Kilby Bridge to Market Harborough 25/03/15

16.8 miles, via the Grand Union Canal path

My week off at the end of the fiscal year brings me down country, for a week of my parents' hospitality, and for getting in a couple of walks, starting with a trail down the towpath of the former Leicestershire & Northamptonshire Union Canal, now the part of the Grand Union, starting out from where I last left off, at Kilby Bridge, dropped off for a 9.25am start at the Navigation inn. Under the A5199 bridge and the outer edge of the conurbation of Leicester is soon far behind us, setting out by the waterside, with the canal taking great care to not go too close to any villages and leading us deep into the rolling fields of the county, the site of Kilby village being only slightly visible at Turnover Locks, and Newton Harcourt hiding behind trees around Wain Bridge. The railway to London keeps me closer company for a lot of the early going, showing plenty of traffic, whilst the best early views come across the valley of the Sence, showing up the abandoned village of Wistow, where only the parish church has endured. The last group of the eleven lock since our start, around Kibworth bridge, brings us to the summit pound, which will be followed for the remainder of the day, gaining brief sight of Fleckney, before a collapsed bank forces us onto a field walk on the approach to Saddington Tunnel, constructed as this one rise fell in the way of maintaining the canal level at 105m elevation. Follow the path over the top of the tunnel, lacking a path through its half mile length, and rejoining the path as slips between Saddington, Kibworth Beauchamp, and Smeeton Westerby, passing over one impressively scaled embankment as it maintains its level. Milepost counting and admiring the view to distant Church Langton sustains us on the walk to Debdale marina, where construction of the canal stalled in 1797, in the middle of nowhere, and now forms a considerable home for many narrowboats, very few of which seem to be out boating today.

Next site along the way is Foxton, visible as the canal swings its way around three side of the village, but we need to take a brief detour off the route once we get to Foxton Locks, the hugely impressive flight of 10 narrow chambers that set off the original Grand Union canal, filling in the missing 23 miles to the Grand Junction canal at Notton (all amalgamating as the current Grand Union in 1894). This is a spot visited many times in my youth, from school and home, and correctly regarded as one of the county's engineering marvels, I just wish someone would get busy of rebuilding the inclined plane, proposed 30 years and still o closer to fruition. Return to the line to Market Harborough, taking 5 miles to cover three miles on the ground, setting out pretty straight before getting kinky after its first passage under Leicester Road , swinging back on itself past Great Bowden hall and before passing under the old A6 again, and almost going for a loop as it winds south and east, passing behind the gardens of many very expensive houses. Roll up at the canal's end, at Union Wharf, where the canal construction stopped in 1809, its path to the River Nene having not even got across the Welland, and in this predictably made-over locale, we can pause to celebrate having achieved 1,500 miles on the trail, before joining the main road through the heart of what is almost the archetypal Market Town, finding my parents in the local Wetherspoons, and carrying on to take in the sights and to conclude at the railway station, from where a path southwards might be joined in the future, all done at 3.50pm before taking the parental taxi homewards.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 1502.3 miles

2015 Cumulative Total: 100.1 miles
Up Country Total: 1389.9 miles
Solo Total: 1275.3 miles

Kilby Bridge Wharf

Turnover Locks and the view to Kilby village

Newton Harcourt Lock

Wistow Parish church, proving that not all the abandoned
villages of the county are in the Eastern quarter!

Kibworth Bridge and Bottom Lock

Saddington Tunnel

Smeeton Westerby Embankment. Engineering like this really does
make you marvel at the ingenuity of the 18th century navigators.

Debdale Wharf, the first canal terminus, built to serve Where, exactly?

Foxton Junction, where the Grand Union paths cuts a 96 mile long
path to London, walking it in the future is surely a possibility.

Foxton Locks. The 10 chamber flight that everyone should have heard of.

Leicester Road bridge, and hello to the National Cycle network.

Great Bowden Hall

The run in to Harborough, ideal if you can afford a house with its own moorings!

Union Wharf, celebrating 1,500 miles on the trail at a location
which eluded my knowledge through all my days in the Midlands. 

Market Harborough, if you have wondered what an 18th century city centre
looked like, this is probably as good a time capsule as you could find.

The Market Hall, adjacent to St Dionysius' church, this is one
medieval relic that the town is right to be proud of.

Next Up: Leicestershire's first and last railways, both lost to history.