Cheshire Ring - Day Two, Tunnels and More

The boat locks on day one were very exciting, but on day two we got the chance to go through two fairly long, skinny tunnels. Because the tunnels only fit one boat at a time, a schedule is posted at each end, explaining that on the hour, boats coming from the other end were allowed through, and on the half-hour, boats on this end of the tunnel were allowed through. It takes about 20 minutes to go through the tunnel, so one must not dilly-dally when it's your turn!

Entering the first tunnel

Our boats were queued up, and as soon as we knew it was clear and our time and our turn, away we went! The green boat went first, with our blue boat following not far behind. 

Michael navigating into the tunnel

It was definitely narrow, and since the boat's long and a bit unwieldy, it took some time getting used to manuevering inside the tunnel. In fact, even though there was a little headlight on the boat, we used our phones as additional light source so we could see well enough to stay in the center of the tunnel. The guys piloting completely understood how the term "tunnel vision" came into being, after staring at the pinpoint of light at the end and trying to navigate straight towards it. 

The light at the end of the tunnel

I like the photo below because it is so deceiving. It looks like we're flying down the tunnel, but nope, 4 MPH is the speed limit, and we were probably going 2.5 or 3 at this point. You can kind of make out the green boat up ahead, just about to exit the tunnel. 

Go towards the light, Carrol-Anne! 

And a few shots of our fearless, tunnel-visioned pilots.

Action shot of Bill navigating the tunnel

Matt navigating through the second tunnel
(Photo Credit: Ihde Family)

And one shot exiting the second tunnel of the day. I wish I had captured this with my better camera, but the iPhone photo will have to do. I love how you can see the clouds reflected in the water, even inside the tunnel.

Exiting the tunnel

Throughout our first full day on the boat, we saw lots of water fowl. Including swans and ducks. We also saw a gorgeous great blue heron. (or maybe it's a green heron?)

Swan!

Heron!

Ducks!

The canal is said to only be about waist-deep at most, sometimes much more shallow. Both boats got stuck in the mud on at least one occasion. On the last day, Nick got our boat stuck in a rather wide spot in the canal... turns out Bill had dared him to try to do a doughnut. Didn't work, but it was certainly worth a laugh!

Getting un-stuck in the mud

An action shot of the two captains of the blue boat. All of the guys REALLY enjoyed this vacation. They had enough to keep them occupied (navigating the boat), but it was so quiet, peaceful, and serene that they all just zen'd out for the whole weekend. Bliss!!

Bill and Nick, co-captains of the blue boat

Just floating

And floating

Little Alex LOVED the boat. He and I hung out in the prow most of the weekend, his mom, Susan was with us as well when she wasn't tending to his 3-month old brother. The guys would join us when they took breaks from navigating the boat. 

Alex enjoyed the boat

We had dinner with Nick and Susan this weekend; when I arrived, Alex ran up to me, gave me a hi-five, and said, "You were on the boat with me!" Awwww!!

But he was happiest when we were NOT in the tunnels

Some of the things we saw looked really old, like this bridge that probably hasn't been used since the automobile had been invented.

Overgrown bridge

As we settled into the boat, we made use of every square inch. There wasn't really a square inch to spare! In the picture below, you see the luxury dining table for six, the kitchen, and beyond that, three "bedrooms" with the hallway to the right of each bed. There were two bathrooms, one of which had a shower.   

Luxury accommodations

But we didn't care! We were all friends to start, and thankfully, we came home even better friends! 

Matt having a beer at the end of the day
(Photo Credit: Ihde Family)