Welton Haven Marina entrance

We set off at 10 am, the first stop was only 50 yards away on the offside where we stopped for water, whilst there I nipped into Midland Chandlers to pick up some new light for the galley. By the time we left thee were two more boats wanting water. We carried straight on at the junction heading for Braunston Locks. On the way we passed the entrance to Braunston marina, the bridge across the entrance is still covered with sacking, the visible bit at the extreme end looks untouched, I hope the rest looks better when its finally unveiled.

As we approached the bottom lock the gate opened, I didn’t expect to see Volockies about this early in the season, even better a boat had just left lock 2 with a second Volockie so the gates on that one were open for us as well. Almost up the The Admiral Nelson someone has built a bird table on top of a fence post.

From here most of the locks had started to refill and then as were were about to leave lock 5 I saw a boat enter lock 6, so that was another one ready for us. There were also 2 CRT employees doing something to the top paddle so they closed a gate for us. We pushed on and into the tunnel where I was soon aware of a boat coming towards us with an LED headlight pointing straight ahead. They are horrible things because they are completely unfocused so even if they are aimed up and to the right there si still a lot of scatter to dazzle you. I must say the tunnel was surprisingly dry. By Welton Lane Bridge a lot of trees have been cleared and a new set of stairs are being installed on the far side.

Just before Norton Junction back to the next bridge all the towpath hedge has been laid, I would imagine it was the land owner and not CRT who carried out this work. Hopefully it will look good in a couple of years time. At the junction we turned left, its quite a tight turn and made our way passed all the moored boat, this was a winter mooring but the signs have all gone now, but not all of the boats. We planned to moor just past Welton Haven marina, I hope that’s the right name as there are two marinas owned by the same company less than a mile apart, anyway when we got there, there was already a boat on the short length of piling, so we reversed back, passed the marina, through the bridge, passed two moored boats and moored to the piling there for the night. Tomorrow its up the stair case and another tunnel.

Today’s Journey

8¾ miles 6 locks in 3½ hours