Canal tunnel lengths

The Foulridge Tunnel is the longest that allows the passage of canoes & kayaks if that helps?

Standedge is longest, highest and maybe even deepest. Good fun

A friend of mine and her husband took their narrowboat through Braunston Tunnel, which is just over a mile long - she sent me a video of literally the light at the end of the tunnel (and it wasn’t an oncoming train…), and panned up to show the daylight down one of the ventilation systems. They’re based in the middle of Cambridgeshire, and have a canal spur about 100 meters from where they live, so they can just bring the boat around and load up. They spent 65 exploring all up around Northampton, Leicester, Nottingham and almost as far as Manchester. I was getting regular Messagenger updates and following their journey on the Canal & Rivers Trust interactive map, which was fantastic, I could see all of the lock systems they were using. <br />Not without its exciting moments, they had a hire boat next to them in a lock nearly sink, almost taking them with it, another boat sink in a lock delaying them for three days…

And I thought canal holidays were quiet and peaceful.

The bit about people lying on the roof to “walk” barges along the roof of the canal tunnel is correct, hence the name of the “Leggers” pub in Dewsbury for those that know it

It's also a little known fact that the impact of the pub on the boatmen inspired Lionel's tribute.

Back in the late 80's and early 90's, I'm pretty sure the Union Canal tunnel above Falkirk was the longest in the UK. Cycling through it in the pitch dark, over greasy cobbles with naught but a wobbly, rotted wooden barrier between yourself and a plunge into the canal your entire focus was on that little oval of light around 100km away in the distance.

Since then, they've plugged the leaks in the roof, installed lovely coloured lights and replaced the handrail. Apparently now, it's shrunk to a mere 850m. Still gives me a wee bit of a shudder every time I approach the entrance though!

Ah,
the canals and the bridges, the embankments and cuts...
They blasted and dug with their sweat and their guts
They never drank water but whisky by pints

and the... (Forgotten this bit.)

I keep meaning to paddle through my local tunnel in Shrewley near Warwick.  It's much shorter than those above but I think will be scary enough in a kayak or especially on a paddleboard.
I've taken a narrowboat through the Braunston one. Meeting another boat coming the other way is pretty gnarly. It just seems like fitting another boat alongside you is physically impossible, and then there it is 😳

Could you lie on your back on the roof holding your bike and pedal along the roof?

What tyres for slimy brickwork?

Standedge is definitely the longest, deepest, highest (I’ve been on the tour three times with the kids as it’s just down the road!) however it’s not navigable by foot / bike. So perhaps that’s what the article means? 

100km is a hell of a tunnel.

I used to cycle through the Woodley Tunnel (Peak Forest Canal) on my commute. Really narrow concrete towpath with (thankfully!) a railing. No light at all, it absolutely required a good quality biking light. Something I did not have the very first time I went through it... 😳

But here in front of me in the Classic Ride it says “Foulridge Tunnel … at 1.5km … the longest canal tunnel in the country”. Er … I’m not so sure.

Does it mean, the longest one you can actually ride a bike through? Lots of them don't have towpaths through, it's just the canal.
Hyde Bank Tunnel (also Peak Forest Canal) is like that, you have to climb the side of it then drop back down to the canal about 200m further along.

We used to ride through Netherton tunnel.
1.72 miles long and completely dark in the middle.
The towpath was in a terrible state with huge puddles and indoor rain even in the middle of summer.

Every school trip was to the Black Country Museum when I were a kid. They used to get the kids to do legging in the tunel...don't do it know, can't think why not!!

A short one by comparison to some but I've kayaked (racing) through the Bruce Tunnel on the Kennet and Avon Canal a couple of times doing the Waterside Series races which are sort of prep for the Devizes to Westminster race. At 459 metres long it's not so long...   but I hated it, being a bit claustrophobic  it made me feel uncomfortable.

Count zero that sounds like a fantastic trip. Great way to see the country from a different angle 

Woodley Tunnel is amazingly warm on a cold winters day.

Back in the eighties I paddled the Leeds to Liverpool canal race that went through the Foulridge tunnel (1.5km). I can't recall there being a towpath through it. Then I was probably delirious from the being in the boat for around 9ish hours non-stop from Leeds with another 12hours ahead of me

I am not sure I would fancy paddling through a tunnel with canal boats!

Every school trip was to the Black Country Museum when I were a kid. They used to get the kids to do legging in the tunel…don’t do it know, can’t think why not!!

Used to go when I was a kid, it was cool to see them legging, though normal punters, not school trip specials never got a go.

A while back, we used to have a roughly annual event canoeing the Dudley (2900m) then Netherton (2768m) tunnels. It was a great trip, you can make a good circular route out of them. This meant we had to pre-arrange with the Museum who run trips through it as well as manage it for navigation. We were escorted by an electric boat, though normally left it behind.
Its fascinating paddling under Dudley, geologically quite varied and feels more like a mine than a canal tunnel. Much is unlined, so its bare rock. Also, it has a wiggle in the middle where it nearly didn't meet...

https://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk/going-underground-in-dudley-t47424.html#p561577

Its funny, but afterwards pretty much everybody commented how they'd paddled faster than usual in the dark...

Though twice the width and with a towpath, the Netherton is uncontrolled so you do meet other boats. The Dudley is basically escorted.

not the longest but the disused Greywell tunnel on the Basingstoke canal (1.1km or so IIRC) is home to the largest colony of roosting bats now.

While we're recounting tunnel stories. I seem to spend a bit of time in them, well the shafts. I wouldn't say I enjoy them but I do appreciate the effort that goes into their construction, thinking back to the graft involved in digging and lining them.  Every mark on the rock was a guy swinging a pick and every brick laid by hand, the problems of marking the route, sinking shafts, dealing with water.

Dinmore tunnel

Ffestiniog Tunnel

Sundbrook pumping shafts