Foxton

It was time to move again today so after filling up with water, which took ages as the water pressure was very low, we set off back up the Market Harborough arm and moored at the bottom of Foxton Locks.

These are a pair of staircase locks with 5 locks in each staircase and because there is no real passing place, other than in the small pound in the middle, you have to notify the lock keeper when you arrive. We only had a short 30 minute wait and then followed a hire boat up the locks. It was a bit of a weird feeling being back in narrow locks after having been in wide ones for so long andChico was a bit scared at first but soon settled, Charlie just accepted it all and enjoyed being made a fuss of by the people watching.

Because I don’t like heights I steered the boat through the locks and Roger did the work. Last time we came up these locks I started off doing the work but we had to swap after the first lock as my bottle went when I walked across the bridge over the lock. The 10 locks take you 75ft up the hill and the trip takes about 45 minutes.  They're in very good condition considering they were originally built in 1810.

half way up

view from the top lock

After all his hard work Roger fancied a pint so we walked back down the locks to The Foxton Locks Inn which wasn’t built last time we were here. We sat in the beer garden watching the boats and had a couple of pints of Old Speckled Hen.

We’re now moored just round the bend after the top lock, right opposite a statue of a boy guiding a boat pony and just past the disabled moorings with their distinctive bollards.