The Grand Adventure - Day 7

Rather moist

 We awoke to the sound of rain. This was not just a few spots of rain but the full on deal. Anyone who has been camping before will know just how loud rain is when it's hitting the roof, this was almost deafening - well perhaps I exaggerate a bit. I am going to get wet today but I thought it best just to wait for a bit to see if it calms down a little as this was bordering on torrential.

When the rain eased a little I slipped on what I thought was a waterproof hoodie type thing that my mum got me at a car boot sale. It was not. Almost as soon as we had cast off the heavens opened again and I just thought to myself, well I am wet anyway so lets crack on. We were getting a bit full in the toilet department again so we needed to get that sorted so looking at the canal guide we spotted an elsian (a place to empty porta potties etc) at the first lock of the Braunston flight. After around an hour of cruising we were on the approach to the locks and it looked like mayhem ahead. There were boats everywhere as weekend cruisers queued for the locks.

Braunston

Hannah can be a temperamental old bird sometimes and is not too keen on ticking over in neutral for too long. I am not quite sure why because more often than not she behaves herself but today she just wanted to stall so I had to be a bit creative to keep her in line. Bit of back throttle, bit of front, repeat and she stayed pretty much in place. I did not want her to stall as we seemed to have a bit of a battery or alternator issue which was rearing it's ugly head. She seemed to be getting a little more lazy with every start. Luckily I had a nice new Honda E20 generator aboard which we can use to get a charge in to the batteries if required but that's no good if you are floating in the middle of the canal!

We made it up to the moorings just before the locks where we could empty the facilities before we made our way down the flight of 7 locks. We paired up with an elderly couple for the locks which is always quite nice as you get to have a chat with new people and share stories.

It was not too long before we were at the entrance of Braunston Tunnel but at least this time I knew what to expect. It was quite busy so we met quite a few boats coming in the opposite direction. Breath in. It's quite strange sometimes because you are not sure if that pin of light is the exit of the tunnel or another boat - this tunnel is really long! I breathed a sigh of relief when we came back out in to bright sunlight. The rain had gone away and it was a pleasant evening.

Emma Winehouse

We moored up close to where we did on our outward journey and decided it was time for food, wine and fishing! We caught a massive fish as you can see from the picture below, much to the amusement of Emma and our dog Buddie! We were now on schedule to arrive back on the marina by mid afternoon tomorrow.

Six inches is a good size!