Blacking, a disappointing meal, a tasty meal and a returned camera

Oo er ... it's been six days since my last post. I've obviously been having too much fun. Since the last update we've been down Foxton Locks and visited Market Harborough twice. Oh, and we've been out of the water for blacking.

This is a lovely tree-lined part of the Leicester Section north of Welford Junction. Monday 14th May 2018.

Arriving at Foxton Locks at about 1130 we found we were able to follow a boat which had just started down, so we had very little wait. Here's the obligatory shot at the top of Foxton Locks.

At the bottom we watered up and had lunch before proceeding to Market Harborough.

The next day daughter Ally and grandson Josiah joined us, having driven from Milton Keynes.

They stayed on board while we cruised to Debdale Wharf; I cycled back to get their car.

The next day - this is Wednesday 16th now - Jubilee was lifted out of the water for its biennial blacking.

We let Dean do the dirty work.

While that was going on we walked up the hill to Gumley, continuing to the top of the locks where we met fellow BCFers Audrey and Ray on Livien 'G. Back on Jubilee we had lunch, then waited out of the wind in the reception area while Dean lifted the boat some more to black the baseplate. In less than a hour that was done and the freshly applied bitumastic paint was drying in the sun. The whole process had taken just a few hours; the boat was to be put back in the water at 1400 the next day. The problem was, I had hoped to do a bit of painting of the hard-to-reach bits while the boat was still up in the air. Now there wouldn't be much time.

We had already decided to eat out that evening, so we walked to Gumley again, reversing our route of the morning, and participated in the Bell's steak night deal. The steak was done exactly how I like it, but it somehow seemed to lack taste. The chips were below par too, being too thin and McDonald's-like. The place did redeem itself, however, as the manageress ran after us a minute or so after we had started walking down the road. She was holding my camera, which I'd left hanging on my chair. Phew!

We walked across the fields to the bottom of the locks and found ourselves drawn to the Bridge 61 pub where a folk session was under way. As I'd had no pudding, and as I still had room ... I had a beef stew in a Yorkshire pudding! Now THAT was tasty. And only a fiver.

The next morning, Thursday, I managed a coat of the red tunnel band and to scrape, sand and Fertan the worst bits of the gunwales. Before I could even think about any more painting Steve asked us to get off the boat as he wanted to put it back in. Once in the water we returned to Foxton where I did a second coat of the red and stayed put for the night.

Still to come: the disappearing bridge and a visit from friends unseen for more than four decades. That's all in the next post, which might be tomorrow (but I'm not promising).