Weedon Bec to B6 before Braunston Tunnel
6.75 miles, 7 locks
First job of the day was a walk along the canal with both dogs and then down the hill to the Tesco Express.
Boating started around 10am on another dry day with some sun and quite a pleasant temperature.
The Weedon-Flore bypass bridge is under construction
Is this waiting for a low loader and boat to crane out?
There were lots of different boats to admire en route to the 7 locks at Buckby.
Kiera has settled in to life afloat, but has a very different attitude to sailing (and life in general)
to our ever alert Border Collie
why rush about if you can just lie down and relax?
The old man and dog are still at Bridge 21
All too soon the bottom lock was in sight - our hopes were raised as it was empty, so ready for us.
Sadly it was not to last - there was a single boat ahead of us and then a single behind us. We never managed to catch the one ahead to aid the saving of water. Boats were coming down, so there were opportunities to chat making the ascent, if not speedy, of interest.
I had to admire these well trimmed willows
It was at the top that things got really interesting. There was an RCR (River Canal Rescue - the AA of the waterways) parked in the car park and a boat moored just above the lock. Nothing that unusual, but whatever the problem it necessitated the engineer getting into the water.
Whatever the problem they managed to fix it as the boat passed us about an hour later. This photograph also demonstrates how shallow these canals are.
Sue and Ken stayed on at the water point as they needed to clean their bow deck having had a water overflow last time we filled up, so we headed off to find a mooring. First past some C&RT work boats being filled up with hardcore
We turned left at Norton Junction
Just past the junction it became obvious what the C&RT boats were being used for - they are installing new ARMCO and re-surfacing the towpath having done some much needed (as we were soon to find out) dredging
On we travelled past the next bridge with some wonderful views to our right and this is where the fun began - we tried to moor. No joy as the water was just too shallow. We tried again and again and again to no avail. By this time it was around 14:30 and we desperately needed lunch, so we tried once more and managed to get the bow in and decided that we could live with the stern about four foot from the bank whilst we, at the very least, had lunch. After we had eaten and had a bit of a rest we took the dogs for a walk with Chris' walking pole which we had used to test the depth of the water where we were. Every now and then we tested the depth and eventually came across some good ARMCO and decent depth just before bridge 6. We hot footed it back to the boat and moved and now have both stern and bow against the bank and we are floating free. It really was a case of 'Where CAN we moor?'! Sue and Ken managed to get in with a good view, so they are about 20 minutes behind us, so it will be a slightly later start for us tomorrow.
And finally a boat name we both like and think is clever
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