Countryside Pursuits.

Hi Friends.

I hope your Saturday is a lovely one.
We had some very heavy rain overnight, which was still falling as we drank our cuppa in bed at 6am. It did not put the Tawney Owls off from chatting to each other in the trees across the canal though. The male was calling and a female was answering his calls. Maybe they are a long-term partnership, or a new one developing for the Spring.
We left the Welford Arm in the dry, but there was a chilly wind.
As we approached bridge 49 and Lodge farm, we noticed a gentleman walking across the field with a shotgun over his arm. It became clear that he was not alone. It was a pheasant shoot alongside the canal. This bought back memeories of my childhood when each October 1st the Pheasant season would start and would run through to February. Pheasant shooting has an open and closed season. It's illegal to shoot during the closed season.
We cruised our way through the Husbands Bosworth Tunnel (1166yds).

As we continued through the beautiful countryside, Keith thought he heard geese, but it turned out to be hunting horns. Galloping across the countryside alongside us were a group of Horse and Hounds. There were in the region of Thirty riders with lots of hounds all enjoying the chase. Fox hunting was banned in the UK in 2004, but this does not stop the Horse and Hounds going out as normal. After the ban on fox hunting, hunts now follow artificially laid trails. Whether you love or hate Countryside Pursuits, they are apart of country life and have been going on for many, many years.

This stretch of the Leicester Line is stunning with its views. There are also some lovely houses, one such house is Lubenham Lodge, the home of Piggy French. Piggy is one of the UK's leading eventers.

We are now moored above Foxton Locks for the rest of the weekend.