Sapperton Tunnel

The longest broadbeam tunnel in the country, Sapperton is the focus of efforts by the Cotswold Canals Trust to restore the abandoned Thames & Severn Canal.

The 2.2-mile tunnel took five years to dig - largely by hand in hazardous conditions. On completion in 1789, it was hailed as a remarkable engineering feat. The canal was abandoned in the 1920s, and the tunnel is now blocked at one point by a roof collapse.

However, trip-boats run at one end of the tunnel during the winter months. Every Sunday afternoon from November - depending on water levels - the Cotswold Canals Trust operates 35-minute electric boat trips into the tunnel. Phone for the latest information on water levels in the tunnel: 01285 643440/07929 980670.

The paths to the tunnel portals can be muddy, so wear appropriate footwear. There is a pub at each end: the Tunnel House Inn is almost above the tunnel's Coates Portal and the Daneway Inn is at the other end, about 400 yards from the Daneway Portal. The Coats portal is not far from the source of the River Thames.

To find the Daneway portal, take the A419 road between Cirencester and Stroud, and turn off on a minor road signposted Sapperton, heading north approximately five miles west of Cirencester. Then follow signs for Daneway.

Coates is south of the same stretch of the A419. Go into the village, then head south and follow signs for the Tunnel House Inn.

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