Cows and cooling towers

We continued our journey north on the River Soar, on our own again through Mountsorrel Lock. When we got to Barrow-upon-Soar, however, a man called out to us as we approached the Deep Lock and asked if he could share the lock with us. Of course, we said.

Peter was single handing his boat, Odyssey, and was having engine problems. He had also managed to hurt his leg and had broken a step on his boat, so things were not going well. Peter was stopping by Loughborough Station to meet someone so we went past. We stopped ourselves just after the sharp right where Loughborough Basin is just to the left - and went to Lidl and Tesco. As we were having lunch Odyssey came past, so we said we'd come down more locks with him.

This northern end of the Soar is certainly the prettiest. Here's the classic view of the church at Normanton-on-Soar.

Just beyond the church was a riverside house for sale. Hopefully the upside-down Union flag indicates nothing worse than that the owners are sad to be leaving.

At one of the locks Peter asked if he could borrow an iPhone charging cable as he had broken his. As I said, things were not going too well for him. We were able to lend him the right cable and he was able to recharge his phone. This is us in Kegworth New (Deep) Lock.

I think this is my favourite photo from today at Ratcliffe on Soar: cows and cooling towers. (Strictly speaking I think they are heiffers, but the alliteration would fail.)

At Ratcliffe Lock Peter returned my cable and we headed onto the Trent. We wanted to get water, so we squeezed in by the approach to Trent Lock and used the water point on the corner. Thanks to Waterway Routes we knew exactly where to aim for which made it easier.

While the tank was filling I recced the three-day pontoon moorings just the other side of Trent Junction: good, there was one space left. I was just disconnecting the hose when a boat went past upstream, i.e. the direction we were going. Was he heading for the pontoon mooring? Yes. Oh well. There was a space between two boats just back from the water point I thought we might just fit in. We battled the wind and tried - but we were a fender too long. More battle with the wind, and we carried on upstream towards Sawley.

With Sawley Lock negotiated we tied up finally opposite Sawley Bridge Marina and were serenaded by a song thrush.

BCF friend Angie, who lives nearby, came for a chat and some apple pie and custard. It was good to see you, Angie, and thanks for the wine and choccies!

Have you ever seen anything like this before? Fish stuck between lock gates

The forecast thunderstorms last night did not happen, neither did the rain which was supposed to be during the morning. We walked from Castle Gardens to Holy Trinity Leicester for their 1030 service, at which the preacher was an evangelist recently returned from Argentina. John someone - I didn't catch his surname.

He spoke engagingly about, well, evangelism, i.e. telling people about Jesus.

Back on the boat we had lunch, then set off just as the rain started. It didn't amount to much and soon stopped. We carried on downstream, encountering one lock in particular - North Lock 42 - whose bottom gates were almost impossible to open, such was the amount of water leaking from the top gates. Fortunately a boat was waiting to come up the lock so, with three of us heaving on the balance beam, it succumbed.

I saw two things today I had never seen before. One was this swan carrying a couple of cygnets on its back.

Once we had cleared Leicester much of the journey was through watermeadows.

The other sight not seen before - and I probably never will again - was of a fish caught between the leaky bottom gates of Sileby Lock. Jubilee was in the lock and I had raised the bottom paddles to empty the lock.

As the water drained from the lock the pressure holding the gates together reduced. The gap widened slightly and the fish fell back into the water and disappeared.

It can have been stuck like that for only 30 seconds or so, just long enough for me to take these two photos. Would it have survived? Have you ever seen anything like that?

We tied up for the night just below the lock and walked round Sileby after tea. Is it a town or a village? The cricket club thinks it's a town; Nicholson calls it a village.

Buttercups and blossom

We made an earlier start then usual, leaving our mooring at 0815. We made swift progress to Kilby Bridge, all the locks being in our favour for a change. The buttercups added extra brightness to our surroundings.

At Kilby Bridge we watered up, then moved across to the 48 hour moorings so I could cycle off to get a paper. The first newsagent up Welford Road didn't have what I wanted, so I cycled on into Wigston and ended up cramming my panier with stuff from Sainsbury's and Aldi.

The crane at Kilby Bridge is a local landmark.

Today has felt like summer. The sun shone all day and it has been warm. Here is Jubilee heading towards yet another lock, now on the River Soar. Since Kilby Bridge I had to turn nearly every lock as we were following two boats. Oh, and I cycled almost the entire distance from Newton Harcourt to Leicester, where we moored at Castle Gardens.

When I looked closely at some hawthorn blossom I saw how intricately detailed it was.

At Castle Gardens there is room for three usual-length narrowboats. When we arrived, two boats had moored in such a way as to leave no space for anyone else. Fortunately one agreed to move up a little, and we then tied up successfully.

We walked into Leicester city centre and marvelled at how busy with people it was. And how many fast food shops there were!

We did a bit more than on the schedule today as rain is forecast for tomorrow. Oh yes - hello to a blog reader on Cleddau whom we passed today.

Carrots roll as we cross the Trent

I don't think I have boated in such high winds before. Today has been mostly sunny, but with a strong southerly wind and frequent fierce gusts. But first I need to say a few words about yesterday.

We set off from the Hope and Anchor at 0730 in benign conditions but with rain forecast for the afternoon. We hoped we would make it to Loughborough before getting too wet. The Soar makes its way through countryside with only the occasional town or village for extra interest. Near Junction Lock the River Wreake joins the Soar's waters, and the navigation is called the River Wreake for a short distance.

Junction Lock

The wind was getting up as we made the left turn under Chain Bridge to go to Loughborough Basin, and it caught the bow pushing it against the sticking out concrete edge. This took paint off the edge of the gunnel at the bow, it also slightly damaged the front edge of the cabin.

After using the services we reversed onto a pontoon. As soon as we had tied up it started raining heavily. Phew!

We looked round the town and got some supplies from Tesco, then wondered how much more of the buffeting from the wind we could stand. The pontoons in Loughborough Basin are only about 30' long, making it impossible to use the front rope. In the wind the boat rocked around, cups on hooks constantly crashing against the side and the centre line creaking and straining. In the end we could take no more, and powered out of the basin in the rain. We tied up outside the Anchor pub past Chain Bridge and waited for my brother to arrive.

David is with us for a couple of days.

This morning the wind was possibly not quite as strong as yesterday, but it increased through the day making for quite interesting lock approaches. At Ratcliffe Lock we decided to sit it out for a bit and wait for the wind to abate before the last section of the Soar and the crossing of the Trent. I used some of the time to prepare and prime the damaged paintwork.

Eventually, with another narrowboat approaching the lock, I decided the time had come to go for it. We shared the lock with Eos, a boat we had seen several times on our way down the Leicester Line.

This is my favourite photo of the day; Ratcliffe Power Station.

At last, we came to the junction with the River Trent. Now the wind was strong and completely unhindered as it came at us across the watery expanse, this time from a more westerly direction. As we turned into the wind to head for the entrance of the Erewash Canal the boat leaned over somewhat; enough for four carrots which Jan was preparing in the galley to roll off the worktop onto the floor. I kept the power on as we shot between the masonry bridge supports into the Trent Lock approach, then stopped with a sense of relief as David went to prepare the lock.

Another "Phew"!

Incidentally, I'm really glad that we weren't trying to go up the Soar today. Against the flow would have been bad enough, not that it was particularly strong, but against the wind would have been a test of engine and steerer's stamina.

I've stowed the anchor again; we'll be on the Erewash for the next few days.

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.

Leicester's welcome starts badly but gets a lot better

We were up, breakfasted and ready to go by 9 this morning, but we very graciously (!) waited for Chance and Eleventh Heaven to go down the locks before us.

James waving; Chris untying

Les and Chris

There was a boat on the water point we thought we could share the locks with, but they were joining up with another boat so, in the end, we continued on our own. It was a great help to have the first few locks back set for us, thank you.

The weather was an improvement on yesterday, with no rain and a fair amount of sunshine. There was still a cool breeze.

At King's Lock, Aylestone, we stopped for lunch and then went to the tea room at the old lock cottage for a cream tea. Very nice scone, clotted cream and jam; the tea would have been better had it been hotter and not served in such utilitarian thick-lipped cups. Delightful lock cottage, though. If you go, make sure you use the loo. You go upstairs and into the original-looking bathroom, complete with bath.

The approach to Leicester from the south goes through lovely countryside; the city comes very gently until you suddenly find yourself at Castle Gardens at the end of the Straight Mile.

There are a few weirs to avoid on the way; this is the most impressive at Freeman's Lock by the football ground.

Arriving at the Castle Gardens moorings we thought we were going to have to breast up to another boat, as one boat was already doing so. We slowly approached the first boat on the pontoon only to see it had "No mooring" signs in the windows.

We later found out were later told that the boat had been there for weeks, claiming to have a broken gearbox. I think his licence holder must be broken too. No licence was displayed on the side.

As we tried to creep past the wind caught us and we nudged the boat. At this a man emerged and told us we couldn't tie up to him. Not the friendliest of welcomes to Leicester.

Once past the breasted-up boat we could see that there was, in fact, a space on the pontoon. We just fitted. Shortly afterwards we could see that another boat was coming in to land, as it were, so we indicated that he should breast up to us. Which he did.

I mended yet another bicycle puncture then, after tea, we walked round the city centre for a while. The main purpose was to recce a church for the morning; we eventually found Holy Trinity in Turner Street. As we were looking at the notice board at the entrance a young woman came up and asked if we were going in. Er ... it's Saturday; we were considering coming tomorrow, so what's happening now? It transpired that there was a free musical evening in the church. We were invited in and made very welcome. A jazz/rock band was performing; chairs and drinks were got for us and we found ourselves talking to the vicar. Or trying to; the music was very loud and not suited to the acoustic of the building. The next act was much better, a string quartet playing Sibelius. Then the young cellist played a Bach sarabande extremely well; this was followed by a breathtaking performance by his sister, a 15-year-old violinist playing from Biber's Mystery Sonatas. Her technique was amazing, with some incredibly fast and accurate passages and a huge amount of double stopping.

We were very glad to have come upon this; we will return for perhaps a more conventional church service in the morning.

edited to add corrections

Rubbish collection

9th April 2013

River Soar between Loughborough and Leicester

Canalside gardens

One of the joys of boating is being able to look at what waterside dwellers do with their gardens. Some people really go to town - or the garden centre, as here in Barrow-upon-Soar last April.

A short distance upstream we find that one man's garden is his castle.

Look: there are even cannon!

I suspect that they are actually drain outlets (or inlets?)

Ancient and modern at Normanton-on-Soar

8th April 2013

Continuing with my recap of last Easter's Leicester Ring Plus cruise there's an interesting juxtaposition of the old and the new at Normanton-on-Soar.

Going upstream you first get to St. James's Church ...

... and immediately beyond is this classy river-watcher's hideaway.

Or it could be a river-watcher's classy hideaway.

If this were my house - and if I were not boating - I think I'd spend all my time here.

This shows just how close to the church it is.

I hope it's flood-proof. On the same reach of the Soar, half a mile downstream, are some emergency moorings which give an indication of how high the water can get.

Progress at Wolverton; grassy lock at Kegworth

Reports from Wolverton suggest that progress is being made on Ally and Ben's house. The kitchen is almost finished: I have seen a photo of water coming out of the tap over the sink; floor and wall units are installed; the worktop is in place. I believe the wiring to the cooker has yet to be connected, but that's about it.

Excitingly A+B have removed their kettle, microwave oven and coffee machine from Jubilee! What better sign could there be that we might be about to get our boat back?

At the house there's just the small matter of building the bathroom, complicated by the need to raise the floor to accommodate the soil pipe. So they won't be able to move in just yet.

****************

As we came up the Soar last April in Shadow we passed Kegworth, where we bought Jubilee the year before.

The old lock at Kegworth is now filled in and grassed over.

Kegworth New Lock is parallel to the old one.

The lock fills rather fiercely. Despite appearances everything was under control.

nb Brocky's draughty steering position

8th April 2013

The first structure of any significance you encounter when turning onto the River Soar from the Trent is Redhill Flood Lock.

In another half mile or so we came across nb Brocky, an interesting boat with what looks like a wooden superstructure on a metal hull with a wooden rubbing strake.

Steering is by wheel, and with no apparent protection from the elements.

I could find no reference to this boat in the National Register of Historic Ships. Perhaps the Register is interested only if a boat started life as a commercial vessel.

Now we can see the location: by the cooling towers of Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station.

Onto the Soar, and a misleading sign

8th April 2013

Popping out of the Erewash Canal onto the River Trent there's a helpful sign.

And, when you're safely past Thrumpton Weir, another sign welcomes you onto the Soar.

Misleadingly, the sign suggests that the nearest facilities are 13.3 km away (or 7 miles 5.5 furlongs in old money)*.

But the nearest facilities are actually just half a mile behind you, immediately above Trent Lock at the entrance to the Erewash Canal. I suppose that the sign could still be regarded as informative, though, despite not mentioning the five locks (not counting the floodlock) you'd have to negotiate before reaching the Soar facilities at Bishop Meadow Lock.


*I've just realised that, if you take 1 km to be 5/8 mile (accurate to within 0.4%), 0.1 km is exactly half a furlong. This might or might not be useful.

Wood cuts

Above Mountsorrel on the Soar Navigation is this interesting scene (at least, it was when I photographed it back in April).

A wooden building appears to have been constructed around part of a narrowboat.

There's a nice pile of logs, too. I wouldn't mind some of those for our fire here at home as my woodpile is running low...

Loughborough to Leicester, and the problem with rivers

I think we're unlikely to tie up in Loughborough Basin again. The pontoons are too short to be able to tie both ends of a 58' boat to, so we tied up along the concrete basin edge. Here, though, the bollards are hardly any better spaced. The wind during the night caused the boat to bash against the side, waking us with every crash.

In the morning we watered up and arranged for daughter Ally to join us at Barrow-on-Soar. She would get the train back from Leicester to retieve her car and drive home in the evening. This plan worked well: we'd only just tied up above Barrow Lock when Ally phoned to say she was walking from the station.

As we approached Leicester the amount of visible rubbish increased, most noticeably hanging from low branches of trees swept by recent flood waters. In one place this was above the top of the boat - scary!

Jan's dislike of rivers was strengthened when, on leaving Birstall Lock, the wind caught Shadow and she was unable to pick me up after I closed the gate. She had to steer, avoiding weirs, shallows and overhanging trees while I walked on looking for a suitable pick-up place. About a mile later I was able to rejoin the boat, to Jan's relief.

When we got to the Castle Park moorings where we had hoped to tie up for the night we found that they were full. Jan on the bank, though, had negotiated with one of the boats there to let us tie up alongside. I think they will be off at 0900 tomorrow, so we'd better be up and ready to go by then.

The weather today has been possibly slightly warmer than recently, but still with a strongish cold wind. A rise in temperature is forecast for tomorrow, but with some rain in the evening. We'll see.

And tomorrow's destination is Kilby Bridge. The last time we were here the pub did puddings for 50p. Let's hope for the same again!

Trowell to Loughborough, and a good meal at Wetherspoon's

Another earlyish start this morning saw us catch up with our schedule. Last night's mooring was as quiet as any we've enjoyed. We carried on down the wide locks of the Erewash Canal until, eventually, we arrived at Trent Lock. NB Free Spirit was there, but there seemed to be no-one on board.

We crossed the Trent onto the Soar, and made good progress to Loughborough where we have tied up in the basin. There's only one other boat here, and I'm fairly sre it's the same one as was here last time we were here: Ramesses II (sic).

As we entered Ratcliffe Lock a wide beam boat came up behind us. Unfortunately, of course, we couldn't share the lock, so we went on ahead. After we tied up in the basin at Loughborough I cycled back to Loughborough Lock to see if I could help them through, but they'd already done it. Instead I chatted to single-hander Ross of Bluebell as I helped him down the lock. He was on his way to do the Rochdale Canal.

This evening we looked up the local Wetherspoon's (the Moon and Bell) and had a good meal (my mixed grill was excellent - £9.60 including a real ale of my choice). They were holding one of their seemingly never-ending beer festivals, and I enjoyed three third-pint tasters of more of the ales (in particular the Good George "Pacific Pearl", a dark beer at 5.5% abv).

Before returning to Shadow we called in at the nearby huge Tesco for a few provisions. Last time we were here (2009?) there was only the Sainsbury's (which is still there).

Tomorrow looks like being a shorter day as we have only to reach Birstall.

Planning for the Thames this summer

The last time I was on a river navigation was last April when we used part of the Trent to get to the Trent and Mersey Canal.


emerging onto the Trent from the Soar: the entrance to the Erewash Canal is dead ahead; Shardlow is to the left; Nottingham is to the right

I much prefer canals to rivers, but, as the IWA National Festival is being held at Beale Park on the Thames this year, and as I have three weeks on Willow in August/September (subject to my request for leave being approved), it seems that we might go to the festival by boat, and therefore by river.

I've had some initial thoughts about a possible route: from Willow's mooring on the Paddington Branch we could explore the Lee and Stort Navigations, before a trip up the Thames to Beale Park. There might be time for an excursion up the Oxford Canal before having to return to the Paddington Branch.

Lots of river, then, but new territory in the Lee and Stort.

Or we could shun rivers (and the festival) entirely and head north up the GU. (But I did the section of canal from Bulls Bridge to Buckby only last year ...)