Speeding down the Soar

Not as in going too fast, of course, but as in being able to maintain a fair lick at gentle engine revs. From Leicester northwards the navigation is largely on the River Soar with lock cuts bypassing weirs. The flow of the river and the depth of the channel combine to make going downstream quick and easy.

From Castle Gardens in Leicester we shared locks until Birstall with Sir Tristram II, whom we found breasted up to us after church this morning.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. We returned to the church we'd found last night, Holy Trinity Leicester, and went to the 1030 service. I think I suggested it was going to be a more conventional service. Well, we weren't sitting round tables with drinks and nibbles, but many people wouldn't describe it as "conventional". It was very good, though, with a challenging talk and modern songs accompanied by a five-piece band (bass, drums, keyboard, guitar and vocalist). The pews had all been replaced by comfortable moveable chairs on carpet; the words for the songs were on a screen; the vicar was in mufti. The few clues that this was actually Church of England included the exterior of the building; the banns of marriage at the beginning and the traditional "This is the Word of the Lord" - "Thanks be to God" after the Bible reading.

No photo - sorry - the one I took of the interior is too dark and boring; I forgot to take one of the exterior.

After church we went to the castle, or what's left of it. There was an open day, so we got to see the old Criminal Court and Civil Court. The University of Leicester was doing a research project on the trial (no pun intended) of newly written software for mobile computer devices (smartphone/tablet/audio file player). We agreed to take part and were handed headphones and an MP3 player each. We listened to a reconstruction of the "Green Bicycle Murder Trial" where the narration had us moving around the court to hear from the various characters in their positions; the witness in the witness stand, the defendant in the dock and so on. The story was interesting, but if you miss something you can't go back and hear it again. I found this very frustrating; much better to have been on paper.

Anyway, back to the waterway. This is where we were moored. I should correct something from yesterday's post; I implied that the apparently overstaying boat might not have been licenced. It is, in fact, displaying a current licence, albeit in the front window.

Looking behind as we left the mooring, and passing under West Road Bridge, we saw this sculpture.

Is it representative of Leicester's dying industry? That's dying as in the process of using coloured dyes to treat fabrics.

We stopped at the Hope and Anchor where we tied up right outside the pub. I wasn't able to manage a pudding after my enormous mixed grill.