Foxton top lock

We set off just after 10-30 and it wasn’t long before the sky cleared and the sun popped out. I think this may be one of the very few Fibreline fibre glass Narrowboats  still about,I only know of 4 but there are 7 listed on CanalPlanac

Many years ago CRT or it may even have been the dying embers of BW who wanted the canals to go metric and started putting up metric speed signs.

As today was crystal clear we could see the extent of the housing development on the outskirts of Market Harborough. Yesterday we could barely see the closest house.

Yesterday it was an obliging Kingfisher, today its a Heron or Harnser.

I don’t know what this building was before it was converted but I think they made a nice job of it from the bits I could see.

Bit of a slalom course through the bridge and round the tree, probably be a bit tight for a wide beam boat.

I didn’t realise what a state this poor old Buzzard was in until I down loaded the photos this evening, you can see its wing feathers were quite ragged.

On our way down the arm I spotted a rather good piece of wood carving on the back end of a boat so I made a point of getting a photo on our way back, I also noticed that the boat was displaying a waterways trades window sticker.

We carried on through the road swing bridge, I had just closed one barrier when two cars turned up, so I let them through, the cyclist was not so lucky as the bridge was on the move when he arrived, but he did offer to give me a push. It took me all my time to get it started. We stopped for lunch just before the swing footbridge, its a light weight compared to the other bridge, just over an hour later we were on our way and soon tucked in below the bottom lock of the flight. I walked up to find the Volockie who was actually on his way down. One one else in the flight and we were on our way, by the second lock we must have had 50 bystanders milling Volockies which helped with crowed control and we soon had the kids opening and closing the gates for us. Several were interested how the system actually worked. The strange thing was, non of them knew about the N Kilworth tree down other than what boaters had told them. We moored at the top of the locks, just before the first bridge for the night, the same spot as going down. Tomorrow if the tree is not cleared we will just go as far as we can.

Today’s Journey

5¼ miles with 10 locks in 3 hours