Day 14 - Foxton Locks

Today was definately an adventure. We had rain last night but woke to
beautiful clear skies this morning. We had our boat orientation and
then headed out on our own. We had a few learning curve problems to
begin with. I think it was our first bridge that we went under that we
came out at an angle so far that we had to duck under some bushes and
they scraped our life preserver off the boat and into the canal.
Turning the boat was confusing because you have to turn the rudder in
the opposite direction that you want to go and sometime it gets turned
the wrong way and then over corrected the other way, sometimes
involving running the passengers on the front our boat into blackberry
bushes. Speaking of which, we stopped for lunch and picked
blackberries growing along the canal. We have seen many different
kinds of birds along the canal including herrons. We have also seen
rabbits and squirrels.
We went under lots of bridges today. There was one bridge that was
a swing bridge because it was too low to go under. We had to pull over
and then someone gets out to unlock the bridge, put up the road
barriers and then swing the bridge around so the boat can pass through
and then reverse what you just did. Soon after that we came to Foxton
Locks. There was a lot of traffic there. Both of boats waiting to go
through the locks and people that just came to watch. We had a nice
audience to see us maneuver into the locks. The picture is of our boat
going through the locks. My job was to crank open the water flow
gates, and then when the water was level, I swung open the lock gates
for the boat to pass through. Then I would crank the water flow gates
closed and swing the lock gates shut and then run up to the next lock
to do it again. There were 10 locks to get to the top. We were the
last boat to go to the top before they started to let the queue at top
come down.
The canal at the top of the locks was wider, straighter, and less
crowded than we came through at the bottom, so it was a relaxing
change. We have found a lovely place to park for the night. Our view
is of rolling hills with sheep nearby. We can see a village and a
church spire in the distace. We have a little family of a mother and
two baby ducks hanging around our boat that we have been feeding.