What a beautiful weekend, we’ve had, cruising between marinas at North Kilworth to Debdale. The guys at North Kilworth have been amazing, allowing Aaran to use the slipway to fit Lesley Ann’s new top. But now it’s time to move on to Debdale, where we can lift her out of the water for the next stage of her refit.
It’s given us a wonderful opportunity to take her out on the Leicestershire waterways again, and we’ve picked a glorious weekend to do it. I took a few snaps along the way to give you a flavour of the scenery around here… It’s simply stunning.
I still can’t believe how tranquil the waters are in this part of the world. I don’t think we passed more than half a dozen moving boats all weekend. We set off from North Kilworth feeling a bit frazzled for various reasons and within one hour we were both giggling like children and revelling in our luck to have a sneaky few hours ahead on our narrowboat.
The canal is quite narrow and wiggly to begin with, and at this time of year the reeds quite high; that makes it all the more beautiful and you really do feel transported to somewhere magical. It soon opens out anyway, with woodlands harbouring all manner of wildlife to the left and stunning scenery dropping away to the right. I’m not sure I’ll ever get tired of these views.
Foxton locks were as beautiful as ever. With the volunteers who staff the entire flight, you are never left to manage the locks alone and I always find it fascinating to talk to these guys. This time Aaran stayed aboard and I worked the locks, ending the flight with a very welcome cold drink and a view over Foxton basin.
From there it was less than half an hour to Debdale, an easy and gentle chug through open countryside, sharing the cut only with a deep blue sky umbrella, and grinning like fools at our amazing good fortune to spend a few hours on the canal this weekend.
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