We walked into Fleckney yesterday and on the way back bumped into Karen and Jim who we had left in Leicester. They had caught us up as they had got lucky with sharing the locks with a large crew so they stuck with them and and did our two day journey in one. Why don't we get lucky like that?
A well known bloggers boat that is now out on it's own now that Ray and Diane have returned to Australia was moored up and looking in a fair condition.
We said our good byes to them as we passed at about 0930 and just round the corner was the Saddington Tunnel. It was opened in 1797 and is about 880 yards long. It was very dry today and we didn't see any bats, or the headless ghost of a girl called Anna!
The other side of the tunnel is a small aqueduct over the Langton Brook. In this region there was a breach in the canal in 1917. This maybe why the area has concrete edges. Just a little further on is the feeder from the Saddington Reservoir. It is the second oldest reservoir in the county and is a SSSI especially for beetles and dragonflies.
There are plenty of fields with medieval ridge and furrow evident. This was caused by the non reversible ploughs they used at the time. The would plough up one side of the strip and then have to turn the plough at the end and come back down the other side of the strip. They were strips so that they didn't have to drag the plough far. The action of the plough over time pushed each furrow up to form the rise. Over time this created different habitats for crops. Drier conditions on the top of the ridge and wetter in the bottom.
It was eerily quiet of boats at the foot of Foxton Locks. The number of gongoozlers seemed to be crowing though.
The bridges in the area are quite distinctive with a tall arch and low parapet.
The trees and bushes are really getting their leaves now and the greens are beautifully vivid as we passed along the cut towards Market Harborough.
At bridge 10 you pass Great Bowden Hall that was built in the early to mid 1800's. The more imposing side of it is facing the road, not the canal. It was converted into apartments etc in 1998.
The arm is quiet, when the day points have passed, but has some sharp bends and blind bridge holes. It makes it an interesting trip.
We got to the end of the arm, Union Wharf, and winded before finding a spot to moor for the day.
A well known bloggers boat that is now out on it's own now that Ray and Diane have returned to Australia was moored up and looking in a fair condition.
2 comments:
The big question is, are you going to be able to keep up the alliterative titles all summer?!
I think they call it making a rod for my own back Adam! Still, it helps to keep the grey matter from liquefying. We are heading home again soon so will have a period off again. Hope to see you this year sometime.
Cheers for now, Tony and Helen.
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