Foxton

A very different morning - weatherwise. It had been cloudy overnight and thus there was no frost to greet us. Noticeably less cold.

Husbands Bosworthy tunnel was the main feature along this stretch otherwise it was fairly familiar fields and low hills with plenty of accommodation bridges to pass through - and to photograph.

Swans are not common on this stretch so here is one just to prove they do exist - the mate was a short way further on.

We had about seven miles to the top of the Foxton flight - regular mile posts keep us aware of how far we have to go - and we are all too aware of how easily one can be held up for some time, even if just one boat has been let into the bottom of the flight.

We made good time and arrived just after 11 o'clock. Mike immediately set off to register with the lock keeper- it turned out that he was in his first week in the job but was well in control - should be as he is an ex-policeman (CID)! As it happened, there were two boats in the lower part of the flight with one waiting in the middle so we were in for a bit of a wait! In all it was a little under an hour before we could begin our descent.

There were lots of people out for a Sunday stroll - mostly families with young children, all eager to help with the locks! However, as soon as you get them trained they disappear and you have to start all over at the next level down!

By now it was time to moor up for lunch - a good spread using the leftover salads, bread and pizza from yesterday!

The next stretch - including Saddington Tunnel - was very slow, notoriously so! the navigable channel is much reduced as a lot of reed and other growth is allowed to survive, often on both sides by as up to a couple of metres. Some of this section is an SSSI, on account of a couple of special varieties of water weed known to have grown here. Hopefully this will not interfere with maintaining the navigation sensibly - after all, without the passage of boats the water would quickly become choked with fast growing weeds.

By mid afternoon we reached the start of the long descent to the River Trent via the River Soar. We only managed five of the locks - they are all broad locks from here onwards - before it was time to moor up for the night and begin to prepare roast vegetables!