This morning I cut down the broken keb pole and refitted to the keb, then Jo oiled it with teak oil.
Jo painted the new fireman’s hose with 2 coats of white emulsion.
The freshly painted fireman’s hose refitted and the repaired keb back on top of the top plank.
Jo then prepared and applied the first coat of paint to the galley roof.
Keith.
Jo painted the cabin roof, from boatman’s cabin to engine room.
I made a new fireman’s hose for the cratch.
Jo did some other minor preparation and paintwork, but by lunchtime it was too hot to do any more painting. I constructed the framework for our solar panel so it can be tilted from flat for more of the early morning and evening sun, depending where we are moored.
Keith.
5.9 miles, 10 locks, 4hrs 15mins.
A cracking morning as we set of for Debdale Wharf to fill up with diesel. Once that was done we returned to Foxton locks and awaited the boats travelling down the locks, before we could set off up them.
Waiting patiently at the bottom of Foxton locks in the sunshine.
Nearing the top of the locks. We have moored at Laughton Hills where we will spend the next few days painting the boat, as the weather forecast is favourable for painting.
Keith.
Having spent a few very pleasant days in Union Wharf we set off this morning for Foxton. very sunny, and warm, such a pleasant change from a couple of weeks ago.
Oil seed rape is very prevalent in the fields at present.
The field alongside our mooring is very purple, and apparently it is Red Campion according to the book, a wild flower, but in great abundance in this field.
Keith.
This evening we went to the Hfm’s Supersoul night at the Conservative Club, and what a great night it was too, and everyone enjoyed the great sounds of the Motown era of the 60’s and 70’s
As the evening proceeded the dance floor filled to capacity.
Keith.
8.4 miles, 10 locks, 3hrs 45mins.
With the weather forecast for today being good, but with wind and rain coming in for tomorrow, we thought we would travel to Harborough today, rather than in the wet.
Foxton locks.
This new house has appeared in the village of Foxton.
We moored up on the towpath at Union Wharf to await a free spot for us to moor in the basin, when the hire boats had left, and whilst on the towpath we were visited by our old friends the resident pair of swans with their 4 offspring this year. Once our allocated mooring in the basin was vacated we moved in and moored up outside the Waterfront restaurant. We have already caught up with many old friends here, with yet more to see over the next few days.
Keith.
Today as we were sitting on the towpath enjoying the sunshine we had a Spitfire circle over us, but unfortunately it was too far away for a photo, but great to hear that Merlin engine whining away in the blue skies. We did see it dive down behind some low hills to the west of us, and we also heard jet engines from about the same place later on. Having checked on the internet this was all coming from Bruntingthorpe aerodrome, which was having one of it’s two annual open days of cold war jet aircraft, where any aircraft that are serviceable will carry out full power taxi runs along their main runway. Hence a visit and presumably a flying display by the Spitfire. Thinking about it he was probably circling over us as he had arrived too early and had to kill some time.
Keith.
5.9 miles, 1 lock, 2hrs
What a difference from yesterday, slight breeze and lots of lovely sunshine. A short journey to Laughton Hills between Bridge No.50 and No.51 where will spend the Bank Holiday weekend, hopefully in the sunshine.
Keith.
8.8 miles, 1 lock, 3hrs.
Again no 3G signal, so no map again today. A dull start which did not improve, in fact we had persistent but very light rain, with ever increasing winds which were forecasted last night. Having moored up above Welford lock the wind has increased and we are glad to be moored up and not still travelling today.
Keith
16.3 miles, 13 locks, 8hrs.
Again no 3G service so no map again. A cold morning, and sunny to start with.
Approaching Braunston and the junction.
Waiting at Braunston bottom lock, we had Steve Hudson in front of us with 2 boats he is taking to the Crick Boat Show.
Approaching Norton junction.
Queuing at Watford locks. We had snow as we were going up through the staircase locks! It was raining as we passed by the boats mooring for the Crick Boat Show.
Keith.
6.9 miles, 13 locks, 4hrs 5mins
We took a quick walk into Long Itchington to discover we have been there before, oh well good exercise anyway! We walked back and set off up Stockton locks. In the bottom lock I went down into the weed hatch to discover this little lot wrapped around the prop.
No wonder I was having trouble stopping, probably picked it up crossing the drained pound yesterday.
Stockton locks.
Approaching Napton junction.
Keith.
2.8 miles, 8 locks, 2hrs 15mins.
A short report today with no map as internet connection is poor.
The intention today was to head for Long Itchington until we arrived at Fosse top lock at 9:20am to be confronted with this:-
Fortunately Kev from C&RT was already at the lock when we arrived, and he headed up the canal to see if there was a breach. There wasn’t so he drove off to Napton to send some water down from the reservoir.
There was only these 2 boats in the pound, which is about 1 mile long, and fortunately both had settled down on the canal bottom.
Jo and I walked all the way to the next lock Wood lock.
By the time we returned to Fosse top lock two further engineers arrived to turn the back pump on to speed the process of filling the pound up.
Because the pound we were in below the lock may have dropped in level we moved Hadar into the lock so that if the level did drop she would be able to sit on more level ground. It was 2:30pm before we were able to make a bid to get through the pound which we did without any great problem. We think the problem was caused by a boater who had travelled past us late last night and had left one top gate open, and the bottom gates were leaking that much to empty the pound over night. Even Kev felt the leaking from the bottom gates was excessive and was going to get a repair pushed through ASAP. We got to Long Itchington, our intended destination, but had no time to explore, which we will now do tomorrow.
Keith.
7.5 miles, 4 locks, 3hrs 5mins.
An almost warm day despite the layer of cloud.
We stopped at Tescos (behind the bushes) at Emscott for food shopping.
We moored up at Leamington Spa briefly to pop up to the shops. We then carried on and moored up above Fosse bottom lock.
Keith.
We are enjoying a nice relaxing stay here at the Saltisford Arm.
View down the arm from the bridge over the entrance to the arm.
Marmite keeping a very close eye on the local birdlife.
Paddy couldn’t care less about the birds!
We had a visit today from our friend Tony who we last saw over 10 years ago, he is doing a sponsored walk for Cancer Research UK of the entire Grand Union Canal from London to Birmingham.
The coffee and biscuits were very much appreciated. You can sponsor him online, just click <here>. You can follow his journey on facebook. It was great to see him, and he loved seeing Hadar which he has been looking forward to seeing since we set off. We wish him a safe journey to Birmingham.
Keith.
