The River Nene

We made an early start from Braunston but our first stop wasn't far away, we pulled up for water outside the Toll House.  Then we stopped for gas and finally we were on our way to the 6 locks.  A couple of hire boaters were coming down, rushing to return the boat before 9.30 am. 

Taking on water outside the Toll House at Braunston.  The building is now a CRT information centre and office.

We continued our journey down the Grand Union Canal over the next few days, travelling in the morning and painting the front deck area in the afternoon.   We put the finishing touches to the locker lids on Thursday and were amused to see a pair of ducks standing on our roof.  

Cheeky ducks standing on the roof.
 

On Friday we arrived at Gayton Junction where we turned onto the Northampton Arm of the Grand Union Canal.  From Northampton we will be sailing on the River Nene which is controlled by the Environment Agency so we needed to obtain a license.  We called in at Gayton Marina to purchase this and to buy a key for the electric controls and waterpoints. 

The next day we started at 6am; there are 16 narrow locks in the 5 miles to Northampton and we wanted to avoid any delays if the canal became busy. 

Lock 1 on the Northampton Arm 

At the first lock we realised progress might not be as quick as we anticipated.  There are 2 gates at the bottom of the lock and, unlike most narrow locks, when one gate was open there was no way of getting across the lock without walking back to the top gate.  To save some of the walking Kev and I armed ourselves with boat hooks and with a joint effort were able to manoeuvre the gate shut as Kev sailed out of the lock.  Our Nicholson's guide also showed some drawbridges but luckily these were all permanently up.  

One of the little drawbridges 

Between locks 9 and 10 we encountered a now familiar sight, the water had drained out of the pound.  Luckily it didn't take long to fill and we were soon on our way. 

Brent III is on the lock but the pound is empty.  Kev is opening up all the paddles to allow water to flow through the lock to fill the short stretch to the next lock.

At 10am we moored up at Cotton End in Northampton, pleased with ourselves except for one mishap.  I had taken the old digital camera with me to take photos while we were on the move but had leant on it while shutting a lock gate.  The screen didn't survive the crush but luckily I was able to download the photos.   The next day we went down through the last CRT lock and out onto the River Nene but we didn't go far; a pontoon next to Northampton's Midsummer Meadow was the ideal place to stop and contemplate a small replacement camera.  

On the pontoon at Midsummer Meadow

After much deliberation I decided a Canon superzoom camera which was on offer at Argos would be ideal and reserved it for collection.  In Argos the assistant advised that, as it was a promotion, the camera might not be the same model as advertised but it would have the same specification or better.  I was very surprised when they gave me the next model up and I certainly won't be crushing it against a lock gate.  

Our journey from Braunston to Northampton