Tag Archives: tunnel

Jun 29 2025
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Daily Post, Transport

The (orange) Trent and Mersey Canal

Saturday 28th June 2025, 1.40pm (day 5,056)

Orange canal, 28/6/25

The picture was taken mainly because of the bright orange water of the Trent and Mersey Canal at this point (Kidsgrove, on the Staffordshire/Cheshire border). Such things are not usually a good sign. The mystery of why this colour is there was not solved until just a short while ago, as I prepared to post this by looking up some information about the Harecastle Tunnel, the north entrance of which is just visible in the background, to the left of the guys on the towpath. There is an old version of this tunnel running parallel to it that has been closed for over a century now, and apparently, leaches iron ore into the water. So it’s always orange — this is not some recent chemical spill. I don’t imagine drinking the water does anyone much good. Unless they’re anaemic I suppose.

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Aug 01 2024
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Daily Post, Interior, Urban scene

Entrance to Granary Wharf

Wednesday 31st July 2024, 6.40pm (day 4,724)

Granary Wharf entrane, 31/7/24

And so ends July 2024, another month that has felt extended over quite a long time — at the start of it we were still in the Isle of Wight, and that was surely ages ago. But apparently not. Anyway, the month ends with an evening in Leeds. No particular significance attaches to the chosen picture — I just like the colours. Which is, of course, probably the reason that the designers of Granary Wharf’s visual elements did this with the lights.

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Jul 07 2023
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Daily Post, Interior, Transport

The Netherton Tunnel, south entrance

Thursday 6th July 2023, 11.10am (day 4,333)

Netherton Tunnel, 6/7/23

My summer holiday has finally started, and being the type of person that I am, I went exploring, going to Dudley in the West Midlands largely because it was somewhere I had never been before, with not just one but two County Tops (report to follow). And it gave me the chance to walk 1.7 miles, more or less (2,776m according to the sign at the entrance) under ground, through the Netherton Tunnel, which accommodates a branch line of the huge Birmingham canal network, and was the last major canal tunnel ever built in Britain, opened in 1858.

This was taken as I approached the south entrance, which for me was the exit. A bit damp, but by no means an unpleasant experience, though the distant sound of many voices screaming that reverberated down the tunnel towards me for a few minutes — either a school sports day, or the tortured souls of Hell — was a little eerie.

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Feb 28 2021
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Daily Post, Urban scene

Into the light (Clare with blue cube)

Sunday 28th February 2021, 2.15pm (day 3,475)

Under the railway, 28/2/21

Whatever it is I wanted to say with this picture, the cube is there; it is Clare (and I) who are just passing through.

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Sep 10 2020
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Hedge tunnel

Wednesday 9th September 2020, 11.10am (day 3,303)

Hedge tunnel, 9/9/20

What would have been the best photograph of my day was never actually taken. At one point on my walk through the hills of the Medway valley, I came round a corner and a grass snake and I startled each other — the first snake I have ever seen live in the wild, even including other countries. But my camera was in its bag and it was far too keen to leave my vicinity for me to be able to bag it.  Never mind. Instead, I present this mildly sinister hedge tunnel: I can quite imagine some goblins coming along to surprise me in the other direction.

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May 07 2019
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Daily Post, Interior

The Grič Tunnel

Tuesday 7th May 2019, 2.05pm (day 2,812)

Gric tunnel, 7/5/19

One of those photos that looks like I’ve converted it to monochrome, but I haven’t. Zagreb’s Grič tunnel was built in 1944 as an air-raid shelter and, indicating changing times, has since been a flop for the homeless, a site for techno raves and now, a tourist attraction. Am I just to the right of where I should be to get the final arches dead centre — or is it not quite straight? Everything else looks symmetrical enough to me, so I’m claiming the latter.

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Apr 26 2017
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Daily Post, Transport

Summit Tunnel, interior

Tuesday 25th April 2017, 1.05pm (day 2,070)

Summit Tunnel, interior, 25/4/17

Some pictures make it onto here for the novelty value more than anything else — so here’s what the Summit Tunnel (the longest railway tunnel in the world when it was opened in 1841, dontcha know) looks like from the inside when the driver forgets to turn the interior lights on in the carriage. Which he then realised, and corrected, some two seconds after I pressed the shutter. Bet you are glad then that I was able to capture this fascinating study of Victorian tunnel architecture.

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