Off to Foxton.

We spent a wonderful few days moored in the basin at Market Harborough and we got to catch up with a lot of friends. Yesterday Andy and Hilary off of NB Maisibert came and had coffee with us and we managed to sit out and enjoy the sunshine. last night we joined the local radio station Hfm at their Soul Night at the Conservative Club, wow it really did rock, my ears were still ringing when we got back to the boat. It was a wonderful evening though and a great crowd turned up. I won a bottle of Vodka as well which was a bonus, not that I have ever drunk Vodka, but there is always a first for everything.

 

No need to hurry up this morning, so we enjoyed a cup of tea in bed and a breakfast cooked by Keith. We then moved off our pontoon mooring and on to the sanitary station to fill up with water and get rid of yet more rubbish. The sun was shining and so I donned my shorts (that will scare the sun away) and t-shirt, after all we need to enjoy the sun whilst we have it, and of course I will do it responsibly.

Water tank full, we left Market Harborough at 10.35. Along the way we met a few of the hire boats heading back to Market Harborough for turn around tomorrow.

Oil seed rape is very prevalent in the fields at present, giving us fields of gold.

At the Foxton Village swing bridge a hire boat was already coming through, so the ladies operating the bridge allowed us to come through and closed the bridge behind us, which was very kind of them and it saved me the job.

The field alongside our mooring is very purple, and apparently it is Red Campion(Silene dioica) according to the book, a wild flower, but in great abundance in this field. Besides the aesthetic value of its flowers, the crushed seeds of Red Campion have also been used to cure snakebites. The nectar of the flowers is utilised by bumblebees and butterflies, and several species of moth feed on the foliage. I really makes a splendid sight.

We moored alongside the field of Campion on the 48 hour moorings.