Architectural Tour of Harborough.

 It trained from about 23:00 last night but only once through the dark hours heavily enough to wake us up. We were staying put in Market Harborough today so we were in no rush to get up. Even so we left the boat not long after our 'normal' time and headed down to town. We went down the back way to cut off the corner and as it is down terraced street sit is a little nicer than down the main road too.

The High Street has many nice buildings and the first we saw today was this galleried building. It is now just one of the many buildings in this area of the town that have been taken over by the Brook House College.

This building is the Manor House and takes its name from the when the steward of the Manor came to live here in 1772. It was later the premises of Richards and Son who were bespoke tailors for suits and clothes primarily for equestrian sports.

I love a 'ghost sign' but this one is still on the 'right' premises.

As can be seen the front of the building is pretty special too.

This property has a special mention as at Catherwood House was the pharmacist William Bragg in 1876. His nephew and son William Henry and William Laurence were jointly awarded the Nobel prize in 1915 for work on X-Ray crystallography.

Hands up who remembers Freeman Hardy and Willis.

We then spent more than an hour at the Symington Building Museum. There was a large display of the very important Hallaton Hoard. It has an unprecedented collection of Anglo Saxon coins and Roman Treasurers. It was some sort of a ritual site as there were many pig bones and trinket burials and and extremely rare Roman helmet as well as two guard dogs buried to protect the entrance. The Symington Factory was to make corsets and was where the liberty bodice for children was invented and produced. Other family members had a grocer's shop in the town and went to invent and produce Symington's soup powders and 'table cream'. They also perfected the method of making pea flour and won large contracts with the Army and made a fortune. My Mum always preferred Symington's soup powders to any other. The rest of the museum was a bit jumbled with everything on display with no real them, but lots of in formation.

This is the Harborough Theatre but it was originally the bike sheds for the Symington factory opposite!

This was the Symington factory club room. Just next door was a plaque where Thomas Cook lived in the 1830's. The pioneer of the Travel Agent.

We had a spot of lunch and then called into St. Dionysius Church. He was converted to Christianity in the 1st Century AD and was the first Bishop of Athens. It was originally not the parish church but just a church for pilgrims and so does not, and never has had, a graveyard. This Royal Coat of arms in the church is specially important as The Battle of Naseby was fought close by and this led to the downfall of King Charles I who had spent the night before in the town. 1660 was the arms for Charles II.

These are the gates to the Memorial Park that was opened in 1954 to remember the dead of WWII. You can see the names of those who were killed on the pillars. The gates themselves were salvaged from Gopsall Hall that was demolished in 1951. There were some nice stalls in the indoor market, but only a few food stalls. We bought a meat pie!

In the foreground is the Old Grammar School that was built in 1614 by local boy made good after heading to London to make his fortune. Robert Smyth paid for the building to educate 12 local christian boys. Below was the butter market. In the background is the roof tower of the Symington corset factory.

After lunch the rain had largely faded away, but there was only very sporadic sun, so this sundial on St. Dionysuis' was very accurate!

This building was built in the early 1800's and has been a solicitors office since the 1930's. I love the front bays as they look like crowns. Not sure who the people are but they look somewhat out of place.

This is the old Town Hall built in 1788.

At the top of the High Street is the Congregational Church that looks very classy with its classic columns and was built in 1844.

We did a bit of shopping and then waited until the Beershop opened at 5 before heading for refreshments. They have 16 beers and ciders on tap. There was one that I liked the look of until I saw it was 12% proof and £15 a pint. I did without a taste of that one. We then went to Pizza Express for our tea before walking back to the boat having completed around 61/2 miles around the town

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Floating Down Foxton and Holed up in Harborough.

Once again a lovely quiet night and up, at the normal time, doing normal preparations before leaving at the normal time

Very quickly we were at Welford Junction and headed left, port, to Foxton.

I do hope this tree stays rooted until we are passed and heading back to Crick. It looks like it would cause a fair bit of a delay once it came down as the off side won't be too easy to get to.

We haven't been so many tunnels in a trip for ages. Husbands Bosworth was dry, save a couple of drips, and once again, like Crick Tunnel we were 'Billy No Mates'. The tunnel marks the boundary between the Avon to the south and the Soar to the north. It was opened in 1813 so the dates above the north portal above must be the dates of major restorations.

There were spots on the canal that looked at first as if they were iced over, but obviously it wasn't, it was just the amount of blossom from the May/Hawthorn in the water.

At the Laughton Hills these cattle were all facing the same way. I believe that sheep do this, on a hill, too. The reason is, experts say, is that they all stick together to reduce the threat from predators. They also say that facing the same way reduces face to face conflict between the herd members. It seems to me more logical to every member of the herd to look outwards and they would then see oncoming threats. I will monitor this as we go along, if I remember?

There were a couple of boats waiting at the top of Foxton Locks, but we were able to tag on to the water point and by the time Helen had goner and checked us in and bought us an ice cream we were heading down the 10 locks in two pairs of 5 staircase locks.

Helen, still eating her ice cream, was  getting reacquainted with the 'red before white' rhyme as these locks have side pounds that save half a lock full of water each time.

The locks were replaced with an inclined plane that opened in 1900. They were never really economic as the railways had captured much of the trade that would have used them. They were closed at night so upsetting the fly boats schedule and making them use the old locks anyway. The last use of the inclined plane was in 1910.

It is interesting to see that the upper staircase of five locks all have a stamped brick with the date of 1909, a year before the plane closed, meaning they were getting ready for the closure well before. I do love a date stamped brick.

Looking up after the first staircase  you can clearly see the fall of the ridge. The locks take you down 75 ft, but it seems more.

The bottom staircase all have a stone insert of 1930 indicating when they were refurbished.

we got to the bottom in around an hour and turned right down the Harborough Arm. Helen managed the manual bridge by the pub, but was stymied by the one by the village. It is manual with a key operation to open the gates etc. She couldn't get it moving. I jumped off to help her get it started but by the time I got back to the boat to drive through it had stopped. I thought there was just enough space for me to get through. But a white van with burly scaffolders pulled up, with no shirts on, and came to Helen's assistance, and we were through. At Gallows Hill Bridge is the rendering works that appears to be closed now. It was started by a Market Harborough tallow chandler to render carcasses to make manure and tallow.  They went bust in 1872 and Symington's a grocer from Market Harborough bought them. You may remember Symington's soup powders etc. They had the business until 1909 when Charles Massey bought them to compliment several other plants they owned. In 1920 it became part of a seven company business called British Glues and Chemicals. By 2003 it belonged to J. G. Pears and when we came passed it was till working and stank! That is the reason it is in the middle of nowhere. There was a fire in 2010, but I'm not sure if or when it closed.

The flag iris is coming out. It is nice to see as they flowers don't seem to last that long.

We went up to the basin and there were no mooring on the 'official' place so we winded and headed back out. We found a bank mooring a little way out of town, with more sun. Annoyingly a little late two boats headed outwards. Mind you I think our spot is nicer anyway. The towpath has been upgraded so it isn't a bad spot at all. And by cutting the through the houses I think it may be actually quicker to walk into town too.

On Abbey Street is the nOld district Council fire station built in 1903, with additions in 1912 and 1920. A really lovely building and saved so well, despite it being a Chinese restaurant now.

On the other side of Abbey Street is the Market Harborough Ambulance Station. I love the tile work and the design is called Queen Anne Revival. It was erected in 1924. I heard recently that it was only in 1974 that the ambulance service came under the control of central government!

We walked into town and had a couple of pints at the Beerhouse micro pub. They do plenty of cider too. I liked the look of a tiramisu stout but looked and saw the is was 12.5% and cost £15 a pint. I set my sights a little lower, but may go back and have a 1/3rd pint tomorrow. We then went for our tea on the way back at the Sugar Loaf, a Weatherspoon's on the main road. It hit the spot just right.

 

A Wait at Watford.

 Once again a lovely evening and we were off again at our normal time, heading for Norton Junction.

The weather was once again smashing and the countryside was at its best with everything spick and span in the sun.

The turn at the junction on to the Leicester Line was accomplished whilst admiring the lovely house on the corner that was once the home of Commander Fielding of the Salvation Army and was more recently a holiday home, but now seems to be lived in full time. As we approached the West Coast Mainline tracks before the Watford locks you can see the bridge is quite ornate, on both sides. The strange thing is that the tracks cross at quite and angle so there was no need for this facade at all. They wouldn't waste the money today.

this field of buttercups looked very summery and bright.

We arrived at the foot of Watford Locks with two ahead of us. Helen checked us in at 1045. We must have just missed the up-bound pod of boats as we were instructed to just go up the first lock and moor up. We had long enough waiting for the two boats ahead of us to be able to fill up with pot. water before doing as instructed. The sign on the bridge says it was built in 1902, and the little one below points out that it was rebuilt in 1976!

It was too hot for Macy cat out at the back but I thought she would like some fresh air as we waited. Poor thing, she is deaf and blind so it all must be confusing. Mind you she has been a boat cat for 11 of her 17 years, and seems to like being on the boat.

After six boats passed down we were then on the way.

We were soon at the top with Helen getting things in the right order. We used to come up and down these on our own, but now they seems to lock them at night. We cleared the top lock about 1235, so not too bad I suppose. We had a brew and biscuit too.

It was getting pretty warm and although some of those heading down Watford Locks had jerkins and jumpers on I went to my shorts for the first time this year. There are bound to be repercussions as it isn't even June yet! These sheep couldn't take their jumpers off so headed for the shade. 

There was a bit of mist at the southern end of Crick Tunnel but it soon cleared and we had a clear run through so was able to avoid the worst of the water. We didn't encounter the Tunnel Boggart either, kit Crewbucket. She is supposed to have a shriek that can drive you mad, but if she likes you she will cook you breakfast! Was that bacon I could smell? No it was Helen with a mug of tea and a biscuit.

Crick Wharf Marina was where we bought 'Holderness' from, from new. Our first trip was to take it back to the builders at Debdale to have some alterations as part of the deal. Surely Crick Wharf must be a viable concern for somebody as it is virtually a courtyard area, with canal frontage and some car parking. It is all languishing at the moment sand old buildings soon deteriorate when left.

As we passed the Crick Marina who should pop out ahead of us but 'Cleddau' and headed off ahead of us.

This is the scene when I rescued a sheep that was stuck in the ice on the off side. It was when we had come looking at boats, and what became our 'Holderness' was the first we looked at. We had gone for a walk down the towpath and came across the dumb animal stuck in the ice. Mind you it was a year later that we bought the boat, at a reduced price, and with some adaptations made for us. A great deal.

The May is looking great in the sun and is very fulsome. The vast majority is white with the rare pinkish hue. The 'experts' don't seem to be able to settle on one reason for this but put it out down to lack of water stress, or disease, or whether it has been fertilised etc. Do you think it is just that the 'odd'

ones just want to strand out?

 

Helen and I were just talking about getting bridge reflection pictures from the stern of the boat as they had to be on a bend so that you could avoid getting the boat in the picture and then this crops up round the corner.

The 'Cleddau' crew were mooring up as we passed and said that they read this blog. I forgot to say that I also read theirs, but we were then in a top trumps of having only passed 5 boat in Braunston Tunnel when they had passed NINE.

This is the first field of rape I have seen that is in flower and is not just a patchwork due to the flooding of fields. I suppose where we live it is flat and we have fields that have been inundated for week upon week.

We got to Bridge 41, nearly 18:00 so found a nice bit of a mooring an pulled up before the dog pound that I assume will be at the moorings at Welford Junction. The lace mantle ahead is cow parsley, not pig nut, chervil and any of the several look a likes. I went and checked!

Not bad, Braunston.

 It has been another grand day, preceded by a beautiful sleep. It was so quiet and peaceful, and I had been a bit busy that I slept through despite saying I would check on the Northern Lights when I got up for the usuals, But as I didn't get up we didn't see them. We will see what happens tonight.

We set off around 09:30 and were soon passing Dunchurch Pools Marina and their service quay appeared to be busy.

There was a field of young calves looking so very cuter, and their mum's looking anxious. I think they are Red Angus cattle, but I may be wrong.

The berth outside Midland Chandlers at the junction was vacant so we pulled in and went along to buy some stuff before continuing up towards the locks. We stopped to top up with water as somebody was winding in  front of us. The pressure is so bad that it really wasn't worth it, other than we had a nice long chat with a guy and we were waiting for somebody to share the locks with. Everybody was winding or mooring, so eventually we gave it up as a bad job and headed to the locks. There were one or two mooring on the towpath down by the Boathouse pub, but  all the way up past the marina was full at lunchtime.

I don't remember getting such a good view of the pumping station before. I wonder if they have cleared so vegetation, or maybe we were just coming in the opposite direction! I love that they pot the date and company on it 'GUC 1897'.

There was a boat coming down so we had a bit more of a wait but still no company. The old chandlers is now a art supplies shop.

This little cottage, The Crooked Cottage, always reminds me of the third little pig that built his house of brick.

There was more waiting for boats coming down and then we spied a boat coming up astern of us. After a delay once again for down boats we entered the lock to wait for him. Unbeknown to us he was waiting for another who was going to join him, so eventually we went up on our own. The next lock gates had been left open for us but as we were rising up a couple of single handed boats just turned the lock on us. They were both elderly and not too steady on the pins so it took ages, causing a build up of up bound boats at the three locks below. If they had waited they would have had volunteer lock keepers to help them too. At the last lock we met a share boat coming down who admitted to Helen that he had read my blog, 'but not for ages!' I wasn't offended as I am always curious who reads it, and why. There are so many vloggers now, compared to bloggers, and they all seems to be trying to sell the idea that nobody has done it before. To be honest they seem to be moored up for most of the time, probably editing their footage! I forgot to mention that I took this photo as I don't remember seeing the iron work at the gate hinge being dated so recently before. I'm sure it has a proper name but I can't find a diagram with all the ground work bits and pieces on it.

Then there is Braunston Tunnel. We passed 5 boats as we passed through. I am not a fan of these LED flood lights that some put on the bow as they dazzle quite easily. I even met a boat at the wiggle and we all missed each other. I can't remember meeting so many boats in any tunnel we have passed through.

The mile post still peeping out of the lush green grass and wildflowers.

We didn't get too much further as we spied a likely spot before Bridge 7 and pulled in. The chairs were out for the first time this year I think and Helen caught up with a glass of wine whilst I did a bit of splicing. On the way up the locks I had noticed that the centre line 'snotter' was ready to part. We have a bit of sacrificial rope that has an eye on each end, one to hook over the cleat on the roof and one to loop the long centre line through. We called this a snotter when at sea, but I expect there are many names for it. It is just long enough to go from the centre of the boat to outside of the lead on the roof top edge. This means that this short length gets the wear and tear rather than the expensive long mooring rope. Mind you we have had the same ropes for 12 years and they are getting a bit 'thin' now. I made up two, one for each side whilst I was at it.

Before finishing I sanded and repainted another undercoat around the morse control, and cleaned and prepared the chimney area before giving it two coats of undercoat. The I got to sit down and actually had my shirt off too. Not too many folk about to startle though. With a nice glass of beer it was a lovely end to a nice day. We did really need to crack on a bit, but what the hell.