Sapperton Tunnel Trips - 2
Apart from its vital role in commercial transport, the tunnel has always
been attractive to the curious and adventurous. From its earliest days, daring
visitors have been taken into and through it,
and according to Humphrey Household from his excellent book ´The
Thames & Severn Canal´ (pub. Alan Sutton
ISBN 0 86299 056 4):
¨ The fullest description
(of the tunnel) was by William Bernard Cooke,
who showed that venturesome visitors were then encouraged to go through the
tunnel in a boat kept specially for the purpose at Coates.
¨
Cooke's book ´The Thames´ was first published in 1811!
A superb description of what it used to be like to travel through Sapperton
Tunnel is here:
Chapter Excerpt: Hornblower and the "Atropos" by C. S. Forester.
Despite its great age, the eastern (Coates) end of the Sapperton Tunnel is
still in very good and safe condition (and is checked regularly).
Thanks to volunteers from the
Cotswold Canals Trust
, this impressive feat of civil engineering can still be seen at very
close quarters from
an electric powered boat capable of taking up to ten passengers nearly
half a mile into the tunnel. The boat is turned at about the 37 chain
point, the chain distance
indicators still being visible at places along the walls of the tunnel
(1 chain = 66ft., about 20 metres).
The trips take about 40 minutes and are run during Sundays through the winter,
weather, daylight and water levels permitting, from about midday to 4:00 pm.
The cost this season is £3 for adults, £2 for children.
As of the 11th January 2004, trips are suspended for technical reasons.
At the moment we can't predict when they might restart. For more
information please contact the trips coordinator Dennis Clarke on 07929 980670
or the Trust offices on 01285 643440.
© 2003 Charles R.W. Lyne
Page designed by Charles R.W. Lyne.
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Page last updated 6th October 2003.