Today we did 10 locks and just over 30 miles. But as the wind was so strong and because it was our Wedding Anniversary, we travelled by car and foot :-) We travelled first to Foxton locks (www.foxtonlocks.com) on the Grand Union Canal Leicester section, a flight of 10 staircase locks with fascinating side ponds to manage the water of the locks. It is the site of the old Foxton inclined plane, which for only 11 years, carried boats in a casson up the side of a hill and to the canal on the top. A trust has been set up to raise the £15m needed to restore them, but not many hold out much hope!
From there we travelled to Market Harborough for a wonderful lunch then a visit to Union Wharf, just touching the northern end of this magnificent town. It is the end of the Market Harborough arm of the Grand Union Leicester Section. http://www.waterscape.com/in-your-area/leicestershire/places-to-go/303/market-harborough-union-wharf
Welford was the final stop of the day, a tiny wharf at the end of the Welford arm of the Grand Union Leicester section, a few miles south of Market Harborough. Its buildings are the original wharf buildings when the wharf was used to offload stone from nearby quarries. http://www.waterscape.com/in-your-area/northamptonshire/places-to-go/542/welford-wharf.
So we had a lovely Anniversary. That's why the day out! 14 years ago today, who would have known we'd be living on the water...
