Knolly's Tunnel

I planned to have a quiet weekend, thought that I was going to do some night fishing on Saturday night, but after those plans fell through, I woke up on Sunday with nothing for the blog. I panicked. I made a promise to myself that I would do something every weekend, and it was already after lunch, and I still had no idea what to do. My girlfriend suggested that I check out a place called Knolly's Tunnel. I never heard of it before this weekend. 

I looked it up and got some history on it. It's located in Tabaquite, on a road called John William Trace. It was quite a drive from Port of Spain, and I only saw signage for it, first at 6km away, then again at 3km away. So at least I knew I was on the right track. I really had no idea what to expect when I got there, but as pulled up to it, a car was now coming through from the other end. I asked him if it was safe to drive through, if my car could make it etc. He said there was a small area at the end that was a little rough, but I would easily make it. As I started to enter, I could see the light at the other end, so it seemed like a very short drive, which it is, only about a quarter mile long, but because it was new to me, and I was looking around, it seemed to take a lot longer. About midway through, I was hearing some high pitched squeaks, thinking it was my car, but noticed it was bats flying around at the top, quite a bit of them at that. Got through to the other end, turned around, and headed back. When I got out the other side, another car was approaching to view it. A few of us were walking around taking pictures of it and talking about it. 

Found out that it took 2 years to complete, starting in 1896. It was named after the then acting Governor of Trinidad, Sir Clement Courtenay Knolly, and was officially opened in August 1898. It was a railway tunnel that ran from Cunupia to Tabaquite. There are claims that it is the longest and oldest tunnel in the Caribbean, but I haven't done any research to confirm that statement.

All in all, it was a good day, but this trip was rushed and only about seeing the tunnel, so I literally had tunnel vision, and didn't realise that I passed so many other interesting sites along the way, so I will definitely be making another trip to this area, and will plan it a better next time.