Braunston and Stockton

Tuesday:  Arrived at the bottom of Whilton Locks alone.   Great, I thought.   A nice quiet ascent at my own pace with total control.  No, not to be.   Having prepared the first lock I was approached by a woman who said that their boat was waiting at the lock above.  The husband & wife team with young boy and greyhound were first time boaters in a short hire boat from Gayton.   These were their first locks, so I ran what amounted to a tutorial with practical demonstrations.  Not actually easy because the helmsman could scarcely control the boat in the lock so following, as I was, it was difficult to decide which side of the lock I was meant to go in.  At the end, they were doing  quite well I thought, using a rope to hold the boat against the wall and working the gates and paddles efficiently.  I left them at the top and carried on through Braunston Tunnel and moored for the night at the top of Stockton Locks.   Braunston amuses me rather.  It is obviously a big narrowboating centre with a large marina, but the Braunston boaters were out in force in their shiny cosseted boats, men never leaving the helm and the women doing all the work.   Nice for me because I had all the locks in my favour, still being single handed.  My boat I regard as a working boat (if it doesn't work I fix it), so it was covered in mud stripes from the ropes which I use constantly when single handed in broad locks.   Yesterdays cleaning was, of course, a total waste of time.   I did stop off briefly to visit Tradline Fender shop in the marina for a new anchor warp for our River Severn cruise in June, but moored outside the marina worried about taking such a dirty boat in.   The shop is a wonderful place!   Full of all sorts of goodies, so I couldn't resist getting a new front fender as well.   That night the rain set in.