Thursday 25th October 2018



I had wanted to do a few jobs before leaving for Braunston, one being to scrub the front of the roof. No sooner had I offloaded all the coal, logs and tools when a CRT guy turned up and asked us to leave as they were resurfacing the towpath.

Everything was reloaded and we set off and soon came upon the tunnel. The boat gets a hell of a battering passing through these wide two way tunnels. We met three boats coming in the opposite direction. It is impossible not the touch the sidewalls and, once the other boat has passed, it is very difficult to get off the wall, suction takes over. It is also difficult to judge distances and to sometimes work out what is approaching or happening ahead. This was compounded when we met the third boat. We obviously had a boat ahead of us travelling in the same direction, but he suddenly seemed to be right across the tunnel. Then a weak, intermittent light kept shining towards us, but then going out. There was shouting so I thought he had maybe broken down, we slowed right down to tick-over and approached very slowly. What had actually happened was a boat travelling towards us with no tunnel light or any lights on inside the boat, just the flashlight from a mobile phone being held in his hand. The guy in front apparently did not see this boat until he was right on top of him and we were the same, concentrating as we were on the boat in front. Stupid and dangerous individual, Victoria registered in Braunston.

Once out of the tunnel, there were actually two boats ahead of us and nothing behind. This meant that once again, we had to do the locks solo, they were all against us and so had to be filled first. It was only at the fourth and last lock, that we met boats coming towards us and so could just enter the lock.

We moored just below the Admiral Nelson pub. All the gear was offloaded from the roof again and the roof scrubbed. While it is still somewhat stained, it looks so much better. While scrubbing the roof, two huge great military aircraft passed very low overhead as they did last time we were at Braunston. They were so low and close I actually clearly saw the pilots. Four propeller engine jobs, with Union Jack and RAF roundels painted on them with the number “50” painted just in front of the tail.

I had to splice two more side fenders, they had been ripped off on one of the lock gates that wouldn’t open properly.

Then we went the pub. Brenda managed to get sat on a real comfy, leather couch with Harvey and lots of cushions. All the two of them needed was a cherub with a harp and you would have sworn they were in heaven. When the solid fuel stove was light in front of us, it looked as though they were both there for the duration.



Weather: a nice sunny day, a little breezy.



Day Total: 4 locks; 4 miles; 1 Tunnel; 0 Swing Bridge; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 2.2

Overall Total: 304 locks; 506 miles; 23 tunnels; 2 Swing Bridge; 2 Boat Lifts; engine running hours 310.9




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