Captains Log Canal Date 3rd June 2009 Travels 8 miles 6 locks 1 long tunnel Current Location Near the village of Flecnoe OS Ref SP52400 – 71090 Lat – Long 52 16’30N 1 15’13.3W We had very welcome visitors on Sunday, after a long chat and a few coffees we set of for a trip along the canal. After studying the guide book we set off along the canal towards Braunston. The idea is to turn after the tunnel and get back in time for our friends to get home to a family barbeque. All went according to plan, the weather was perfect. It was a pleasure to go into Braunston Tunnel; it was nice and cool! At the end of the tunnel we were supposed to turn. The winding hole was never going to allow us to turn it was close but not big enough to turn a 58 foot boat. After looking at the guide book again it did say (in very small writing) that it was up to 45 foot, ups! The next winding hole was after 6 locks, that means 6 locks each way and would have meant that the family barbeque would have had to be held under moon light. After lock 1 we managed to make a turn – it was very tight but with superb seamanship; a lot of pushing and pulling and more than a bit of luck e managed it and set off back to Norton Junction. After unloading out redundant bikes (not used at all) we said our goodbyes to Terry & Jackie and they did manage there family barbeque in daylight. Lessons learned Read the book properly! We remained close to Norton Junction until Monday. We set off in blistering sunshine to Braunston, again the tunnel was nice and cool, and it was tempting to moor inside the tunnel. W moored in Braunston and walked to the local village shops for provisions, on the way back we pooped to the village pub –It was closed!!! What a disaster. So on the night we just had to go to the canal side pub instead. Food was quite good. IT was a large pub and for most of the time we were the only customers inside. Tuesday morning we went to a BW facility to try out the self pump out kit we bought from Crick. Like most things that I buy, I could not get it to do its job. I spent over an hour before I gave up. We travelled 100 yards to a winding hole and turned around, when we came to the facility again I thought I will give one more go, this time from the port side. I worked perfectly. Must have been a blockage on the starboard outlet. We set off with empty poo tank and full water tanks on towards Napton Junction. The heat was overpowering, not that this is a complaint, just an observation. We decided that it was time to find a nice mooring spot and get out of the sun. We found a spot, open views, wide canal, miles from anywhere and no other boats. By the time we had moored up and opened a can of beer another boat moored right next to us. Why do so many people have this strong herding instinct? Our next move will be all the way to the Blue Lisa, near Southam, probably on Friday.