Foxton Locks.

Hill Brook Cottage overlooks the bottom lock, bellow it is the Bridge 61 Pub and a Shop with a small Chandlery. We like walking around the locks area as there is usually plenty of activity and people to talk to.

  It is amazing how lock-wheelers quickly forget the sequence that the lock-keeper has told them to operate the paddles. Always wind up the paddle-gearing painted Red, before the White one, simples!  Also the gates should be closed before doing this, which doesn’t always happen.

The Cafe at the top of the locks sells a variety of lovely ice-cream and there always seems to be a mouth-watering smell of Bacon cooking. Freshly cooked hot snacks and drinks are readily available for boaters to enjoy while awaiting their turn in the locks.

The Icecream.

The views from the top of Foxton locks are spectacular, especially the ever changing skies.

Here is the zoomed in version of the top picture through the gap in the tree line. Rainclouds can be seen dropping their contents miles away, then the clouds move and the sun shines through again, sometimes!

Our Daughter and Grandson came to visit us for the day, luckily it was sunny, but with quite a cool breeze now and then. After chatting through coffee and having a warming lunch aboard we took him exploring down the locks. He was fascinated by the boats coming up and helped to open and close the lock gates for them. He saw a picture of an ice-lolly and asked if he could have one. We asked if he had had one before and the answer was no. So we suggested a chocolate ice-cream in a cone thinking it would be less messy. How wrong we were, Grandson only got chocolaty ice-cream chin and cheeks. However Bottle somehow managed to come off worse by getting it over his coat and trousers! We spent a really lovely day together and managed to answer all the questions we were asked by  such an inquisitive young boy!

Back to Foxton.

After being lowered back into the water from our ‘perch’ we cruised along to Foxton. There is plenty to see here as it is always busy with boats and day tripper  gongoozlers. We decided to stroll to the Top Lock Cafe for a bite to eat and drink. On the way up we helped a couple of boaters with the gates, as you do.

It was well worthwhile as I got some shots of the Swan family joining in!

Then launching themselves into the top pound, ah that's better, away from the crowds. 

Laptop lapse.

        

Sorry for the delay in our updates, but we had to find a new power supply for the computer which took a while. We pootled along to Debdale Wharf ready to have our bottom blacked. Another boat had been done, so we waited a bit before manoeuvring  into position under the gantry to be lifted from the water. The two slings were positioned underneath the hull and Mike raised it to clear the water in order to balance it. Gale had donned her wellies, hat and long waterproof apron to start the pressure washing.

Meanwhile the other boat was pulled behind the tractor on a steerable trailer to be deposited on to one of the hard standings. Many tiny Muscles had attached themselves to our hull. The pressure wash soon cleared them off and we inspected the hull all round and found it was in fairly good nick. The propeller was a bit slack though, so Steve promptly came out and fixed that for us.

Here Oakfield is now upon the yellow trestles having her bottom plate done. Bottle took the opportunity to rub down the red tunnel band and re-paint it. The cream one will have to be done later on.

The boat was then lowered down onto two piles of railway sleepers, very useful things that we have seen being used in a variety of different ways. The metal steps were wheeled in so that we could climb aboard to cook our evening meal and spend the night on board. We were hooked up to electricity and we were made very welcome during our stay here. As a thank you to the workers I got up early and baked some cakes for them to enjoy during their tea-breaks. Unfortunately they weren’t quite ready when Gordon and Gale came round to raise the boat again and we had to get off. So a bit later on saw me wobble up the ladder to tip-toe along to remove the cakes from the oven!

Boats arrived in the slipway for Diesel and Pump-outs while we were there, they are kept very busy here!

Mike and Gordon carried on with their new building where, sand blasting, boat painting, blacking and repairs can be done regardless of the weather!  Boat owners can hire a hard standing, or one of the new workshops to work on their own boats if they wish. Mike explained that boats will be transferred up here on a remote controlled trailer! We shall look forwards to seeing it in action on our next visit. Luckily it stayed bright and breezy for our bottom painting slot.   

Foxton.

We moored just above Bridge 60 where there was a gap in the hedge for good signals and sun to shine on us. Foxton Locks were pretty busy over the weekend when we walked down to the junction.

This red plaque on the wall of the Inclined Plane Museum proclaims that it and the locks are now a ‘Transport Heritage Site’. www.transportheritage.com

Saturday afternoon ‘nb Matts Dream’ was moored in by Bridge 61 selling beautifully crafted cup-cakes with tea or coffee to raise funds for the Meningitis Trust.  I bought some chocolate ones to take away and they were delicious. In the evening we had arranged to meet up with Mike and Gerry nb Tubbs for a meal in the Foxton Locks Inn. They told us that the total raised for the Meningitis Trust was £330, so well done to them. We had a lovely meal and of course plenty to talk about because we hadn’t seen them for a long time. Sunday afternoon we sat outside the Bridge 61 with a Guinness to do some gongoozling ! Monday was spent going to Market Harborough by bus for a few essentials and to take some books etc to the charity shop. We noticed that a new Waitrose was nearing completion very near to Sainsbury's adding a bit more variety.

Tuesday nb Triskeadika came to moor in front of us and John came aboard for coffee while he was waiting for Sam to come to do his oil change. We have briefly chatted to John and Ali in several places in passing, but this was the first time we had managed to moor together. In the afternoon we made our way along to the top of the locks ready to descend. There were already six boats cuing and we had to pass them to get a mooring space on the lock bollards. Of course then we were accused of cue jumping! With plenty of time to spare a snack lunch was bought from the cafe there and we helped everyone into the top lock. Well there were two boat crews who seemed unable to do anything for themselves which slowed up the whole process somewhat! Then we were told to wait in the middle pound while three boats came up past us. This turned out to be four, so it took us nearly three hours to get to the bottom. Why is it when you help others with the locks that most of them cannot manage to say ‘thank you’ I wonder ? As we were filling with water at the bottom the crew of the new Fernwood boat ‘What a Lark’ came past and stopped chatting. Needless to say we were rather tired after all this and were glad to put our feet up with a drink while our dinner was in the oven. Thank goodness it was a beautiful sunny day, although there was a fairly cool breeze too.