We woke on Monday Morning to a very hard frost and the temperature at minus 2 degs. We pulled pins at 08.50 and had the first problem which was trying to untie frozen mooring ropes. We headed for the water point at the top of the Foxton flight but it was frozen solid and we were told by a fellow boater that the one at the bottom never freezes ,so we put the hose away and headed to the lock. Carolyn contacted the lock keeper who booked us in and prepared the top lock for us.
A cold and frosty Inca on our mooring above Foxton locks.
With a hard frost on the top of Inca and the temperature still at minus 2 we enter the top lock.
The view from the locks is not so good today due to the early morning mist .The 10 locks drop you down 75 feet from the top to the bottom.
Carolyn just loves locking.
The flight is made up of 2 staircases with 5 locks in each staircase. This is Inca entering the pound for boats to pass between the two staircases.
At the bottom of the flight we turned right after filling with water and went through the swing bridge at Foxton and headed towards Market Harborough. After a short distance you come to another swing bridge but at this one you have to stop the traffic. Earlier we met another live aboard couple who helped Carolyn operate the bridge.
After cutting through some thin ice at the bottom of Foxton it soon cleared and we had a good cruise all the way to Market Harborough.
At the end of the canal arm you come to the basin where there are several hire boats and lots of private boats moored. We winded (Turned) and picked up a mooring just outside of the basin. With the town just 10 minutes away Carolyn was soon off for some retail therapy.
When Carolyn returned from shopping we had a walk around the basin with the late afternoon sun casting some great reflections onto the water.
A piece of canal art.
The basin seems like a good place to moor and i think you can book winter moorings here. There is a lot more room between the boats than we had when we were in Crick marina making it a lot lighter inside the boat. You never know one day we may decide to take the soft option and moor in a marina for the winter. I must admit there are times when it would be good not to have to be constantly looking at how much water you have and watching the state of the batteries all the time, and not to forget all the waste as well.
We managed to get good TV reception on our mooring but no Internet so i think we will spend the night here and then move back towards Foxton in the morning.
Happy Days
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