Market Harborough

Today's Canals - Leicester Branch, Welford Arm, Market Harborough Arm

Although starting bright, most of the day was overcast but there were some brighter moments later on and it kept dry. It was seasonably warm throughout.

As we were moored at Welford Junction, it was only a few metres before we turned of the main section of the Leicester Arm onto the short branch up to Welford. Today it principally serves as a feeder, bringing water down from the two reservoirs above the village. This assets was one of the main reasons that the company that built this canal was bought out by the Grand Junction Canal that had difficulty in keeping enough water in the pound between the Buckby and Braunston flights.

There is just one lock on the arm. Just below the lock are the remains of a former lift bridge which, we discovered later, gave access to a nearby mill, long since disappeared. As Welford was an important coaching stop (hence it once sported numerous pubs including the splendid George, now renamed The Wharf Inn.

We were surprised at meeting several boats coming down the arm first thing as there is limited mooring at the end and really nothing before then. The prime spot is right at the end in what was the loading dock for the original warehouses and which can hold two boats. One of these spaces (we took the other) was occupied by Mikron Theatre Company's boat. They are well known for being a small touring company that uses the boat to live on and as their main base. we were immediately greeted by one of the actors who pressed us to take one of their brochures - he claimed that the others were still asleep as they had had quite a party last night. Reading the brochure we discovered that the night before was the first night of their new summer season with two plays, one about fish and chips and the other about the WI.

We walked the short distance up to the village where there is a well stocked shop and we again managed to acquire their last copy of our newspaper as well as some food for tonight's meal. One of the delights of calling at many different small places is the opportunities for interesting conversations. A chance remark led to the lady on the till telling us about their relationship with the newspaper companies who tightly control how many copies they can order. It seems that they all have different rules.

We walked back to the boat through the small Pocket Park. At the start we saw that Postman Pat has now been painted - we included a photo on our last visit here in 2010.

Back down the arm and then turning right at the junction, back onto the main Leicester Branch.

We wanted to allow sufficient time to get to Market Harborough if possible. We do need to go into the town in the morning not only to re-stock the larder in advance of Alice and Jess's visit next week, but also to try and obtain a new ignition key to replace the one that broke a few days ago. It is fortunate that we have two on board.

As a result we had lunch on the go. Yesterday's blog may have implied that we finished the soup but, almost like magic, Christine produced yet another couple of portions which was supplemented by a few new ingredients!

The canal passes through no villages and so is very green.

A feature on this stretch is the Husbands Bosworth tunnel, shorter than the last couple we have been through.

We have seen a number of posts labelled Living Milestone. The information board at Welford suggests that these have been created by the local canal society by planting trees to mark the positions of the original mile markers. However, they are in quite different locations from the more recent markers!

This group of young calves looked much friskier than the older generation in the background, slowly munching their way through the grass.

We passed nb Hadar moored just above the Foxton flight and Keith and Jo were chatting to the couple on another Gift shop boat. Alas, by the time Mike walked back to say hello they had disappeared and their boat was locked up. If we remember correctly, this was very much their home territory when they were still running up and down with coal supplies.

At the top lock, Christine checked in with one of the volunteer lock keepers - we had a little wait as a boat was already in the upper part of the flight.

Once we set off, we made speedy process down the flight, completing the ten locks (two sets of five staircases) in about 50 minutes.

At the bottom of the flight we immediately turned on the Market Harborough arm.

Five years ago the road swing bridge was under repair but now it is once more operational. It is slightly unusual in that it has a pedestal control box that releases and interlocks the road barriers and the bridge lock. After that it is down to person power to open and shut the actual bridge.

A family day out at the beach!

The last part of the arm, just before reaching Union Basin, is a very sharp U-bend. A relatively modern housing development fills in the almost-island. Although the houses themselves are quite unremarkable, they all have huge gardens, all with immaculately manicured lawns.

We reached the end and turned in the basin before find a spot on the visitor moorings.

16.5 Miles - 12 Locks - 2 Swing Bridges