Debdale's diesel is a great price as we cruise to Saddington

Today – Foxton to Smeeton Westerby/Saddington, Grand Union Canal, 3 miles 0 locks
Yesterday – Moored Foxton

A rest day yesterday after the family had left.  There were some bits and bobs to catch up on and I needed some milk and bread.  Balmaha was also at Foxton, it was great to see Mo and Ness again, and Nessa joined me on a trip to Market Harborough on the local bus from Foxton.

Ness knew the town well, and after doing a bit of shopping we stopped by a lovely cafe for a warming mug of chocolate before coming back to the boats.  A great evening last night aboard Balmaha, and this morning we said our goodbyes…

Pins pulled then, and we headed for Debdale Marina about a mile away.  Difficult to get into the marina dog leg from a southerly direction, but I managed to easily persuade No Problem to go just inside the entrance to the diesel pump.  I had to get in there anyway as this would be the last diesel pump to fill with the red stuff before it all goes up on Saturday with higher taxation on diesel used for propulsion.

I was hoping that the price that Mo and Ness had got last week of 70p had not gone up, so imagine my surprise when “Oh it’s not 70p, it has gone down to 60p”  Hooray!!

I was pleased that this boatyard had passed their saving on to the boaters.  I feel a lot of boatyards are keeping prices high when really they should be coming down now..

This canal is so rural, well it is at the moment.  I have been along the Leicester section only a few times before, and those trips have been sort of ‘just passing through’.  This time I have the opportunity to stop a while and take a look around me.  The walks in this particular area are great.  It is so easy to follow the paths.  The waymarkers are topped in yellow and I can see them easily across the fields..

At most of the stile crossings there is a lift up panel so Lucy and Meg can get through the fence without having to spring over the top of the stiles.  I am wondering if this is just a Foxton/Debdale/Saddington thing.. remains to be seen this next month or so..

Tonight we have put the pins in close to an aqueduct.. it’s nice here…

There had been nowhere to stop really since we left Foxton, the reeds on the towpath side are really overgrown, and in most places they stretch out a good couple of feet from the towpath.  I couldn’t get round one of the corners, it was very shallow and had to reverse to stop No Problem’s bow from going into the trees on the far side.  Reversing on canals tends to make the stern move away from the towpath.. and so it did and out of the shallows enabling me to get some steering to round the bend.

We passed a wide beam boat today reminding us that although Foxton Locks are of the narrow type at 7ft, as we head towards Leicester we will now be meeting wide locks of 14ft wide.  Hopefully we will meet another boat to share them with, that will make it much easier.