Foxton Locks to Debdale and back again.

We have done 3.6 miles, 10 locks in 2 hours and 25 minutes.

A bright and cheery morning greeted Paddy and I as we stepped off the boat for his morning jolly. Paddy loves a run across the field when we are at Foxton, he always makes for the Rabbit holes. I let him have a good old run before we headed back to the boat for breakfast, I also put some beef in the back cabin stove to cook slowly in gravy, this will be tonight's dinner. At 9am we set off from our mooring, I walked ahead and opened the swing bridge near The Foxton Locks Inn. Whilst waiting for Keith to bring the boat a long, I got chatting to John off of NB Vanyar, he and Caroline are at the top of the flight. We will be heading off with them tomorrow, as they also want to get through Braunston before the stoppage starts on the 27th February. Having said cheerio to John, we headed off under Rainbow Bridge towards Debdale, where we wanted to take on 100 litres of diesel to see us through until we get to Turners at Wheaton Aston on the Shroppie.

We crunched our way through some more ice, but it was nowhere near as thick as yesterday, and there were large stretches which were clear of ice, especially where the wind was able to waft unhindered across the canal. As we approached Debdale marina, Keith's first attempt to enter the marina unfortunately failed because we picked up a coal bag on the prop. I spotted it but it but it was too late to avoid it. Keith aborted the attempt and moved Hadar alongside the towpath, where I stepped off with the centre line, I held the boat whilst Keith removed the offending coal bad from the prop with our short pole with a spike, a lot warmer than going down through the weed hatch. Keith's second attempt was thwarted by the strengthening wind, blowing through the entrance to the marina.

But it was third time lucky as this attempt was successful. We took on 100 litres of diesel and whilst Keith went and paid for the fuel, I got chatting to Allan off of “Pengalarty”. We met Allan via Facebook, so it was nice to see him in person for a proper natter.

 

Having said our goodbyes, we returned to Foxton locks and decided to climb the flight. With it  being half term, there were plenty of families out for a walk and therefore plenty of little helpers, willing to open and close the gates for me. Whilst keeping an eye on what was happening, I was also on hand to answer questions from the adults, who were interested in how the locks worked. Having got to the top of the locks I thanked everyone for their help, we then moored up. Keith suggested we walk back down to Bridge 61 for coffee and baguettes, which I thought was a fabulous idea. Keith had a sausage and bacon baguette and I had a double sausage baguette, which I have to say were very nice indeed and definitely touched the spot.

Back on the boat, I checked the beef, which is cooking nicely. I made up the fire and then topped the water tank up, because I did not complete the job at Market Harborough yesterday due to the slowness of the taps on the towpath. It is so nice to be on the move again and to see something different. Tomorrow we will be heading for Welford I think.

Chat soon xx