Friday 5th
October 2018
We were up quite early and so, after breakfast, we walked the mile
into Wistow village. This looked interesting on the map which showed it to have
a site of a medieval village, a hall and a model village. There was no sign of
a medieval village, presumably they are buried remains that had been excavated
at some point. The church was very old with a number of bricked-up Norman doors
and windows. A shame it was locked though and a sad reflection on society that
a church so remote has to be locked. It was a mystery why the church was here
at all, the only building close to it today is the hall, which stood in private
grounds. No doubt the church pre-dated the medieval village and would have
stood at its centre. We picked conkers in the grounds as we have heard that
they deter spiders. These have been the first horse chestnut trees we have seen
for a long time.
The model village was in a garden centre in a Trentham Gardens like
country collection of boutique shops. It was old but incredibly detailed. It
even had a canal running through it with broken lock gates, so it was also
realistic. A shame that none of the shops opened until 10am, we couldn’t even
get a coffee.
The walk to and from Wistow was really nice across the fields on a
public footpath, we even saw a stoat or weasel. The walk was also what we both
needed as we were both suffering bad backs today.
We left the mooring at 11am and were quickly into the five locks of
the day, all spread over ¾’s of a mile. Beside Taylor’s Turn Over Lock was a curious
collection of wigwams, old railway carriages and camping pods set in the
gardens of a large house. They looked as though they were being arranged to
host a wedding or similar. There was a lot of activity around the site.
We were very
relieved to leave Kibworth Top Lock, the last of these heavy, double locks for
a time.
The countryside and scenery over these last few days, since leaving the
outskirts of Leicester behind, has been amongst some of the best we have seen on
any canal. Flat, green fields stretching into the distance, distant villages
shown only by their church spires sticking up out of the trees and the whole
scene broken only by the occasional country lane or sighting of a railway.
We came to Saddington Tunnel. 880 yards long, it appeared to be
straight, the opening at the other end could be seen, but there were numerous
kinks within it. Beyond the tunnel the canal meandered wildly and we came
across the feeder channel from Saddington reservoir. About 5 feet wide, it is
much wider than any other feeder we have seen. It runs almost a mile from the
reservoir, and maintains the canal at the same level as the reservoir.
The feeder
channel from Saddington Reservoir
The countryside this side of the tunnel was as pleasant as the other,
but it had completely changed and was now very hilly. Strange how quickly the
change came about.
After a few long straight lengths of canal, we came upon Foxton.
Foxton is a very busy and interesting place in canal terms. There is a junction
here with a 5½-mile arm of canal running to Market Harborough, our
destination, a flight of 2 staircase locks, each of 5 locks each, and an abandoned
inclined plane. On our return from Market Harborough, we intend to spend a day
or so exploring Foxton. In the meantime, it was very busy with people and
moored boats, with a jazz band playing in the pub.
We would have liked to have stopped here, it had been a long day, but
have set our sights on Market Harborough before the forecast bad weather
tomorrow, and do intend to return and spend time here.
On the run down the arm, the skies did start to turn darker and we saw
the first moving boats of the day, both out from the hire base at Harborough. There
is a swing bridge on the arm where a busy lane in Foxton village crosses the
canal. The bridge was so stiff that Brenda could not open it. I was in the
process of tying the boat up to help when a woman stopped to assist Brenda.
This woman was a local and told us that the bridge had been getting steadily
harder to operate all year to the extent it now takes at least two people to
open it. Apparently, it has been reported a number of times but tono avail.
The arm to Harborough seemed a long way. However, it was only right at
the end we encountered moored boats, lots of them, but luckily there were a few
spaces right at the end before the basin itself. After winding, this was where
we moored.
The basin in Market Harborough is delightful. Full of private moorings
and a large hire fleet. The old wharf buildings and a mill have been converted
into apartments and a restaurant. Proper des-res but nobody would have even considered
living here 30 years ago beside a dirty canal and old canal buildings. Funny
how times and people’s perspectives change.
This arm was originally built as part of a plan to link Leicester with
Northampton but the canal company ran out of money and the build was abandoned
with only the section to Harborough completed. It was only once the Grand Union
Canal was built, that the linking section from Foxton to the Grand Union at
Napton Junction was built.
Day Total: 5 locks; 10 miles; 1 Tunnels; 0 Boat Lift; engine running
hours 5.6
Overall Total: 255 locks; 435miles; 16 tunnels; 2 Boat Lifts; engine
running hours 269.4
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