Braunston

Set off this morning at 7 am and at 8 we were passing through Newbold Tunnel. This is our first on Achernar and it is only a short one at 250 yds long. Still it was long enough to give the Francis searchlight it's initial use. After the tunnel is a water point which was clear so we stopped to refill the tank. Setting off again was another first this time it was using the travel power which is a 240 volt generator. This allowed us to use the washing machine. We continued on passing through Rugby before arriving at Hillmorton Locks. There are three pairs of locks here and we were going uphill. At the first lock (the bottom lock) we were greeted by some volunteer lock keepers who did all the work leaving us only to deal with the middle and top locks. After leaving Hillmorton you quickly pass from the urban sprawl of Rugby into nice open country. We took note of some good mooring spots for future use.

               Hillmorton locks in the grey gloom with Rugby radio masts in background.

As we continued on towards Braunston the sun emerged and it became quite warm. Oscar has now laid claim to 'His Spot' on the rear deck and he made good use of it warming himself in the suns rays.

We arrived at Braunston at 1 pm the whole run including locks taking 6 hours. We found a mooring space just beyond The Boathouse P.H. It was mutually decided that we would lunch at the pub and have dinner on board this evening as being Friday the pub will probably be busy tonight. We are only a couple of hundred yards from the start of the Braunston flight which will tackle tomorrow. We also have a very long tunnel to deal with.

Totals 14 Miles 3 Locks 1 Tunnel