PARKHEAD CANAL FESTIVAL Found ourselves right by another of those interminable Canal Festivals. Another  beer tent with craft ales, more cheesey chips, more chats with interesting boat people, more folk music and so on. All good stuff. Parkhead Junction marks the southern end of the Dudley Tunnel which opened in 1791 and has an interesting although complicated history. Those who wish to know more can use this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudley_Tunnel .  The main thing is that the tunnel is so narrow and low that modern narrowboats cannot get through it! And even if they did fit they cannot use their engines as there is no ventilation to clear the fumes. No towpath was included on the grounds of cost  and so the old boaters would lie on the roof of the boat and walk along the bricks, this was known as "legging". As the tunnel is 2900 yards long this took some two and a half hours in total darkness. The horse had an easier time. We took a short trip in an electric powered vessel and learned that the tunnel was constructed of two million handmade bricks. One can only wonder. There is a local story about a group of Norwegian tourists on a boat hire who came up against the gauge at the entrance that determines if your boat will fit and decided that the answer to non-compliance was to lift the gauge out of the way!  Apparently it took some considerable time to extricate them. The Festival is not only about boats, there were alternative forms of transport on show as in some of the accompanying photos. The Festival entrance and the boats gather. From the sublime…to the ridiculous. Alison stands by the tunnel entrance with its gauge and triumphalist plaque. We penetrate the depths but not too much. This is how they used to do it. At the end of the string is a magnificent horse whose name is Carolyn, shown here with her military escort.