Up Hill and Down Dale

Unusually I am writing this posting from home as we have left Leo for a week for some medical checks and for Ian to compete in the Snowdonia Challenge, a walking event in North Wales.  So this posting brings us back up to date.

Last Wednesday (31 May) we were moored near Wistow and later in the afternoon walked across the fields to the Garden Centre which includes a model village.  We have been here before and found the model somewhat dilapidated.  It does now seem to be in better shape, but the canal in the model still needs filling with water.  However, as this shot shows, the railway in the model is running again:

We think this must be Henry from Thomas the Tank Engine, but where is his tender?













On Thursday we climbed the last five locks in the long climb from Leicester finding a Canal Boat Club boat with a family onboard to join us in the locks.

There were lots of volunteers on the locks partly because these two preserved working boats were coming down breasted together.  This is Nutfield and Raymond, the latter being the last unpowered wooden narrowboat constructed.  She was launched in 1958 so is nearly as old as we are.

This is the second of the Kibworth locks with two members of the family working ahead to get the locks set in front of us.

Above the locks lies Saddington Tunnel, the first of three on this stretch of canal.  We didn't meet any boats coming the other way but it is supposed to be wide enough to pass.  Broadbeams have to book their passage.

The yellow flag irises are now in full bloom along the canal.














We moored below Foxton Locks and walked up in the afternoon including visiting the museum there.  The admission price of the museum has been reduced by £1 this year to £3 and is probably worth it, though it is small.  It includes working models of the inclined plane that was built here in 1900 but which only operated for about 10 years.  The following day we went up the ten locks to the summit of the Leicester Branch at 412 feet above sea level.

This photo is taken looking down the remains of the inclined plane from the top.  Two caissons, each carrying two narrowboats or one broadbeam were balanced so that one went up as the other went down.

Here is the view looking down the locks from near the top.  There are two staircases each of five narrow locks with a passing place between them.  It is the narrow locks at Foxton and Watford that prevent broad boats getting between the south and the north of the country.

Here you can see Leo coming into the bottom lock at Foxton.  Helen is on the left working the paddles.  There are side pounds with a white painted and a red painted ground paddle at each lock.  The mantra is "red before white and you'll be all right, white before red and you'll wish you were dead."

Leo in this picture is at the halfway point coming out of the bottom staircase and heading for the first lock of the top staircase. One of the two volunteers who helped us up is John on the left.  We had so much help because no-one else was moving at that time.

Here is Leo nearing the top of the flight.  It is a very good viewpoint over the plain below.

From the top we carried on for miles to moor at the junction with the Welford Arm.

Wild roses are really prolific this year and we have seen lots of bushes like this one covered in flowers.

Here's the second tunnel called Husbands Bosworth after the village nearby.  No possibility of meeting a broadbeam boat here as we are between two sets of narrow locks.










As we cruised this bit of canal we passed Triskaideka with friends John and Ali onboard.  They were just out for a few days from their mooring and, having turned at Foxton, came back to moor behind us for the evening.  It was lovely to catch up with them as we enjoyed tea and cake on Leo and later drinks on Triskaideka.

Sadly the lovely summer weather seems to be breaking.  Here are John and Ian sharing a brolly.  Ali and Helen are on the well deck of Leo under cover!











On Saturday we carried on to moor close to Crick.

John had mentioned this tree to us when we were chatting.  Whether there are in fact two trees, one behind the other, we're not sure but it is still odd that there is new growth at the top of a dead bit of tree.  Very strange.

















Near Crick is a strange round hill called Crack's Hill.  Apparently this is left over moraine material from the last ice age.

So of course we had to climb up it!  Here is the view of Leo from the top.

The villagers of Crick have done splendid work planting trees.  There is a Millenium Wood and a Jubilee Wood which are going to be wonderful in years to come and are already full of wildlife and wild flowers.

And in the young woodland we found a butterfly we'd not identified before.  It is a Speckled Wood.

Crick village has some lovely old buildings made of the warm yellow sandstone common to this part of Northamptonshire.  In the church was this grave shelter which is portable and was used by the parson at burial ceremonies when it was raining.  Rather appropriate that it should now be used as an umbrella stand!















On Sunday we came through Crick Tunnel and down to the end of the Leicester Branch at Norton Junction.

Crick Tunnel is the last of the three tunnels on the Leicester Branch and be warned - it is quite wet at the northern end.

Once through the tunnel which is nearly a mile long, you come under the M1 to the top of the Watford flight of 7 locks which go down off the summit level.  Here there is a staircase of four locks and three single locks, all narrow.  This view shows Leo coming to the top of the staircase.

These and Foxton locks were the first narrow locks we have come through this year so far.  Staircase locks have very deep gates as this picture shows.

And here we are coming out of the bottom lock at Watford.  There was quite a queue of boats at the bottom, waiting to come up.  Like Foxton there is a lock keeper here and you must find him to book in when you arrive.  We had to wait about an hour and a half for our turn but we made good use of the time to wash the boat and clean the inside.














Below the locks you can see Watford Gap services on the M1.  There used to be a gate giving access to boaters but they seem to have put in a new fence to prevent boating riff-raff getting in.  Ian had been hoping to buy a Sunday paper but no chance.  It was only a mile or so below the locks to Norton Junction.  Here the Leicester Branch meets the main line of the Grand Union.  Turn right to Braunston and Birmingham, turn left for London.  We had intended to moor on the left just before the junction but it was full of boats.  So we turned and reversed down 150 yards to moor just above Buckby Top Lock.  Fortunately it was not windy.  We had a late lunch at the New Inn there.

On Monday it was pouring with rain.  We waited until it slacked off and then cruised back up the Leicester Branch to leave Leo at a marina there.  In the afternoon we took the train back home.

When we come back next week we will be heading south towards London.  We've only cruised this part of the Grand Union once before so we are looking forward to seeing it again.