Foxton to Wistow

Monday 23rd February.

Foxton to Wystowe, 7.5 miles and 5 locks.

Listening to Hfm this morning, the local radio station for Market Harborough, there was a competition to guess who the mystery voice was. Both Keith and I guessed it immediately from the first clue, so Keith emailed the radio station with the answer. The presenter announced us and that we were on Hadar moored at Foxton. In fact he mentioned us twice, it would appear he was quite taken with our website. We left Foxton at 8.30am, it was cold windy with sunny spells, an ideal day for some cruising. So we continued north and then swung north west which would take us towards Leicester. We past by NB Alligator another Roger Fuller boat, it was built just before ours, there was no one home. So it was onwards past Debdale Wharf, which was all quiet as well. We then had Saddington Tunnel 880 yds long, which was completed in 1797. It is said that the tunnel is home to many bats these days. I think we will have woken them up from their slumber as we thumped on through. The landscape is raw and yet beautiful at this time of the year. We did the first of the five locks of the day. By the time we reached Pywell's Lock the 4th lock, we were greeted by plenty of water flowing over both sets of gates.

Even whilst we were going down in the lock, water was continuing to flow over the top gates. At 11.35 am we arrived at Wistow and moored just after bridge 78 near the site of the Medieval Village of Wystowe, where we could stand and marvel at the magnificent scenery around us. We had a lovely view of Wistow Church.Having eaten lunch we thought we would go and find the Wistow Model Village, which is situated in the Rural Centre. So we walked back to bridge 78, where we followed the Conservation Walks map. It took us past Wistow Church. St Wistans which has a long history, with much of the church dating back to Norman times. There are not many tombstones in the church yard and none past 1873 due to the fact that there were worries over flooding. Many of the stones there are family plots and one such family lost four of their children in the space of just a few years which is really tragic. Just a short distand up the road on the left is the Wistow Rural Centre, which has a Farm Shop for any provisions you may need. We needed a lemon for Pancake Day tomorrow. There are other small outlets and a cafe, but with the price of a cup of coffee being £2 we gave that a wide berth. To find the model village you need to walk through the garden centre. The village was built some 20 years ago and it is showing its age, with windows broken and bits falling apart. But over the years it has raised over 13,000 for a local hospice, which is remarkable. The village even has its own canal and flight of locks, they are looking very neglected and need BW to come along and replace all of the gates ha ha ha. Whilst walking around the site, I spotted this sign on one of the outlets. It made us both laugh.This person obviously is not bothered about what the woman looks like LOL. We strolled back to the boat where we enjoyed a nice cheap cup of coffee and a caramel wafer, it tasted so much nicer for not having spent £2 on it. It has been a wonderful day, but now we are both cream crackered, so will put our feet up and enjoy a nice quiet evening inside, watching TV as we have an excellent signal here.