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Leicester to Market Harborough


Longmeadow

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My boat is 60' x 10'.  I would like to travel from Leicester to Market Harborough. Having not done this route before can anyone please advise me if there is anything that would prevent the passage, i.e. low bridges that are ok for a narrow boat but the arch would cause problems for a wide beam. I have used CanalPlan .. putting the boat height in at 7' it shows as not possible, at 6' no problem.  Anyone with a similar size vessel who has travelled this route can give advice?  Many thanks

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You will get to Foxton, the run from there to Market Harborough will not be enjoyable, and you may have paint damaged by trees. The bridge holes, swing bridges are 10ft wide, not 14, and if bricks are sticking out or branches floating around, you could get stuck.

20200914_215635.jpg

Edited by matty40s
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12 hours ago, matty40s said:

20200914_215531.jpg

20200914_215610.jpg

 

Is that the section from Foxton to Market Harborough? The last time we did that section it was not like that, but much of the section from Foxton to Leicester, was heavily overgrown with reeds, something to do with it being an area of SSI.

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Yes, the Market Harborough arm, very unloved.

The section from Debdale to Saddington was also very bad, dangerous even, with reeds almost 3/4 of the way across the channel on the inside of bends. It really was just nosing through and hoping nothing was coming the other way. 

Most of the landslip  just past Debdale has been removed, just not all of it!!

There were 2 widebeams on this section, one of the noodles moored on the Saddington tunnel approach, as near to the road as he could be.

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6 hours ago, matty40s said:

Yes, the Market Harborough arm, very unloved.

The section from Debdale to Saddington was also very bad, dangerous even, with reeds almost 3/4 of the way across the channel on the inside of bends. It really was just nosing through and hoping nothing was coming the other way. 

Most of the landslip  just past Debdale has been removed, just not all of it!!

There were 2 widebeams on this section, one of the noodles moored on the Saddington tunnel approach, as near to the road as he could be.

So it would seem. I have just checked our log and in 2005, Jan's notes suggest it was much the same as your photos indicate.  We tried the Harborough arm again in 2014 and the log indicates that all the reeds had been cut back and it was unlike the choked condition recorded in 2005. However, the section between Saddington Tunnel and Kibworth Locks on the Leicester Arm was (to quote the log) like exploring the Amazon. We have a boat booked in a few weeks time and were planning to attempt the Harborough Arm again, but I think we will probably wind at the top of Foxton and take in a bit more of the Grand Union.

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