And up to Foxton for the Easter 'Eggstravanganza!'

Easter at Foxton is our first official booking for this season, for our butty gift shop.  We are hoping for good weather and footfall but also catching up with other traders we haven't seen yet this year!

Being towed up to Foxton on a short line.  This felt weird, as I am normally on cross-straps and able to go about my business with relatively no steering responsibility!

The journey up from Stoke Bruerne was in two halves, stopping for a few days in Crick, as we wanted to get the boats nearer to Richard's work in the short time in between shifts.

Husbands Bosworth tunnel entrance (Crick side)

We had met up with friends Tracey and Ray on their pair of boats at Crick and had a visit from my mum with our post!

I love the scenery around Foxton, it is so picturesque

Easter is the deadline for our time using our car as well as the festival, when we pass it over to our eldest son Martin for the summer.  It is a relief, not to have to worry about the car but we do miss it on occasion and have had to get all the wholesaler trips, shopping, sacks of dog food in before the weekend arrives!

Winding the boats after a few days on the outskirts of Foxton

We have managed to open the shop above the locks a couple of weekends before Easter and in between moor in the middle of nowhere to chop wood up and keep out of the way before 'winding' and going back again.

Bridge 52 Winding hole ~ shallow and has been reported to the relevant people so hopefully it can be added to the dredging programme!  

The sterns as we wind, trying not to get the elum (rudder) on the butty damaged against the armco as we go!

We had trouble getting the boats round, more so than in the past and the motor actually ended up on it's side as we resumed the central position to return towards Foxton.  There we separated the boats and back onto cross-straps.

Moving off all on my own the other morning

After a few days on the long term visitor moorings, and whilst Richard was at work, I moved the boats back through the bridge where we will be for the weekend.

The look of trepidation on my face that morning comes through on a rare selfie!

I had never winded the boats on my own, just towed them on cross-straps with Richard on the butty.  So this was quite a scary moment for me out of my comfort zone!

Through the bridge without banging the boats and nothing coming the other way.  But then it was about 8.30am and the locks had only just opened.

Very quiet, nobody moored on the winding hole on the bend ahead or anywhere!  I had the canal to myself!

And into the corner we go!  Nice and steady...

a little bit of shunting and we are nearly round

Relief is not the word!

safely moored up, once I had decided on the best edge for the gift shop to be tied to!

The new motor boat is very heavy as more of it is in the water than the old boat.  I worried about mooring both boats together and the wind picking up,  but it was fine!  Unbelievable.  

So, now it was time for the dogs to have a good walk and me to breathe a sigh of relief!

Stoke Bruerne 'Open Lock' and a quick blacking!

A wintery update to let everyone know we are still alive and busy!

We had a day of snow and it was beautiful, except Richard had to work.  

But the boys enjoyed it!

I've been doing lots of painting, trying to build up stock for this season.  I don't really have time in the summer to do largish jobs like these, so on the hit list have been milk churns, watercans, post boxes, teapots and .......

....I taught myself how to do candy striping for brooms, poles and boat hooks.  I was pleased with the results, just need to tackle the rest on the roofs!

We managed to get the new motor out for blacking earlier this month.  Normally we take it to Paul Barber on the Erewash, but that was not practical this year with my husband's job and time available to get there.  

Coming out in a sling by a huge crane was a new experience for us,  usually we drag the boats out of the water with a tractor and trailor.  Here the boat is guided out gently and lowered onto the sleepers at the side of the canal wharf.

The propeller is larger than the old boat and the difference in handling is measurable.

Safely seated on the sleepers, Eclipse awaits her spruce up

I tackled repainting the back tunnel bands, whilst Richard skimmed around the boat putting the final coat of blacking on. We wanted to use up all that was in the tin, as it is messy stuff!

The boys have been out running several times, as is my resolution to do a 10k this summer, come hell or high water!  I haven't entered any races for around 7 years!  Just small trips out, as Reilly (greyhound) gets tired on a longer run, being a short sprint dog, but I think they enjoy the adventure of a new trail to sniff out!

And finally, we returned to Stoke Bruerne for the 'Open Lock' weekend.  This is where members of the public may descend into the empty lock and view the structure and engineering works going on within.

Saturday was nearly  a washout, but still people ventured out, but Sunday was great drawing many to  the museum, pubs and of course ourselves and the Cheese Boat next door, once they had surveyed the lock.

So now we have moved on back up north a bit, to enable the journey to work for Richard to be a little less, and I continue the ever present list of stock replenishment.....