We could have stayed in Barrow for a few more days, just soaking up the peace.
Until the joy riders arrived on their bikes. Yes, Barrow Boating brings new meaning to travelling by water.
There were several of these bike boats and swan shaped pedaloes, and once the frost had melted happy families joined the emerald drakes adding to the rich colours. The ducks seem to have disappeared, I can only assume they are now sitting on their nests and we’ll be rewarded with fluffy ducklings soon.
But Barrow wasn’t always fun and frolicks as this poem pinned up at Barrow deep lock reminds us.
Barrow Deep lock is the deepest lock in the East Midlands region having a fall of 2.9m (9.7′) but it didn’t faze us, the deepest canal lock in this country is Tuel Lane on the Rochdale canal at 6m
The rest of our day saw more wide open river sections.
Although we didn’t plan to cruise far, just beyond Pillings Marina under Woodthorpe Bridge
And onto Loughborough Moors, a journey which took us all of an hour to do of just over 2 miles. We are easing ourselves into the sort of boating we love.
At least as we made our way through Husband Bosworths tunnel it was dry.
And although it wasn’t sunny, the canal cut through an avenue of beech trees. 
And out into some open hilly Leicestershire countryside. 
To help warm me up I got out and walked.
Until we got to our overnight mooring at the top of Foxton Locks. This has to be one of my top ten views from the canals, sadly the camera doesn’t do it justice.
We spent a few days in the village, it has a Deli butcher who is enthusiastic about local produce. So we indulged in some good food. 
And I took advantage of the local footpaths to burn off some of that indulgence. 
I set out walking in the sunshine,
but got drenched on my way back. Although that Oak tree made a good shelter.
Crick is fortunate to have a lot of footpaths crying out to be walked, so setting out from our mooring we happily scaled the local Everest, Crack’s Hill. 
Ok it’s only a mere 25 m above the tow path, but it is the highest point locally and gives stunning views. That’s the DRIFT distribution centre you can see in the distance. 7.8 million sq feet of logistics. Amongst other things, it’s where several supermarkets gather their goodies before sending them onwards to fill the shelves. That’s progress for you. Many millennia ago, Crack’s Hill arrived when the ice age deposited debris as the glacier melted, which is how this landscape became what it is. There have been Neolithic bronze and iron age settlements discoverd here and the Romans also took advantage of this hill as it overlooked their Wattling Street route march. The names Crack and Crick are derived from the Celtic word Cruk which means hill. Crick village got a mention in the doomsday book.
I don’t know if this modern adornment will still be standing next millennia but the current community marked the start of the 21st century by erecting this beacon. I would have liked to have seen it lit.
There’s an active community in Crick that has raises money to create and maintain the local woodlands and public spaces. This year they have added a memorial commemorating 100 years of the end of WW1, I quite like that the area behind Tommy is rough ground.
However this time we emerged from the Crick tunnel and made straight for the Moorings pub for a pie and a pint. (Or in my case a rather tasty mediteranian fish stew)
We had plenty of time to explore this pretty area, while we took a few days to use of the Poste Restante mail service offered by the post office. 
The young farmers put on their annual bonfire and fireworks display for us. 
I harvested some crab apples from the millennium woods and made some jelly. 
And we met up with our new “best friend” the fuel man Mark on Calisto. Hopefully he’ll be keeping our tanks topped up over the few months. 
And finally here are our neighbours for the week.
Locks
stock
and tunnels. (This is Crick tunnel, nice and straight, if a bit drippy)
Even the Braunston tunnel didn’t cause us any problems. And we moored up in the woods on the Daventry side so I could walk down to Tescos for supplies.
Back out into the open again,
under the pretty bridge by the cottage, to turn onto the Leicester Line, enjoying the autumnal sunshine as we went. 
The next day we cruised at 3 miles an hour alongside the M1 going at at least 70mph, we passed the Watford Gap service station, (not worthy of a photo) a few miles before arriving at the Watford Flight. 
CRT is closing this flight for essential repair for 6 weeks before Christmas so we had to make our ascent before then. Unlike individual locks the Watford flight has 4 staircase locks, where each lock empties or fills from the adjacent lock, so if you dont open the paddles innthe right order you could end up flooded or stranded. Consequently there are volunteer lockies on duty to help you through. Its quite straight forward if you rememeber the rhyme
We both took our turn and enjoyed the day