The First of Many Wide Locks Down to the Trent.

Wednesday 3rd July 2019 at Newton Harcourt - in the Reeds.
Another lovely morning, which turned very hot mid-afternoon.

The idea today was to cruise past Foxton and continue north up the Grand Union Leicester Line.
The road swing bridge before Foxton has to be swung manually and is very, very heavy. Last time, it took both of us to move it. What a relief to see that someone was already coming through and so did the bridge for us! Hooray!

The pedestrian swing bridge at Foxton is easy - if you can just get the key to turn to unlock it. R went to the aid of another boater and it took him several minutes of fiddling to get the key to co-operate.

Rainbow Bridge, the first on this leg of the canal up to Leicester. All the bridges have charming names.

We've seen this working boat with its butty before and the crew recognised us and greeted us cheerfully as they passed.

M decided to walk to towpath, which was a joy. The reeds were often so high that the canal was out of sight and the path was grassy and inviting.

"What a way to earn ones living", said M, watching this man on his tractor surrounded by his three dogs, turning the hay on a beautiful summer day. It made a lovely scene.

Saddington Tunnel is exactly half a mile long at 880 yards. As usual, M walked over the top along an old horse path that was, for once, clearly marked. Very pretty, even if it was bisected by a busy road.

With perfect timing, M arrived at the tunnel exit just as MM emerged. To those who are worried that M is never in the photographs, you can actually see her shadow in this one!

As MM arrived, she startled a heron, which flew off down the canal, perfectly reflected in the water.

Kibworth Top Lock, the first of five today and the first of 42 down to the River Trent. All these locks are wide locks with heavy gates, but at least they are all going downhill, which is much easier than going the other way.

The locks are not very well maintained. The C&RT talk of boaters reporting leaking gates, which would mean almost constant phone calls, but the gaping hole in these gates was exceptional!

We planned to moor at Newton Harcourt, where we had moored three years ago. Unfortunately all the good mooring spots were taken but R found that behind the reeds there was still "armco" that we could moor to, even if we did end up so far from the edge that going ashore was not much of an option.

Despite the reeds, it is a lovely mooring with open meadows and grazing sheep and cows on the opposite bank. We were rewarded with a spectacular sunset.

Today: 7 miles, 5 locks and 4.7 hours.
Trip: 143 miles, 57 locks and 78.1 hours.