Dudley Port for a whopping 2776m! Almost 3km! We had a nosey in it a couple of weeks ago but as there is no lightning we decided to come back with torches and do it properly. 

So armed with glowsticks, head lamps and a powerful light off we went. 

Squashy ran off ahead with his friends to try and keep up with a boat that passed us (taking the good torch!) and everyone else had longer legs than Momo so it ended up just me and him, in the pitch black with just a head torch and a packet of gingerbread men! He did great though, he Is such a brave adventurer. Another boat passed too, the Centurian. It was a bit spooky as it approached.

 It looked lovely and cosy inside and the driver waved a cheery hello to Momo. It got pretty eerie down there after that passed, there were big air shafts every so often then created a huge circular green pool of light on the water, otherwise the water looked like black tar, and pretty still. 

There was a big section right in the middle where they recently completed some repairs, so here the walls were completely smooth. The rest of it was the original Victorian brickwork, pretty cool to see that 150+ year old work. 

Thankfully after about an hour the end was in sight! Squashy had come back to look for us too so we had a real torch!

Poor Momo's legs were tired by this point and he asked for upups so he spent about the last 15 minutes snuggling up in the sling, you can just about see him here behind me with the glowsticks on! 

That was a game, getting him on my back in that narrow little towpath scared I would fling him into the canal! I bet it was comical to watch, then I had to put my back pack on my front, and try to keep the head lamp in the right place to look out for the lake-sized puddles! Talk about extreme babywearing! But it was really lovely, he rarely goes in a sling now, and when he does he always wants Daddy to carry him, so it was a lovely rare treat to have a bit of a snuggly upups :)

We made it out the other end and thankfully hubby was picking us up so we didn't have to walk back through, I'm not sure I could have made it with Momo in my back! 

Squashy got home and did a fact sheet about it and a bit of a description of what it had been like. It is over 150 years old, is one of very few tunnels to have a tow path on both sides and so is wider than most, which meant there was no need for 'legging' the boat through the tunnel. It was the last tunnel of its kind to be built. It is also supposedly haunted! Im glad he didnt tell me that until afterwards!

 It was certainly an adventure. I'd like to do it on a boat next time, maybe we'd keep our feet dry then!