Foxton Locks and Ella and Lily.

We love Foxton Locks. They are set in beautiful countryside, they are great fun to do and you meet some really nice folks.

Meet Ella and Lily. They were at the locks on this day with brother and mum and dad.I was working the "red before white you will be alright, but white before red you will get a slap 'round the head" paddles and the girls were watching Mick sitting there waiting for me to do my bit. Anyway he said that if it was ok with mum and dad, would they like to come on the boat and come up a few locks. So they did. I think they enjoyed it, even though Finlay was ignoring them( he's shy . )

Anyway Ella and Lily, enjoy your holidays in Mablethorpe( I know I used to enjoy my hols there) and we hope the sun shines on you.

Further up the locks, I was just about to go and close one of the gates, when these two small boys raced up to the gate and looked up at me expectantly. " would you like to close the gate for me ?" Yes please " go on then". Make use of any help you get !!!!!

Near to the top was Jessica and her grandad. She had spent the last few hours opening and closing the top gate for everyone. She was really enjoying herself and was another nice little girl.

After this we moored up for the day, had an ice cream and then it chucked it down. Then the sun came out, and I looked up and there were 5 small faces peering through the window. It didn't half make me jump. " theres a lady in here" said one and they all giggled , so I retaliated with " Hey Mick theres a load of little kids out here, look", which made them giggle even more. " whats it like in there?" " its dry and warm" I replied, which made there Dads (giggle)laugh.

Cruising beneath the cows !

We did some locks with this load of blokes and they are in a band called the tequila stuntmen- and the drink is as follows : sniff the salt, drink the shot and squeeze the lemon juice in your eye.! I am told that people do DO this. Mad.

Mick got one of my "looks" on the way to Foxton. We had done some locks that were close together and I asked how far to the next one. " oh about 400 yds", says he.................. about 3/4 of a mile later I arrived sodden with rain at the next lock, and the bloke at the lock coming down said, " Oh isn't it far to the next lock, then?" and NO I didn't say " nah. its only 400 yds" but was tempted too. I couldn't call him names, as we were locking with a grandad, a nana and a grandson . But Grandad did say " Don't think much to your idea of 400 yds mate".

Another strange thing; When we go through a tunnel, inside lights have to be switched on, the headlight goes on, and then into the tunnel and it goes dark outside and ............................Finlay goes to bed ! when we emerge the other side, lights get switched off and it gets light outside and ...............................Finlay gets up. At the moment we are in an area where there are 3 longish tunnels within a coulpe of days. Heee heee. what a hoot.

Hope these cows behave themselves as we pass beneath them, if you know what I mean. !!!!

Mick and his magnetism !

Tuesday saw us making our way through the suburbs of Leic. with all double locks against us, which meant we had to empty them to get us in, and then fill them to get us out. I said to Mick, get your sea searcher magnet out and while we wait we can have a trawl about and see if we can find lost windlasses and the like. Anyway Mick said " I'll have a go here" and promptly caught himself a lock paddle. !!!!! Would it come off? Wold it heck as like. I said that I hoped no other boats turned up, espeacially hire boats, as we would look proper gits. We tried all sorts of permutations and I was saying " oh you will have to leave it then" when with a bit of teamwork, him pulling, me and the boat hook pushing, we managed to get it off ! Its now been put back in its bag, never to sea! the light of day until absolutely necessary.

Tomorrow I will tell you about The Tequila Stuntman. Anyone know what it is ????

a beautiful flutterby and a bream

Leaving Loughborough we had a good haul of ........................

FTBT + 3 = I dunno, about 29 ?. We had a nice trawl there, althoug one is not actually a tennis ball. its pink and bouncy.

The River Soar is a really pretty river and arriving at Mountsorrel Lock , we encountered a scruffy boat, no mooring ropes, as such but complete with two drunks. I didn't realise this, until they started coming into the locks with us. One of them could hardly string two words together. He whined to me that he had Athur Itis in his arm, to which I replied that I had a bad back, but was still able to work the locks. He got off with it, as a another boater arrived to help me with the locks. They then said " Are you going up to the next lock?" " NO, we are stopping for a pint" We weren't but I didn't want to do anything more with them. Drunk, doped and ,I think, daft ! well would you?

Mick did a good deed this morning and rescued a butterfly?/moth from the river and it wasn't until she opened her wings, did we realise how beautiful she was . Look at this. A peacock butterfly.

So, tomorrow - monday onto Leicster, put, put put and a curry... Is that pc???? perhaps not.

Oh, Mick caught a bream,so I had better show you a picture of that, as well. !

Wednesday pm we were moored nr Willington. Not too far from an airfield...........East Midlands International Airport.! But as it was such a nice mooring, we decided that the planes would stop about midnight until about 6am. WRONG. After midnight, they bring out the big guns. Cargo 747's. Cor, they don't half roar as they pass over the top of you. but this was our view.

I also picked the first blackberries of the season. They were a bit

maggoty, but after Mick told me that maggots can't breathe underwater, I submerged the fruit in water for a few hours, then made some little pies. They were ok, but the pips get in my teeth.

FTBT - 1 Not sure what the total is now. 26? Mick threw it to Finlay and F headed it over the side. Now you know why we have so many TB's on Trundle.

So we have had a pump out at Mercia Marina for £13.70. Then stopped at Kegworth last night. Nice mooring, still abit close to the airfield.

FTBT - 1 ( aGAIN !).. Finlay headed it into a load of deep brambles this time.

So before leaving F and I had a walk along the path, by the River Soar( really lovely), and a few yards up an old bloke and his dog were sitting on a bench, behind a small wall. As we got closer, I saw this black stoaty like creature " up n over" the wall. So I shouted to the old chap( he was watching me coming along). " Is your weasel tame?". "Eh ? what weasel?" " The one that just came over the wall RIGHT in front of you". Anyway he hadn't seen it and neither had his dog. Are you thinking what I am thinking? Anyway, we decided it must have been a mink, and then I got into such a long convo with him about all sorts of things, that Mick had decided to bring Trundle to me.

So we trundled off to Loughborough. A spot of stocking up is in order, as we need to find somewhere out of the way, to do some painting, thats if the weather allows.

Also the latest followers of the blog are about to descent on the uk.! Thats Chris and Bruce from Canada. Don't forget the flag, you two.

They will eventually be making there way up to Chris and Mike in Bradford, who would like to come and see us, but we seem to be getting further and further away, so will see what happens. Hope you both have a good trip over and look forward to seing you, if its possible.

We were moored last night twixt Fradley Junction & Alrewas. Very nice mooring.

Amusing boat names :- Wobbly Bob and Esio Trot ( tortoise backwards), very appropriate for a NB.

Well a sign of the times, I guess, we watched moorhens building a nest ( bit late), it started off with a bed of weed, then topped up with a Salt n Vinegar and a Cheese n Nunion crisp packet, and then another load of weed. aaah. Perhaps its good insulation? or perhaps like us they like crisp sheets at night !!!

I'll have to take Mick to specsavers. We arrived at a bridge-hole, and he signalled to the boat the other side to pass through. No responce. He signalled again. Nada. I looked through the bins and it turned out it was a stationary boat- no-one aboard. Hey ho. could happen to anyone, I suppose.

Ha.! Don't we know the holiday-bods are about. Hire boat company Canaltime a.k.a. Analtime-with 4 person crew took one look at us coming along SLOWLY and decided to panic, engaged forward gear and rammed straight into us. No damage done, except the other blokes pride. He said he was very, very embarrassed. So he should be.

But there we go, we all have to start somewhere, and looking a complete git in front of competent boaters is all part of the fun.

Said hello to Mike and Valerie on NB Dragonfly. We were rafted up with them 2 years ago, down Burwell Lode on the river Cam

Whilst at Fradley(we need a pump out !!!!), where there is water, toilets, rubbish bins etc, but NO Pump Out, we decided to top up the water as I had done a load of washing. For the non-boaters, in the side of the boat near the water line, there is a hole to let out the waste water, from showers, handbasin etc. I was just emptying washing machine, not aware that a young mallard was investigating said hole. Yup, you've guessed it. an almighty squawking and quacking and one very clean and shiny mallard. I watched him have a preen up, so he seemed ok. but'of course' he will smell of YlangYlang & Lotus flowers, now. Hope the others don't give him a hard time.

Finlay morphs into a ......

............................ Pheasant ?????

Moored up at Norbury. What a great spot, it has a BW sanitary facilites, that are the best I have seen so far. Great showers, great moorings and great Bookswap. Grindley Brook take note !

This time it came up trumps with this tame pheasant. We all watched him strutting his stuff along the tow path, peering into boat windows and when Mick took Finlay off for a walk, he investigated his food bowl. Finlays, not Micks. ! I wander if he will make it to 12th August? We were all licking our lips at the thought of him sitting in a casserole surrounded with baby shallots, mushrooms, red wine and herbs etc. MMMMMMM.

As we moored up today at Penkridge, I noticed that a boater had left a mat behind on the tow-path. It looked in a reasonable state, until I turned it over. They had used it to cover a pile of dog sh.. muck. A few buckets of canal water, fairy liquid and a scrubbing brush soon sorted that out. Its like new. and talking of canal water, Finlay is now banned from drinking it. To a dog it obviously tastes like best bitter, but no good for his tum.

Question 2.

Is this a) an exotic new breed of waterfowl?

or as Mick jas just stated " Its obvious that its a BW worker pushing a wheel barrow". Some people have no sence of humour, honestly. !