We arrived at Jannock, unloaded into the boat and were headed North into
Braunston tunnel by 10:45. We saw another boat ahead of us in the tunnel and
hoped they would wait for us at the lock. When we arrived at the top lock,
they had started descending sharing with another boat that had just started
off from the moorings above the locks. It took us two and a quarter hours to
descend the 6 locks in the flight following the pair of them as they waited
with the locks set against them for boats that were still working two locks
further down the flight. Once clear of Braunston we headed across the
puddlebanks to find ourselves now stuck behind a very slow wide beam boat.
The trouble with that stretch is the combination of permanent moorers and
tight bends give very little opportunities to over take a slow narrowboat -
widebeam! No chance. Luckily for us, he made a mess when meeting an oncoming
boat on a bend and pulled over to let us through. Turning North at Wigrams
we then dropped down Calcut lock on our own with no hassle. When we arrived
at the top of the Stockton flight, Ken and Claudia Kroeker were there
waiting for us and helped work us down. That must have been the fastest
descent I have ever made of those locks. Once out the bottom, the Blue Lias
area was very busy so we winded above the next lock and returned to moor
offside of Prairie Crocus. Our three abreast plus the other boat moored
across on the towpath still left room for two narrowboats to pass each
other. Nice bit of canal that!
