Foxton to Market Harborough.

Hi Friends.

Yesterday evening after dinner and a nice hot shower, I took my camera and went and took some photograph's, as the sun was beginning to set. The local farmer was busy combining whilst the weather was good. We were told that they would be working through the night, which did not both either of us. I grew up on a farm, so know how busy it gets at harvest time. The smell of newly cut wheat is a smell which takes me back to my childhood.
I remember every Summer helping out with the harvest. My friend and I would help with bale cart. This was of course long before Health and Safety came in, so it was pitch forks to hand and get your backs into it. I spent many happy hours on bale cart, earning pocket money to boot. LOL.The Foxton Locks looked really lovely as the sun was setting and much quieter now that the tourists had all but gone home.I sat on one of the many benches and watched as the sun went down over the trees. A microlight flew over the locks and I was fortunate to capture it. In this photo it looks like it is riding on rails lol. It was a lovely end to what was a frantic day.

After a somewhat torrid day yesterday, sleeping last night for both of us was a somewhat fragmented affair. So much so that I ended up getting up and making us both a cup of tea. We did then both doze back off to sleep, but were up at 8am. I took Paddy out for his walk, which is a good run across the field when we are at Foxton. With the harvest done the evening before the field was free to run on now, so Paddy was off like a steam train. He loves to run every now and again, but then spends the rest of the morning sleeping.

We got the boat ready for the off and left the mooring at 9.15am, with a view to get to Market Harborough to make a coal delivery. We were not far from Bowdens Bridge, when we got hailed down by Jenny and Jim on nb Jolly Rodger, who wanted 3 bags of Taybrite and some Kindling. They like others are finding the evenings chilly now. It was lovely to catch up with them both. We will see them throughout the Winter, because they have a Winter mooring at Market Harborough. We arrived at Market Harborough having cruised the 5.5miles, worked 0 locks, the swing bridge was open and it took us just 2 hours. The moorings on the towpath were a little thin on the ground, so we winded in the basin and asked Debbie if we could moor in the basin for a couple of hours. We recieved a very warm welcome from our friends in the basin. It really felt like we had come home. I rang our customer who wanted coal and he and his wife came down to the basin to collect it. We then managed to find a mooring on the towpath for the weekend. The bow is sticking out a bit, but as we cannot get into the bank it will do us just fine. Paddy will have to make a leap of faith to get off of the boat, which I just know he will hate.

Over the weekend, we will do a food shop and catch up with people we know here.