Stoke Bruerne and over Blisworth Hill to Blisworth Tunnel entrance (north)
Walked by Sally and Richard, Sunday 25th February 2018
About 3 miles of walking, all on JordanWalks route of Grand Union Canal Walk, about 2 miles on Midshires Way
For more photos of this walk, click here.
Most of today's path was neither alongside the Grand Union Canal nor on the official route of the Grand Union Canal Walk path. Between Stoke Bruerne and Blisworth, the Grand Union Canal passes through the 1.7 mile long Blisworth Tunnel. The tunnel has no tow path (before the introduction of steam-powered boats, boats were propelled through the tunnel by "legging") so we needed to go over Blisworth Hill. The route of the Grand Union Canal Walk according to the Ordnance Survey map is straight along the road, which was probably the route of the horse-drawn tramway over the hill which used to carry goods between the opening of the rest of the canal in 1800 and the opening of the tunnel in 1805. Rather than walking along the road, we decided to take the route of the Midshires Way for about a kilometre west, then to turn right and head north, now on the route of both the Midshires Way and the Northamptonshire Round. The resulting walk was extremely muddy in places, and it wasn't the warmest of days. However it was great to have a short walk that didn't just follow the canal, whilst also being reminded by the mud that there are some paths which are only just passable at this time of year, thus reinforcing our decision to walk along the tow path most Sunday afternoons through the winter.
I'm getting ahead of myself. We had a rather rushed morning and my iPad was up to its usual tricks on the drive over from Norfolk, namely deciding about an hour into the journey that it didn't want to give me directions any more (my phone is not much better...). However, although we used a route that isn't familiar to me (across the fens to Huntingdon, then on the A14 and A45 to Northampton and straight over the M1 onto the A508) it was really straightforward and the Blisworth Tunnel Car Park (above the northern entrance to the tunnel, at SP730528), where we had arranged to meet, is only a couple of miles from the A508. So I didn't have much difficulty finding it. However Richard was somewhat delayed by having realised he'd forgotten some of our usual Sunday-night-in-a-Premier-Inn provisions, and stopping off in Huntingdon for a supply of decaffeinated tea and coffee. I drive slightly faster than Richard in any case, and usually leave home first, so by the time he arrived, about 30 minutes after me, I was anxious and grumpy. Almost inevitably, there is poor mobile phone signal at the Blisworth Tunnel Car Park, though it is otherwise most convenient.
Anyway, Richard duly arrived and we drove on the short distance to Stoke Bruerne where we again cheekily parked at The Navigation (SP744497). Note: there is a car park at the Canal Museum in Stoke Bruerne too, but otherwise parking in the village is difficult. We set off walking something after 3.30pm, so it's a good job it is not getting dark as early as it was last time we were here, in January! We joined the canal and walked past a couple of locks and the Canal Museum (closed) then on past colourful narrowboats to the tunnel entrance. There were quite a lot of people about, so perhaps we should be grateful that we weren't here in the height of summer.
After inspecting the tunnel entrance, and convincing ourselves that a boat was not just about to appear from the tunnel, we climbed up into a wooded area and continued on a track that follows the line of the canal. This brought us out onto Stoke Road which we could have followed all the way to Blisworth, but instead we turned left onto a bridleway after a short distance. We were then on the route of the Midshires Way though it wasn't signposted to this effect here. It was extremely muddy to start with (perhaps especially because of horses on the bridleway?) though it improved later, with the mud just returning in patches. We were however walking through an attractive landscape.
After about a kilometre on the bridleway, shortly before Nun Wood we turned right, now on the route of both the Midshires Way (now with signpost!) and the Northamptonshire Round. There was more mud, especially in a section where the path was constrained by a barbed wire fence to the right, but eventually we reached a broader section with good views to one of the towers built above an air shaft for the tunnel; we'd seen another one of these in the distance earlier on the walk - regular air shafts must have been very important when the boats were steam powered.
We reached a footpath at right angles to the one we were on, above the northern end of the tunnel, and turned right to return to the car park. However, before returning to the car we went down to the canal to inspect the northern tunnel entrance and to walk a short distance along the canal, now in an attractive wooded cutting. In glancing back we realised we could see light in the tunnel, a boat coming through perhaps? (though that seemed unlikely given the time on a winter afternoon). No, it was genuinely "light at the (other) end of the tunnel". Lovely.
I note that on the previous leg (geographically) of the Grand Union Canal Walk we were heading to the Milton Keynes South West Premier Inn at Furzton Lake for the first time. For the past few weeks (whilst walking legs of the Grand Union Canal Walk further to the south) we have become regulars, and that was where we were heading today. We still prefer the Bedford South Premier Inn, but it isn't terribly convenient for the current walk.
