Paddle under the Pennines UK's longest, deepest canal tunnel opens for canoe trips

'You're in a canoe, not a boat, so you are very exposed," said Gordon McMinn as he prepared to paddle into the UK's longest, highest and deepest canal tunnel.

- Mark Brown

"You're under your own steam, you are close to history... it is quite an experience."

McMinn, a volunteer team leader at the Canal & River Trust, has coordinated what it is hoped will become a bucket-list experience: the opportunity to paddle under the Pennines.

The guided 3.5-mile canoe trips are through Standedge tunnel, a jaw-dropping feat of engineering 194m underground and 196m above sea level.

The narrow canal tunnel from Marsden in West Yorkshire to Diggle in Greater Manchester opened in 1811 after taking 17 years to construct.

The trips begin in a fortnight's time and ahead of that the Guardian - me and a photographer on two rafted canoes - were given an early preview.

Next of kin details were provided - "just in case" - and McMinn sought to reassure us that the risk of the disease leptospirosis was tiny. "It's only really if you get wet hands and start rubbing them on your face, or drinking canal water - which isn't advisable." And if you fall out? "Please try not to panic."