The boys are very well behaved usually, if we let them off for a stretch of their legs near the lock (Scooby left and Lister on the right camouflaged!)
It was gone dinnertime as we completed the final lock, so we moored, fed everyone and then nearly jumped out of our skin as the Intercity from London flew past shaking the towpath to death!
So we swapped the boats over before the lock to avoid grounding on the bits of collapsed wall and the butty was fine, gliding over the obstacles unscathed!
Ok, we thought, this isn't good, as another train went past in the opposite direction. Perhaps doing the next 5 locks would get us in a better place to get to Foxton for the weekend....
But the sky doesn't look promising...
Not having a great deal of choice, unless we wanted to be kept awake half the night, we put on the waterproofs and set off again. But not for long
Lock gates padlocked as emergency work takes place
Cranes lock caused everyone an impromptu and impatient halt just as the sun came out. The stoppage would continue until about 4pm, so we relaxed in the small pound and let the dogs sunbathe as we chatted to our neighbours.
Lister loves the sun
but not as much as the Scoob!
Oh well, it gave us the energy to carry on once the gates swung open and we followed the other boats up the flight with renewed vigor!
Our mooring at Fleckney for a couple of nights, nice village and quiet spot
Mooring on the outskirts of Fleckney, we had a lovely few days catching up on painting and Richard neared the final stages of the boatman's cabin interior fit out. The cupboards all have doors now and he scumbled the woodwork which won't have roses and castles on. I will take photos on completion, cause he gets embarrassed easily, but I think it looks great!
Our friends Jim and Sheila on their boat Islonian
Later in the day, Jim and Sheila arrived on their boat Islonian and moored up for the night next to us. We hadn't seen them since the Loughborough Show, and had started to think they had got caught the wrong side of the river! The river Soar, apparently, is now in flood again!!
Saddington Tunnel at 881yards long, complete with ghost.....
Our tunnel light fittings were past their sell by date and Richard took great delight in making sure the new fittings were as bomb proof as could be. As it was, the first tunnel this year (Saddington) was a lot shorter than I thought it was. If you look carefully in the picture you can see the light at the end (sorry cheesy).
Not good if you don't like the dark and enclosed spaces, err that'll be me then!
Fortunately, we didn't encounter any oncoming boats, so we could drift all over the place in the tunnel and it didn't matter!
Saddington Tunnel exit southbound
Winding our way around Smeeton, we learned that there was a spectacular breach here back in 1917, when the canal water escaped down into the fields below ruining the farmer's crops!
Reassuringly sturdy sided Smeeton rebuilt after the 1917 breach
Lots of lovely bendy bits on this beautiful canal!
As the weekend had been a none starter, as regards sunshine, we hadn't bothered pushing to moor at Foxton, so we decided we would collect the car once again from Market Harborough and then turn around to get to Foxton for the following weekend.
Hey, your butty is bigger than ours!
Lots of areas where the land has slipped creating narrow shallow parts on the canal
Gorgeous babies all around!
Spectacular setting for a marina, very secluded and quiet
Foxton moorings came up all too quickly and we were plunged into the anxious few moments of finding a large enough gap to pull into. As it happened, we squeezed onto the end of the 48hour moorings and breasted the boats up for the night.
Rain, rain and more rain encouraged a slightly leaky roof in the butty to be a proper leak! Another job for when the sun comes out!!
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