We'd arranged for Stuart and Martin to visit Alton Towers on Saturday as the first part of Stuart's birthday celebrations, and we were joining them in Nottingham for the second part on Sunday. As we were travelling up on Saturday, we found a walk in Leicestershire in a old walk book.
The walk started and finished at Foxton Locks, a spectacular series of ten locks at a T-junction on the Leicester Arm of the Grand Union canal. It was a lovely sunny day, and it was great to see lots of people enjoying the industrial heritage. The locks were completed in 1814, and take about an hour to ascend or descend. There's also an Inclined Plane, on which counter-balanced boats were hauled in tanks between the two levels and was much quicker. This was built in 1900, but only operated until 1911 because it was not cost-effective.
After a sandwich and a drink at the Foxton Locks Inn at the bottom of the locks and right on the T-junction, we headed off cross country to Gumley, which looked like a nice village and then to Saddington Reservoir that was built to support the canal. That part of route was on one of several 'gated roads' in the area. We passed a cricket pitch with a game in progress. One of the gated roads passed across the pitch, not far from the square. There was a sign asking drivers to wait for the umpire to signal the end of an over before crossing.
The instructions for the next section of the walk weren't very clear, and we didn't have an OS map, but we eventually found our way between a stream and the raised feeder channel for the canal to the wonderfully named Smeeton Westerby, another pleasant looking village. The route from there to the Debdale Wharf canal was easy, but not as easy as following towpath back to the locks.
A lovely walk, and well worth the detour.
The walk started and finished at Foxton Locks, a spectacular series of ten locks at a T-junction on the Leicester Arm of the Grand Union canal. It was a lovely sunny day, and it was great to see lots of people enjoying the industrial heritage. The locks were completed in 1814, and take about an hour to ascend or descend. There's also an Inclined Plane, on which counter-balanced boats were hauled in tanks between the two levels and was much quicker. This was built in 1900, but only operated until 1911 because it was not cost-effective.
The instructions for the next section of the walk weren't very clear, and we didn't have an OS map, but we eventually found our way between a stream and the raised feeder channel for the canal to the wonderfully named Smeeton Westerby, another pleasant looking village. The route from there to the Debdale Wharf canal was easy, but not as easy as following towpath back to the locks.
A lovely walk, and well worth the detour.
View Foxton Locks in a larger map
No comments:
Post a Comment