To Braunston.

Thursday/Friday, 14th/15th June 2012.
Norton Junction to Braunston.
4.5 Miles, 6 Locks and 1 Tunnel.

There had been a boat ( you know what sort ) moored on the water point at the top of Buckby locks all night, on Thursday morning it had a hosepipe connected to the tap, problem was, the tap wasn't turned on, when I pointed this out to the male half of the crew, who was sat on the back deck with a cuppa and fag he then instructed the female half to disconnect the hose,  we were then able to top up our tank using a long hose and get going.

Volunteers preparing to paint Braunston Locks.

We try and time our arrival at Braunston for about 11am hoping to find a space after the overnighters have left and before the hireboats stop for lunch, today we were thwarted by a volunteer lock keeper ( I know, last blog I was praising them ) it wasn't his fault entirely as he was with a British Waterways man, they made us wait for boats coming up the locks which included a single hander, but they weren't helping him, there was also a delay at lock 2 as a running repair was carried out on one of the top gates.

Volunteers supervised by British Waterways staff repairing lock 2.

( Safety in numbers )

After picking up a fresh loaf from the shop by lock 1 we moored for lunch on the disabled mooring by Butchers bridge, it's also the best place to moor to use the shop in the village.

The other side of the bridge two other bloggers were moored, Seyella and Rock and Roll, I said a quick hello as I walked up towards the pub to check for any mooring space, Geoff was splicing rope, repairing the damage caused by vandals earlier in the week at Atherstone.

Geoff and Mags on Seyella leaving Braunston heading for the Oxford canal and then the Thames.