By Nick
As the title suggests, this was the second of our dry-run walks in preparation for the real thing in April. Hopefully we'll get another couple more in before then, maybe two ten-mile walks back to back on consecutive days to see how we cope with that. This one was to see how we cope with a long walk of about16 miles: about the furthest we'll have to endure on any individual day. It's also about the longest I've ever walked in one day, although Juli has walked further when she and Marion did Offa's Dyke. (That's a long distance footpath, by the way. Honestly, some people's minds. Yes, I heard the sniggering.)
Our route for this walk took us from Sainsbury's car park, through the centre of Market Harborough to the wharf at the end of the Harborough Arm of the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union Canal. We then followed the towpath as the canal wound its way to Foxton Junction, where we turned south along the Old Union Canal as far as Welford Junction where the Welford Arm branches off. We then followed that to its end at the Wharf Inn, Welford.
The weather for the first section (to Foxton) started off a bit murky, but soon brightened up and stayed fine for the rest of the day. There was plenty to look at along the way and distract us, which may account for why I forgot to restart my route recorder app, so lost a whole loop of the canal.
Along the way, we met an American family on a narrowboat holiday as they were negotiating a swing bridge. Apparently, Harrison Ford hired a narrowboat on the Llangollen Canal a few years back which led to a huge surge of US enquires and a new boat in the area being named Calista after Mr Ford's then wife. It is not known how Ms Flockhart reacted to having her name painted onto the front of a barge.
Quite soon we reached our first waypoint, Foxton Junction at the end of the Harborough arm. By now it was a lovely day, and the area around the junction, the famous Foxton Locks and the remains of the old Inclined Plane boat lift - quite a popular tourist spot - was busy with boaters, day trippers and locals out enjoying the sun, our first for quite a while.
After a mug of hot chocolate and a comfort break, we began the second leg of our walk. This meant climbing up the hill by the side of the 10, deep locks (two staircases each of five locks - the largest flight of staircase locks on the English canal system) to the much higher level of the Old Union Canal that would take us south towards Husbands Bosworth.
This middle part of our route was a lot less interesting, visually, which perhaps didn't matter too much, as we mostly had to keep our eyes on the path ahead of us to avoid slipping over in the mud, or worse, slipping sideways into the canal. Eventually, we made it to the entrance to the Bosworth Tunnel were we decided to stop for lunch: waypoint number two.
There is no towpath through the tunnel. Instead, walkers (and, originally, the horses that were used to tow barges) must take a footpath over the top of the hill through which the tunnel passes. Rejoining the canal on the other side of the tunnel, the towpath continues much the same as before the tunnel: muddy and dull. We kept ourselves distracted by playing games of I Spy and Who Am I. Eventually we reached the junction with the Welford arm and a sign showing us that we had less than two more miles to go: by this stage, welcome news.
Before too long we reached first the Welford lock, then the Marina, followed closely by the Wharf. We'd made it, and just before sunset too.
As we had time to spare before our dinner reservation, we decided to drive back to Harborough and take Juli's car back home, before returning to Welford for our dinner at the Wharf Inn, which, if I'm honest, turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. Still, we were pleased to be sitting down - albeit on rather uncomfortable seats - and raised a glass to ourselves for completing our 16 mile walk.
As the title suggests, this was the second of our dry-run walks in preparation for the real thing in April. Hopefully we'll get another couple more in before then, maybe two ten-mile walks back to back on consecutive days to see how we cope with that. This one was to see how we cope with a long walk of about16 miles: about the furthest we'll have to endure on any individual day. It's also about the longest I've ever walked in one day, although Juli has walked further when she and Marion did Offa's Dyke. (That's a long distance footpath, by the way. Honestly, some people's minds. Yes, I heard the sniggering.)
Our route for this walk took us from Sainsbury's car park, through the centre of Market Harborough to the wharf at the end of the Harborough Arm of the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union Canal. We then followed the towpath as the canal wound its way to Foxton Junction, where we turned south along the Old Union Canal as far as Welford Junction where the Welford Arm branches off. We then followed that to its end at the Wharf Inn, Welford.
The weather for the first section (to Foxton) started off a bit murky, but soon brightened up and stayed fine for the rest of the day. There was plenty to look at along the way and distract us, which may account for why I forgot to restart my route recorder app, so lost a whole loop of the canal.
Along the way, we met an American family on a narrowboat holiday as they were negotiating a swing bridge. Apparently, Harrison Ford hired a narrowboat on the Llangollen Canal a few years back which led to a huge surge of US enquires and a new boat in the area being named Calista after Mr Ford's then wife. It is not known how Ms Flockhart reacted to having her name painted onto the front of a barge.
Quite soon we reached our first waypoint, Foxton Junction at the end of the Harborough arm. By now it was a lovely day, and the area around the junction, the famous Foxton Locks and the remains of the old Inclined Plane boat lift - quite a popular tourist spot - was busy with boaters, day trippers and locals out enjoying the sun, our first for quite a while.
After a mug of hot chocolate and a comfort break, we began the second leg of our walk. This meant climbing up the hill by the side of the 10, deep locks (two staircases each of five locks - the largest flight of staircase locks on the English canal system) to the much higher level of the Old Union Canal that would take us south towards Husbands Bosworth.
This middle part of our route was a lot less interesting, visually, which perhaps didn't matter too much, as we mostly had to keep our eyes on the path ahead of us to avoid slipping over in the mud, or worse, slipping sideways into the canal. Eventually, we made it to the entrance to the Bosworth Tunnel were we decided to stop for lunch: waypoint number two.
There is no towpath through the tunnel. Instead, walkers (and, originally, the horses that were used to tow barges) must take a footpath over the top of the hill through which the tunnel passes. Rejoining the canal on the other side of the tunnel, the towpath continues much the same as before the tunnel: muddy and dull. We kept ourselves distracted by playing games of I Spy and Who Am I. Eventually we reached the junction with the Welford arm and a sign showing us that we had less than two more miles to go: by this stage, welcome news.
Before too long we reached first the Welford lock, then the Marina, followed closely by the Wharf. We'd made it, and just before sunset too.
As we had time to spare before our dinner reservation, we decided to drive back to Harborough and take Juli's car back home, before returning to Welford for our dinner at the Wharf Inn, which, if I'm honest, turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. Still, we were pleased to be sitting down - albeit on rather uncomfortable seats - and raised a glass to ourselves for completing our 16 mile walk.
Well done guys, Lovely to see the Canal and barge photos. :)
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