Wednesday, 2 October 2013

Farewell to friends and forward to Foxton

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Yesterday evening we all had great fun at The Navigation at Kilby Bridge.  James, Debbie, Birgit, James and Doug about to tuck into very good pub food.

This morning we said goodbye to James and Debbie on nb ‘Lois Jane’ as they set off towards Leicester in the rain.  Our black water warning light came on this morning and, although we’d still have about ten days before disaster struck, we went to use the pump out facility opposite our mooring this mooring.  Amazingly the hose was far too short to reach to the other side of the boat so we packed it all away and started today’s journey.  (A text to C&RT we think)

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The weather improved very quickly this morning and we enjoyed a completely dry day.  However, regardless of the weather conditions someone still has to do the dirty work!

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Birgit continued to practice her death defying act.

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It was an extremely quiet day and we only only met two boats in our 14 mile trip today.  Hence, when we entered the Saddington tunnel we could see light at the other end.

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Birgit’s working very hard on her holiday – after lock operation she’s back on the tiller.

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Doug took a “walk on the wild side” and readjusted the rolling fender heights after they’d been through a few locks and stretched a bit.

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We were happy to change from wide to single locks when we got to the wonderful Foxton Locks.  Having seen so few boats during the journey we were surprised to find we had to wait about an hour and a half for six boats to come down, so we used the time to light the fire and have some lunch.

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With the first lock behind us we had the other nine to negotiate.

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It can be a lonely old life steering a boat up through the flight – you seem to be in a brick-lined canyon most of the time.

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Birgit enjoyed operating the “baby” locks better than the double ones.

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Getting a good way up the flight the views are lovely – even with the autumn mist masking the farthest points.

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After getting up the Foxton locks we modified our plan to moor at the top and we carried on cruising for another half an hour and found a very lovely quiet spot, in the middle of nowhere, at bridge 51.  We took advantage of the extra travelling time and had a glass of wine and some nibbles “on the hoof”.

3 comments:

  1. Great to see you on the move again. We had a little cruise around the docks today, to run the engine and just enjoy boating,

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  2. Caroline and Martin2 October 2013 at 21:34

    Great to see you both at Kings Lock the other day, we made it to the Hope and Anchor in very good time. We are now enjoying the River Soar, what a lovely quiet holiday we are having, we have only passed one other boat since seeing you! oh and we fully recommend the Flying Horse in Kegworth, great home cooked food, reasonable prices and 10- 15 mins walk from the canal. Caroline and Martin,( we didn't expect you to remember our names) by the way the paint work looks lovely!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Caroline and Martin, we do remember your names now! You have often left us comments.... Hope you have a great week away, lovely to see you both again x

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