Tuesday 24th June 2008
While I kept house V shot off to Market Harborough on the little bus from Foxton village and came back with stories of people she met on the way. The most interesting was a fella from Sussex who was using trains and buses to tour real ale pubs. He only had time for a quick one at Foxton locks before his next bus to Leicester and an appointment with another pub listed in his pocket guide.

Shopping stashed away we set off north and called in at Debdale Marina to top up with diesel while it was still 76p a litre. After the marina we pulled over for the night just out of earshot of the boat sheds. A splendid choice of mooring, glorious sunshine, no wind and ideal for the barbeque. We only had one complaint about the smoke, a passing marina resident, tongue in cheek I hope, likened us to those townies that spoil the countryside.

Wednesday
Stopping near the Saddington Feeder to clear the prop we saw the first of the towpath veg cutters.
The mower struggled with the long grass and its engine died every few seconds. I felt so sorry for him that I nearly joined in with my short handled shears.

Out of the sprawling reeds and through the tunnel we descended Kibworth’s flight of locks and were greeted by friendly horses keeping the grass short around the lock. Now there’s an idea.

Mindful of how busy Wistow was a few days ago we chose a quiet spot in the reeds below Crane’s lock. Hacking back the jungle so we could get ashore drew various comments from other boaters along the lines of “Don’t think much of your garden”.

And I don’t think we’ll stop here again, the TV froze every time a train went past, with 4 lines carrying passengers and freight that’s an average of every 7 minutes.

Thursday
Today we’ve set our sights on Kilby Bridge before it rains but first we have to get afloat.

Water levels have dropped 4” this morning and that takes some doing on a 2 mile pound. It took some pushing to get us off the mud and back into deep water again.

20 minutes later we came across an unusual sight. We met a work boat using its hydraulic arm and bucket to haul itself along. The cab on a push tug at the rear was empty and its engine silent so the gang were making their way along the canal in a rather unorthodox way. But in the process they were turning an otherwise clean waterway into a filthy black stew of mud, leaves and branches from the canal bed.

At the next lock (Newton Top) we arrived to find two boats stuck at the bottom. The lower gates wouldn’t close, something was stopping the gates closing on the cill and a gap the size of your fist was draining the water as fast as it poured in through the top paddles.

But a few hours wait for one boater becomes an opportunity for another and we were soon roped in to help solve the problem. Using our boat plank as a plug over the hole the waters quickly rose and lifted the two boats to freedom. Them out, we entered alongside Ragged Roy and reversed the process, collecting our plank as it popped out when the lock emptied.

We tried to report the problem by phone all the way to Kilby Bridge without success and it was only when I passed the news in person at the BW yard that I felt sure that something would be done.

Looking back at events we linked the workboat with the low water level and the lock problem and realised what may have happened. Using the front hydraulic grab to pull themselves into the lock they must have pulled muck against the cill which stopped the gates closing. Trying to fill the lock with a hole at one end had drained 4” off the pound above. If we had all attempted to pass through in this way then the canal above would have been un-navigable within hours, a disaster for hire boats and visitors doing the Leicester Ring at the start of the dry season.

What would have happened if we hadn’t got a local BW gang to call on to put things right? How far would the contractors have travelled without realising the devastation left behind them? How many locks would they have disabled before they realised what they were doing?
Why was word of mouth faster than the phone call? The answer to that is the person concerned was already too busy and not contactable because of poor phone signal.
Ooooh I feel a rant coming on.

Apart from the phone frustrations of that little episode we cruised happily enough with Ragged Roy and finished the day at Kilby Bridge.

Don’t know what it must have looked like to other boaters and the crowd sat outside the Navigation pub but we had to tow a boat backwards off the water point before we could fill our tank.
A new boater had overshot the winding point and was sitting at the taps wondering how to reverse back between moored boats on a windy day.

He’d already tried turning his boat but discovered the canal wasn’t as wide as it looked so when I offered to tow him back the way he came he accepted with some relief.

And just as predicted the day ended in rain.

Friday 27th June 2008
The fly season is coming to an end just as we’ve bought some of those fly killer sunflower stickers for the windows.
But it’s not all joy because the spider season has just started. Lying in bed, watching tele, standing in the shower, they drop on silver strands and run down your body. Fortunately they’re only tiddlers compared with the ones that live in the bow lockers but if I can keep those flies at bay then the spider season should be short.

Today we’ve a rush to get the washing done, dried and ironed, stuff shoved into drawers and cupboards and the boat cleaned up before the kids arrive and mess the place up again.

It will be lovely to see them again, catch up on news, share the bathroom sink with her make-up bags and find out what new gadgets he’s bought. Oh, and opening pressies if I’ve been a good boy.

Monday 16th to Monday 23rd June 2008

Monday 16th
We waited until after the early morning rush at Kilby Bridge before setting off to Wistow. KB is a transit point for boats, they’ve either just been through Leicester and need a rest to calm the nerves and cool red-hot engines or they’re building up steam to make that mad dash across the city and out into the countryside again.

By 10 o’clock the place was empty and we pottered off to our first lock. One could be excused for thinking the canal had been rented out to farmers, the animals were certainly enjoying the lush tall grass along the towpath. We nearly didn’t see this one (No.100657) grazing behind the giant cow parsley.

Planning our cruise to the last detail we (V) reckoned we should meet boats coming our way from the Foxton Festival which means all the locks will be set for us. And to prove the theory we’d only gone through a few before we met Beryl (RBOA) returning to Mount Sorrel on nb.Wasp.

Passing greetings, as you do in the few seconds you get as boats pass, we were encouraged to hear that more boats were on their way which meant even easier lock transits.
As it happened they didn’t show up until we reached Wistow where we found them parked in our layby, dooohhh.

We found the place so crowded that we couldn’t squeeze in so we wandered off round the corner and spent a week in the reeds. Lovely for scenery but lousy for hayfever.

Tuesday
Today we discovered a new game - guessing which way the next boat is going. A serious starboard list gave us the clues. If the cupboard doors open on their own then a boat is coming up the flight behind us, if we find we can walk along the boat without scraping a shoulder along the walls then a boat is coming the other way, down the flight, pushing a lock full of water before it.
One minute we were stuck on the mud and leaning into the canal, the next we were afloat and being washed up and down the reed bed, dragged along by boats in a hurry. Jolly good fun.

V took off during one of our level periods to explore and came back with the news that Wistow Rural Centre isn’t just a café with assorted gift shops. On Tuesdays and Sundays a farm shop opens up selling fruit, veg’, dairy products, and best of all, meat from that well known butchers in South Kilworth.

It hasn’t been the nicest of days and even when the rain stopped it still felt cold. It might be the middle of June but we’ve not finished with the fire yet.

The rest of the week was taken up with projects, mostly electronics but a couple of days were given over to sanding the floor and re-varnishing. While V went to Bristol to see mother, I scratched a layer of wood off the floor and deposited it evenly around the boat. No matter how well you think you’ve cleaned up someone always has to rub a finger over something and discover another shelf covered in dust.

Saturday was mostly a wet day and after five hours I took to fanning the floor with a sheet of cardboard to get it to dry. Having stacked the arm chairs on the dinette there was no where to sit so I had to eat and sleep standing up until it was time to go to bed.

Sunday was a warm windy day, perfect for painting and the varnish dried as it hit the floor so I slapped on a second coat before V returned. But why is it that brush hairs always get noticed after the varnish has set hard? Apart from the wicked whiskers which invite naughty fingernails I was quite pleased with the new shiny floor. Now all that remains is to do the remaining dull bits between the shiny bits.

Monday
Yes it’s Monday again, a moving day and a laundry day of course. Foxton beckons with its water taps and rubbish skips.
Met Neptune just after a narrow stretch on a blind bend. They’re exploring the odd bits at the end of canals before they go back to wide-beam territory in Lincolnshire.

A lady on the following narrowboat made us laugh when said she thought they were crazy trying to get up Foxton Locks in a huge boat like that. Hmmm, don’t think so, Neptune’s owners know what they’re doing, you don’t cruise around in a boat like that without a lot of careful planning.

One of us has a "special" day next week so the Blog might be a little delayed, more than usual is what I mean.

I'm well excited.

Tuesday 10th to Sunday 15th June 2008
This week has been a quiet one for us. The dentist was the only worrying excitement and that, thankfully, passed without incident.

Visitors, we’ve had a few. Paul and Dawn and Graham and Sue called in to see us. Paul has a way with jokes and Graham has that rare capacity for a permanent smile and always seeing the funny side of things. I had to lean on V for humour because the hayfever pills this year seem to have gone straight to my brain and I’ve not felt quite right since dosing up against the pollen. To say they are character changing would be an understatement.

Flies are on the up. No idea where they come from but they appear mid afternoon and by dusk they number into the dozens. I’ve taken to spraying the bedroom before we retire in an effort to get an undisturbed night’s sleep but it means vacuuming the bed before diving in because their little carcasses drop everywhere. On the positive side, we haven’t been bitten yet and if I really put my mind to it I suppose I could tie them to a hook and line and see what they can do for me when the fish show up in the evenings.

Meanwhile I shall continue to whack them with rolled up newspapers and finish our new stained glass windows – black lines in red circles.

Having arrived at Kilby Bridge from the County Arms at Blaby we mostly shopped by car thanks to Mike and Jo. These kind peeps (like Mike and Pat) lent us a motor while they headed west. The car meant we could visit others. Imagine Claire and Ter’s faces when we turned up at their house to say we had decided to eat with them instead of making them drive all over the country to find us on some lonely, uninhabited stretch of Leicestershire ‘C’ road.
We completely ignored their cries of “Nothing in the house” because we know how house dwellers live, we know they have fridges and freezers stocked with a year’s supply of goodies that we can only dream of on our poor humble boat. We showed them no mercy and ate like kings on Wednesday.

Another Mike, a resident BW warden at Kilby Bridge, seems to be having a positive effect on the area. One ‘local’ was heard to say that he can’t argue with this one. When he tells you that your 14 days are up then it really is time to move on. Swinging the lead, like they do with the lady that calls once a month, doesn’t work with Mike.

Foxton Waterways Festival 14th and 15th June
They’ve put a lot of effort into this event. Historical snapshots of the Foxton Locks area and site interpretation boards have appeared everywhere. Even horses have joined us, though for how long I couldn’t say. Lifesize, but not made of bronze as they might first seem, they might be a temptation for anyone wanting a garden decoration.

Today it’s the turn of actors in period costume guiding visitors through the locks with their descriptions of how the canal navvies might have suffered and the subsequent life aboard working boats in the pursuit of a living carrying coal from Leicestershire’s coalfields in the north.

One chap in a torn and faded black suit and flat cap had me going for a minute when he confessed he was going to a funeral Saturday afternoon. I advised him to change his jolly red neckerchief before leaving at which he pulled out a black one and went on to say they had lost another navvy in the lock diggings this morning.

Working boats were in abundance too, a couple on the summit entertained the public who can’t resist poking their heads into engine rooms.

The big-wigs were just finishing their opening tour of the locks when we turned up and I was fortunate to capture one of them (an MEP I was told) posing for the newspapers.

Down in the basin we found more working boats and I approached the one most likely to be doing business to make a little purchase, only to be told loo-blue was off.

Moored up at the bottom of the inclined plane was a boat and butty, for all the world looking like it was ready to ascend the lift. If only it was true.

We spotted 40 visiting boats at the event but the crowds were lighter than we had expected for a Saturday lunch time. Perhaps Market Harborough’s carnival was drawing the crowds away.

We called in at MH on the way home and found the carnival in full swing. The town centre was jammed solid, all through-traffic was at a standstill as the decorated lorries processed through the town’s streets.

It’s a shame that the two events at Foxton and Harbro’ picked the same weekend in June.

Incidentally, we were asked by an ‘office blue shirt’ at Foxton’s BW stand how we regarded the Kilby Bridge depot, whether we still used the facilities and would we miss them if the place was radically altered. I think we conveyed our feelings adequately.
But what came as a shock was his belief that the depot was no longer a working BW base. A list of our observations over the past two years should have put that straight.

He seemed surprised that work boats, materials and workshop facilities based at Kilby Bridge (K.B.) were actively supplying maintenance and emergency repair teams along the Leicester Line between Kings Lock and Norton Junction (NJ). And it doesn’t stop at NJ because we’ve seen KB teams and boats working at Braunston Tunnel and much further south on the Northampton Arm.

I can understand why many boaters are worried about the future of KB. But perhaps one of his comments offers a little hope. He raised the question regarding the possibility of attracting boat related businesses to KB to make better use of the wharf and buildings.
Income from new businesses would, hopefully, stave off the axe, prolong the site’s BW presence and continue to provide a safe haven for those anxious about running the gauntlet through Leicester.

On a lighter note, this week has been an interesting one for us. The freedom of a car has meant we could visit church and shops far from the canal and apart from getting used to the traffic again we have found it liberating. There are downsides too, like the speeds other drivers go and their intolerance to our 4mph. Then there’s the tying up at the side of the road, there are so few bollards to throw a rope over that we had to use lamp posts. But worst of all is that car and bus drivers give so little consideration for the wind. They seem oblivious to the effects of wind on roundabouts and I’ve seen them coming down narrow side streets without a thought for our safety, just because the wind was in their favour.

Monday 2nd June 2008 - Bridge 60, Leicester Line.
Crick Show is out of the way and we should expect life to return to normal. And so it did, the sun came out again as the last of the shiny boats returned to their marinas and hire boats took their place.

It’s a week day and perfect for an unhurried drop down to the basin without dozens of eyeballs, cameras and questions from visitors to the Foxton Locks.
Crossing the centre pond I missed the opposite concrete walls completely and slid neatly into the lower lock without touching the sides, as lockie Bill is my witness.

Tuesday – Black Horse Bridge
Tesco dropped our groceries at the boat while I warmed the engine and recharged the batteries. The sun doesn’t reach the solar panel in the vicinity of Black Horse Bridge until later in the day so its 1/2 amp charge rate wasn’t worth the wait.

On the way out of Foxton we marvelled at FBS’s price of 81p a litre for diesel and wondered what we’d find at Debdale. Jolly good for us it’s still 72p so we filled to the neck and settled down for the evening out of range of the marina.

The weather’s not really behaving itself so we lit a fire in the evening and roasted everything at the back end of the boat.

Wednesday – Debdale to Kilby Bridge
We have a crew today, Mike and Jo Edwards, recently parted from Sarah-Kate which is somewhere up north in the paint sheds. Mike and Jo are super people, like others we’ve discovered, they can’t resist messing about on boats so we’ve grabbed their muscles to see us through the dozen locks down to Kilby Bridge.
Don’t remember what Mike is talking about here but it looks like he’s recalling his motorcycle adventures.

I said I’d mention it in case anyone is planning a tour of the world. Mike’s son and Becca are keeping a journal of their “round the world in hundreds of days” on www.getjealous.com/byronedwards. Go and have a look, it’s definitely not your everyday tour guide package.

As it happens we caught up with Alegacie at Kibworth and made use of John’s windlass arm too as Eileen steered the boat and answered my questions in the locks.

Thursday – Kilby Bridge to Leicester
A quiet run through the southern city limits ended in safe arrival at Mile Straight in Leicester. There we were greeted by Lily Pad (Ian and Carol), Kayos (Mark) and a little later - Tezzer and Claire.

Friday
Shuffling about as other boats arrived, we jockeyed for position next to the park and the centre of the festival’s outdoor activities. Well positioned next to Lilly Pad we were away from the tow path and being 12 feet shorter than her we were almost hidden from view.

But it wasn’t to stay quiet for long, rowers thrashed back and forth on one side while ITV Central took up position on the tow path filming the festival introduction and starring Ian and Carol on Lily Pad.

Saturday – The Leicester Riverside Festival
Today it threatened rain, drizzled a bit and then brightened up. Councillor Andy Connelly arrived by launch and opened the event at noon. The public then dribbled in and wandered about and the music from the stage in the Plaza made sure the student accommodation was blitzed with a taste of their own medicine.

With apologies for the grey look (it was an umbrella up and down day) the following pictures will give an indication of what has to be the biggest and best Leicester Waterside Festival to date.

Vikings fought in the park. Falconry demonstrations might have happened (we missed all but the sitting on perches bit), faces got painted and shoes got shone – someone not that far from me and who never cleans her shoes actually sat and watched while a male of the same species talked her through the process. Look and learn, said I, but she refused to take any interest and sat gazing up into the sky.

A DIY BBQ with the IWA ended the day but not before we’d finished a bottle of red on Lorimar where we found Mark doing his best to relax at the same time as stopping the dogs wandering off.

Sunday
It was lovely to see Keith and Janet (ex Mr Toad) and Tony and Julie from Kings Lock Tea Rooms yesterday and today it was nice to offer a wet and nibble to John and Dave (ex IWA vice chairmen). We also got a smile from the Lord Mayor (Mrs Lord Mayor, councillor Manjula Sood), and a wave from councillor Andy Brooks who spotted us from the crowd.

The boat parade was themed “Leicester” and we didn’t enter. The only decorations we carry that would suit the theme was a couple of pairs of socks.
Congratulations to Reflections, Forever Young (pictured with Matt) and LillyPad.

Sunday saw the sun appear with a vengeance and all those that hadn’t already gone a brown colour (.....) promptly turned pink.
Boats cruised, dragons raced on the water, kids did battle in canoes and on rafts and the whole place jumped to non stop music from the Plaza.

To say it was heaving was not an exaggeration. The beer tent ran out of it, the pubs around did a roaring trade and yet the atmosphere was perfectly family orientated with not one sign of bother, even Mrs Mayor said “It was brilliant”.

But all good things come to an end and after ten minutes of The Lancaster Boys Choir, on the stroke of 4 o’clock we slipped our moorings under the cover of smoke from barbeque stalls.

Finally reaching the County Arms or what’s left of it, we pushed our way into the undergrowth we now call canal bank. There are signs of veg’ cutting around the locks in these here parts but the contractor’s mowers haven’t been seen since they went out in the middle of winter. But it looks alright, if it saves money then I’m happy to cut my bit of giant hogweed when I tie-up. Can’t say I like the flowering grasses that spit pollen when I try to find the metal piling but if these are conscious cuts to help the money go round then I’m not going to object.

Monday 9th June 2008 – County Arms, Blaby.
Well what a lovely day, in fact what a lovely couple of days this has been. Saturday was somewhat dismal until late afternoon when it became dry and warm enough to sit out with the barbie in the evening but Sunday was a scorcher. On Sunday the place was heaving so it was a case of tow path dodging, park avoidance and wiping icecream off shirt sleeves.

Today is quiet if you can call builders hammering roof trusses, blood wagons screaming down Lutterworth Road and work boats on the move - quiet.

The dentists went well, nothing extracted apart from £32.40 for 10 minutes work.

There’s only one ‘necessary’ worse than a dentist’s check-up and that’s a dispensing chemist’s rip-off for hayfever medication. One is satisfied, for six months, while the other will probably continue drilling into my wallet for another couple of months.

Wednesday 28th May 2008
We’ll wait another day or two to give the Crick Show boats chance to get away. Shiny boats are still nose to tail between 7 in the morning and 5 at night. And there are a couple of local boats that are taking the Mick by joining in the crush and cruising between winding holes. We see them every couple of hours, first one way then the other. What’s that all about?

Our moorhens are now allowed out onto the water. Mum squawks for scraps from the galley window and fights the ducks to ensure her chicks get fed first. We’ve counted eight little red faced bald heads balancing on the reeds, looking a bit like wombles in the tall grass.

Some sad news came in this morning, a passing boater walked down the line telling everyone his mate’s car was pinched from bridge 20 last night. Maybe it’s not the idyllic place we’d been led to believe.

Thursday
A rare sunny day so we took the bus to Rugby. Tried to buy a “special” return for £3 but the driver wouldn’t have it, something about this service not being subsidised by the council. He issued standard returns instead for £2.70 saving us 30p each. Always listen to your friendly bus driver he said as we left. I wouldn’t call his driving friendly, way over 4mph I’d say.

The farmer's market in Rugby helped lift the weight from my wallet but we couldn’t spend anything on the two museums, both were free and we learnt loads about the Romans, local businesses and life in Rugby in the 1950s. Displays featured household effects from yesteryear, most of which we are either still using or are freshly lodged in my memory.

Searched for the Rugby Museum until we found it was a little shop opposite the school.
Entrance is through Webb Ellis’ shop next door and inside we discovered a little Alladin’s cave full of rugby football memorabilia.

Next to Webb Ellis we stumbled on Mo’s Fabrics, nothing to do with me I can assure you.

Back at the boat we met the proud new owners of nb.Nodoka, reg: 516632, a Blue Fish boat on its maiden voyage. Just out of Crick Show she looked pristine, as well it should, and brought back memories of Balmaha’s first cruise as we thrashed our way from Hanbury Wharf to Leicester one freezing cold week in January 2006.

Friday 30th
It’s a big day for No.1 son. Happy Birthday David. Try and get out of bed for some of it or it will be gone before you know it. Could it really be so many years ago that your arrival made me burn the beans? And did you really arrive smack on closing time so that I had to drive all the way home before celebrating your safe arrival. Just like your sister.

Time to leave Yelvertoft but first there’s a cruise south to turn around. The washing machine got a hammering, 11 days since we last ran this little water guzzler. Completely run out of clothes and had to wear some of them a second time. My rule is if it passes the sniff test then its safe for another day.

Crawling north past the woods I saw what looked like apple trees, until getting closer I realised these were oak trees with fruit the size of crab apples. Never seen oak apples this big or this plentiful. Are you sure I can’t eat them?

Eye-Spied nb.Octavia with its new paintwork (No. 516788). Fresh from the builders? I think so.

Just short of our intended stop we saw the remains of tree surgery and I just had to capture a couple of rings for the roof. You never know when a cold spell will hit and each of these little babies will feed the fire for a couple of evenings.

But oh dear what’s this? Bridge 59 has been posted with a notice telling boaters that mooring is forbidden between here and Foxton from the 1st to the 16th of June. What? We need to stop somewhere for the weekend, should we anchor in the middle of the canal?
V did a recce of the area and it seems that everywhere within walking distance of Foxton has been bagged for the Foxton Waterway Festival on the 14th and 15th. But no mooring for two weeks before the event? Even Crick’s Boat Show only bagged the moorings 4 days ahead of the event. Foxton’s festival must be a very, very special occasion.

However, we are here to stay for the weekend cos we’ve booked a Tesco drop so we can’t (shan’t) comply.

Lit a wood fire in the evening to burn BW notices for it had turned quite chilly.

Saturday 31st
The sun tried to shine first thing and in a gap between clouds we walked down to Bridge 61 for a token throat wetting. We found crowds of duck feeders, Vagabond screeching “Clear off, I want mooring space” and one little boy clutching a baby field mouse. “What should I do with it” he asked his Dad. “Just let it go” said his Dad, “put it in that lady’s pocket” said I, but you could see he wanted to take it home. It seemed happy in the palm of his hand as we all stroked it and told it how cute it was.

Spoke to a BW blue shirt walking up the towpath with notices and a staple gun so I asked “Why can’t I park my boat for a fortnight before the Festival”. “It’s changed” says he, “you can stop overnight until the 8th now. They will be pegging out the boat names and some boats might arrive early”. Yeah right, 2 weeks early?

Back at the boat I played aerials and managed a half decent conversation with Graham (G8LUV) somewhere west of Leicester. It’s early days with this transmitter and experiments are continuing in the search for an efficient aerial system that can be put together quickly and stored in a corner of the boat.

Our second BBQ of the year took place on the second warm evening of the year.

Sunday 1st June 2008
Now I’m not a Jazz enthusiast, particularly when the saxophone rips the air apart or takes the lead, but an easy-listening trad format does sit well with me and today’s little performance on nb.Puffin was very acceptable. This foursome, sorry don’t have names, played a sing-along, foot-tapping jazzy thing through Foxton’s Locks with a finale of “Down by the riverside” at Bridge 61 where they took well earned refreshments.

Graham and Sue joined us for the occasion and after sampling similar refreshment we took the inclined plane trail back to the top and rested for a while on Balmaha at her moorings beyond bridge 60.

I like it when visitors bring goody bags of stuff that we can’t get along the canal. Magazines, reference books and electronic things will always put a smile on my face. Graham is a really good egg and left me with bits and pieces that should keep me occupied for weeks. Trouble is I now have projects to last the rest of the year and am in danger of reprioritising boaty type jobs like oil changes and varnishing which won’t go down well with the ‘management’.

Next stop Leicester Riverside festivities with the help of Mike and Jo between Foxton and Kilby Bridge.

Our long term eye is still on the Fens which is why we are keeping up with Blogs by Gypsy Rover, No Problem and Moore 2 Life in case things have changed since we were last over there.