Braunston....

.....another Tunnel and another lock flight.

It was just after 9 when I cast off yesterday in slightly misty but not unpleasant conditions and cruised past Norton Jcn and the entrance to the Leicester Arm, one day I will either head up there or emerge out of it J but not today.

Leicester Arm entrance

Nice little cottage right on the junction.

I had about 1½ miles of pleasant cruising to cover along the summit before reaching Braunston tunnel.

The South portal entrance is a bit obscured so it was a slow approach donning life jacket again and switching on lights etc. before disappearing into the gloom.

I passed three other boats while making my way through the 2042 yard tunnel (7^th longest navigable), another one that is two way working with no tow path, at one time steam powered tugs pulled unpowered boats through but this service ended in the mid 30’s.

You may not be able to see it but the small dot of light in the center of
the picture is an approaching boat.

It's always a nice sight, the approaching end of the tunnel.

And emerge into daylight once again.

Leaving the North portal

The lock flight down to Braunston consists of 6 locks (6-1) taking you down 35’ 6” with fairly short pounds in between,  I was pleased to see two boats coming up and shortly after I arrived a boat joined me to go down.

First lock down, lock 6

We shared the locks and mostly again met boats coming up, the easiest way to do this is to wait for the boats leaving the other lock to set off and set off yourselves at the same time passing in the pound.

Passing in the pound

This is my locking buddy just following me out of lock 3 with the Admiral Nelson pub which is adjacent to the lock.

At the bottom lock there was a couple of volounteers along with boats waiting to come up so we were soon through that and heading into the busy area between the lock and the Marina with all the activity going on around us

I then started to look for a mooring as I needed provisions, Braunston is, it seems, always busy but you can usually find somewhere, and I pulled onto a 48 hour mooring just before the permit holder moorings and water point.

It wasn’t ideal as the boat behind was running his generator but he switched it off not long after I arrived.

Current mooring:

 Totals today: 4 miles : 6 locks : 1 Tunnel

And for the first time in a while I was able to open the side hatch which is now on the canal side.

View from the side hatch

I walked the long uphill slog to the village and got a few bits and pieces from the rather poorly stocked Londis store, today I will go back again to the very good butchers and buy some perishables, they do a nice range of meats, some veg, pies and jams and sauces, it’s a lovely little place.

This morning has been chilly and wet, but hopefully it is going to brighten up this afternoon.