It was now time to navigate up Foxton Locks.
There are ten locks here consisting of two staircases of five. Staircase locks are used
when a canal needs to climb up a steep hill and each lock opens directly into the next.
Foxton locks were opened in 1814 after four years of construction. The British Civil Engineer
Benjamin Bevan was given the job of designing the locks, and he had two huge problems to
overcome.
The first was the 20 mile summit pound between Foxton and Watford had limited water supply
and the second was the 75 feet height difference between each canal.
The trip through the ten locks takes around about 45 minutes and there can be a bit of
a wait during busy times. I thought I'd have a huge delay when returning from Market
Harborough, but luckily I went straight in.
Large side ponds provide storage of water for the locks. It not only prevents wastage,
but it significantly speeds up the traffic. The water is controlled by paddles in and
out of the ponds. A past lock keeper painted the paddles either red or white and there's
an old saying "Red afore white and you'll be alright. White afore red, and you'll
wish you were dead".
If you get the sequence wrong you could not only drain the system, but flood the pub at
the bottom of the flight. Luckily it's all operated by either Canal and River Trust staff
or volunteers like Andy, who's helping me today. You must book yourself in with the
lock keeper who will record the name of your boat and the time in their book. No booking
in, means no traversing. You also need to ensure you can be through the flight before
it's closed and locked up for the night.
So I'm half way through now. There's a small pound in the middle, which is capable
of holding one boat really. And that's there for example, one boats going up and four boats
are coming down, the one boat can wait in the middle and all four can pass them. The
lock keeper, or the volunteer that's helping me get through the locks has just indicated,
don't leave this lock chamber until he's opened the gates of the next one because apparently
as there's a tiny bit of a pull on the water. So he's going to drain the next lock up,
open the gates, give me a signal and I'm going to drive straight through... hopefully.
To reduce the turbulence within each lock, once in and the gates are closed, I put Alice
into a slight reverse, keeping the stern butted up against the bottom gate. Foxton Locks are
the largest flight of staircase locks on the English canal system and the locks became
part of the European Route of Industrial Heritage in 2008.
During weekends and holidays there can be hundreds of visitors crowding around the locks
and watching. It can become a bit intimidating as people peer through your windows, into
your floating home.
Today it was quiet and I was up onto the top section of the Grand Union Canal relatively
quickly.
So I made it through Foxton Locks. Had a really good night's sleep because I was absolutely
shattered. Both from the sun yesterday and going all the way to Market Harborough. And
then this morning, I had this to wake up to.
I've left the boat in the shade today. I don't think it's going to be as hot today
but I've left Molly on board because today I'm walking down to a local village. Which
will take me about half an hour, three quarters of an hour, and then I'm catching a bus
back to Market Harborough and then another bus back to where my car is. I tried giving
up my car for a couple of weeks, to see how long I could cope without it. I didn't really
last very long so I know, deep down I do want to keep a car, regardless of all this hassle
of going back and forth to get it. Especially whilst I'm doing the fit out anyway.
I've travelled down the Leicester arm of the Grand Union to go to the Crick Show. I
moored up just north of the marina, nice and early. This gave me time inside my narrowboat
to continue with fit out jobs. If you like this episode, please do give it
a thumbs up. If you've not already subscribed, hit that subscribe button and click the bell
icon to be notified about future episodes. Until next time, see ya later.