Narrowboat Tacet

Silent Movement - Our gap year travelling the inland waterways



Friday 12 July 2013

Fascinating Foxton

Arriving at the top of Foxton locks this morning and reporting to the lock keeper we realised we had a bit of a wait whilst six boats worked their way up.  That meant I had a bit of time to wander around playing experimenting with the new camera.

Foxton Locks is the largest flight of staircase locks on the English canal system with two 'staircases' of five locks, lifting the canal 75 feet.

Alongside the locks is the site of the Foxton Inclined Plane, built in 1900 as a solution to operational restrictions imposed by the lock flight.  It was not a commercial success and remained in full-time operation for only ten years, despite reducing the journey time from 70 minutes to just 12. It was dismantled in 1928, but you can still see the site of the rails which on which the boats were pulled up the hill.

Today we walked into the village of Foxton, the first time we had done so, despite coming through this way at least 5 times in the past 3 years. It doesn’t take long, it’s not big, but has a church set on the hill, a new school building, a pub and a super little shop, the Foxton Village Store set up in the Skittle Alley of the Black Horse pub. A useful shop for boaters passing through.

village (4) village (2) village (3) village (5)

Whilst playing I had a go with the panorama button and got these shots of the locks as a result.

Foxton locks (4) Foxton locks (5)

And trying out the zoom, the village in the right picture is just right of centre amongst the trees in the left one.

Incline plane (14) Incline plane (15)

And the cottage at the top of the locks, now a cafe, from standing on the brow of the hill, brought close.

Incline plane (12) Incline plane (13)

We took the 6 mile branch into Market Harborough, where we found plenty of space on the visitor moorings in a cool, shady spot.

8 miles, 10 locks

1 comment:

  1. One of the things I love most about my camera is the zoom! So much more becomes photographable! (It's a proper word now :p )

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