Treasure Trail

The weather being what it was - and it was actually a bit cooler than yesterday - Grace and I took the opportunity at last to do the Foxton Locks and Village Treasure Trail.

This is one of over a thousand guided explorations of villages, towns and cities around the UK. This one was a Christmas present from Naomi and Eddie, and they got one for themselves that focusses on St Albans. They've already completed that, and we're looking forward to doing it while we're back there over the next few weeks.

The Foxton one was great fun. There were twenty clues to find and questions to answer, and it wasn't all easy, though the degree of difficulty isn't nearly as important as the enjoyment of the search. We know the locks well, but the Trail still showed us things we'd not seen before, and taught us things we didn't know. And we'd never been in the village before, so that was all new to us. We highly recommend the trail!

Map of  Foxton Locks, the first thing we had to find and study

Bridge 60 at the top of the locks

Bottom Lock

This weather-vane was very well hidden

Outside the Foxton Locks Inn

Going up the Market Harborough Arm

Into Foxton Village

The Village Hall

 "Chiens lunatiques"!

A quiet place to rest in the shade

St Andrew's Church, Foxton

Footpath back to the locks

Parts of the old mechanism from the inclined plane

Looking up the plane as it is now...

...and down it to the canal

How it was the day it was opened (photo from www.fipt.org.uk)

The centre pound - passing place!

The stop gate in the arm to the top of the inclined plane

And back to Kantara!

After a light lunch, we descended the locks and made our way out of Foxton to nearby Debdale Wharf, where we are now for the next couple of days.

The weather today is in very sharp contrast to how it was the first time we moored here, five years ago!

Moving out to finish the job

We got off to a late start on Monday. The weather wasn't conducive to painting, so we decided to turn around and go back to Welford to finish the job. We'd have liked to carry on for another couple of weeks, down to Market Harborough, perhaps, or head off towards Leicester, but we couldn't think of any places where the mooring would be good enough for hull painting on the starboard side, and that had been the main purpose of the trip.

Some of the floating traders had left their reserved moorings, so we moved into a space the other side of the bridge, next to the horse and boy statue.

From here, Grace went down to the shop to buy milk, and I did a couple of treks down to the disposal units. We had a brief exchange with Roger and Cindy who were still busy touting their wares on Blue Belle. Theirs was one of the few trading boats left, but there was still quite a good number of people out, making the most of the last day of the long weekend.

Needing to fill our water tank before we left, Grace winded where the canal divides to take boats to the top lock on one side and to the inclined plane on the other, though the latter route is no longer passable. Having turned, we reversed to a water point and topped up, then made our way out under the bridge, waving goodbye to Roger and Cindy, and moored again not far from where we'd come from earlier. We tied up behind NB Blue Moon, but there was no sign of Barry. After lunch, we made off out of Foxton, and moored just before the pipe bridge a mile from Husbands Bosworth Tunnel. It was a delightful spot, bright and open, remote and very quiet. It was a beautiful evening, and the sky was quite remarkable.

Foxton Locks at Easter

Easter Day had a gloomy weather outlook. Heavy rain all day from about 10:00am onwards. Grace and I stopped to talk with Roger and Cindy on NB Blue Belle at around 1:30pm, and it hadn't rained a drop. Business was going fairly well for Roger, though he said that he'd sold more paintings on his way to Foxton than he'd sold since his arrival on Friday. He was a bit concerned about the weather forecast. I assured him it was not going to rain!

Apparently, other floating traders there had complained to the Foxton management because the market had not been very well promoted, and they felt that they weren't getting value from the fee they'd paid to be there. And it was true. A visitor to the Locks could have a really pleasant wander up to top lock, buy refreshments there, and not see any reason to go any further. The trading boats were hidden from view at that point by the bend in the canal. It was shame.

Steve, Jess, Naomi and Eddie arrived before 2:00, and we had a really good Sunday Carvery Lunch together at the Foxton Locks Inn before sauntering up the locks, looking at the remains of the inclined plane boat lift, enjoying the panorama from the viewing platform, and perusing the floating market before crossing the bridge and boarding Kantara for a family catch-up over tea and coffee on board Kantara.

When they left at about 6:30, it still hadn't rained!