Painted Boats appreciates the gentle rhythm of traditional canal life, whereas Ted's ambition is to get off the canals and into mainstream life at the earliest opportunity. World War II intrudes when Ted is called up for military service, leaving the future for the pair uncertain. Location filming took place on the 20-mile stretch of the Grand Union Canal between Stoke Bruerne and Braunston in Northamptonshire, including the Blisworth Tunnel – at 1.75 miles (2.82 km) in length, the third-longest canal tunnel in Britain. Insert shots feature the industrial landscape of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, the famous Anderton Boat Lift in Cheshire and
Pennsylvania Canal Tunnel but that canal never reached its expected western end, and the tunnel's main use was to allow overflow from the canal to enter the Monongahela. Only one or two canal boats ever went through the tunnel and lock. The tunnel was made obsolete by the arrival of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1852. The canal tunnel was uncovered during the construction of the U.S. Steel Tower in 1967, and later during the construction of the subway system, which used part of the tunnel on the south side. Pennsylvania Canal Tunnel The Pennsylvania Canal Tunnel was the Pittsburgh terminus of the Pennsylvania