Badgers and a chilly start.

Hi Friends.

Last night I decided to cook some stewing Beef and Kidney in Old Speckled Hen Ale. I wanted to cook it overnight in the back cabin stove and make a pie with it. What I did not reckon on was the smell coming from the stove when we went to bed. No sonner I lay down in bed, I began to feel very hungry. The smell was sublime.

Brrrrrrrr what a chilly morning we woke up to this morning. It was the coldest of the Autumn so far at 1.1C. I woke up after a very good nights sleep. I even had a lovely dream about seeing a Badger. I probably had such a nice dream because I ate some cheese before going to bed. I have always wanted to see a Badger in the wild, it is on my wish list of things to see. We had moored up on a stone wharf and there was a honey coloured stone wall edging a field which had a small hillock near it. I was just making us a coffee and looked out of the galley window to see a Badger feeding in front of me on this hillock. It seemed oblivious to me being there. I went and grabbed the camera praying it would still be there when I got back, which thankfully it was. I set the tripod up and began snapping away at this beautiful Badger. Whilst I was happily revelling in the fact that I had seen my first wild Badger, a lady stopped by the boat and told me that she regularly feeds the Badgers and would I like to go and watch them feeding at night. I absolutely jumped at the chance. In what seemed no time at all, I was sitting in her conservatory watching her feed Peanut Butter sandwiches to half a dozen Badgers, it was so mind blowing. The next thing was what seemed like several Owl's were hooting and I woke up. I thought that the Owl's must have been part of my dream, but Keith heard them as well, and I know he was not in my dream lol.

There was ice on the roof of the boat when I stepped off with Paddy for his walk. But on the plus side the sun was shining and it was beautiful. I love this sort of weather. Even though we were going to be heading up the Foxton flight, we did not hurry ourselves. Once back from a run across the field with Paddy, I made us some Porridge, which would keep us warm on the inside for the morning. We set off from the mooring at 9am and were behind another boat to go up the flight. Mark the Lock Keeper said we should follow them up. With windlass in hand off up the flight we went, smoke rings blowing from the engines exhaust stack on this chilly old morning, even the lock gate beams had ice on them, which was slow to thaw in the sunshine. Foxton Locks are easy locks to operate and you get a stunning view whilst you work you way up the flight. Having made it to the top, we set off through some lovely countryside, with the sun pouring through the trees.
Not all of the trees have their Autumn clothes on yet, but when these trees do change it will be spectacular, so I am hoping I do not miss it. The beautiful morning had bought out a few private boats and some of the hire fleet heading back to Market Harborough. Thankfully there were no collisions and no grumpy old boaters (gobs), even if some of them did look like they had frozen to the spot. We pulled in and unloaded some coal to a boater, who was heading slowly to Coventry. He said he was in no hurry and was just enjoying the quiet life. Now I know some women like to be colour co-ordinated with every aspect of there life, but I never thought I would see a fisherman being colour co-ordinated for fishing, but this gentleman certainly was. He also look very cold. We kept nice and warm with coffee and hot sausage rolls straight from the back cabin stove. I did us some lunch on the move, Keith ate his whilst thumping through Husbands Bosworth Tunnel, I stood and ate mine in the engine room whith my earphones on. Now that conjours up a vision and a half. Just as we arrived at Welford Junction, I managed to photograph this Kingfisher who had been flying in front of the boat. The one great thing about the Autumn and Winter, is you can see Kingfishers really easy and it is nice when they like to have their photograph taken.
We are now moored up at Welford Junction have cruised for 8.05 miles, I worked 10 locks, 1 swingbridge, in 4hrs 25mins, on what has been a stunning day.

For dinner tonight we are having a Beef and Kidney pie. The meat cooked very well overnight in the oven and is now cooking in the oven again as a very yummy pie. We will have that with some mash and veg. Looking forward to a quiet evening all being well.