High House to Norton Junction.
6.5 Miles 7 Locks.
As we approached Buckby top lock this afternoon we were told by a boater on their way down the flight that the New Inn pub which over looks the lock had closed, not through lack of business but because the owner had allegedly made a mistake with the V.A.T.
Normally at this time of the year those tables are packed with Gongoozlers.
Another boater who moors on the long term moorings by Norton Junction confirmed that the pub had been closed for about a week but was confident it would soon re-open with a new owner/manager.
Before all this excitement we had a stop start day, we got to Stowe Hill Wharf for fuel at 9 o'clock and found ourselves third in the queue so it was 10.30 before we got going again.
Not many boats around today so we were surprised to find a queue of five or six boats at the bottom of the Buckby Locks, we reversed back and tied up on the visitor mooring to let it clear which was a good move as we had heavy rain for the next hour.
The rain stopped and we made for the bottom lock as the queue had gone, a hireboat had just past us and was waiting on the lock moorings, turned out they had never been through a lock before and asked Jayne to show them how it all worked, at the hirebase they had been shown a video of "How to work a lock" but found the sight of a monster Buckby lock a bit different.
We shared all the locks with them, things didn't go to badly, after clearing the top lock they winded at Norton Junction and moored up, they only picked the boat up on Thursday afternoon from Gayton and had to get it back for Sunday morning.
We carried on a little way and moored between Norton Junction and Braunston Tunnel.
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