Leicester to Syston

Sat 9^th Jul Leicester

We decided to visit the market today. While the fruit and veg stalls were quite good, the food hall consisted mainly of butchers and cheese makers. There was no baker. The other stalls were not very inspiring, unless fabrics were on your list.

Leicester Castle

Terrible pun

Newarke Gateway

Newarke Gateway information

We had a lovely lunch at the Giggling Squid Thai restaurant. Two starters and a main course between us was quite sufficient.

Giggling Squid

We wandered back to the boat, with the mooring pontoon to ourselves. There were some people with drinks and very loud voices opposite at times, so we had a disturbed night.

No boating today

Sun 10^th Jul Leicester

Morning reflections

We had been trying to decide which church to go to, and Holy Trinity was a strong contender, as a lively evangelical church. In the end we chose One Church, in the opposite direction, involving a walk along the towpath.

The walk to church

We gave ourselves plenty of time for the 25 minute walk. The welcome was a bit sketchy, but two churches have recently merged to form this one, and not everyone knows everyone yet. With a congregation of 300 it is difficult to work out who is who. The worship was excellent, led by a keyboard player who also sang. There was another guy singing, and a lady vocalist. Drums, guitar, bass and trumpet completed the lineup.

One Church

The talk was about the widow with a little oil, and Elisha told her to gather as many jars as she could, and fill them with the oil. When the last jar was full the oil stopped flowing.

The challenge

Coffee afterwards, and we met a couple who have a narrowboat called Kingfisher.

Rather than walk back, we spotted a bus stop opposite, and took a bus into the centre, where we had a meal at Chopstix. We found a Tesco Express, and stocked up with a few items, and then had an Italian Ice Cream on the way back to the boat.

The clock tower

Two more boats had arrived, and another, The Stolen Child, couldn’t fit in. We suggested they moor alongside, but they moved on. Later another boat (Annie) appeared, and James helped the skipper move the other boats to create enough space.

Annie squeezed in

We watched the Wimbledon men’s final, while trying to keep awake.

As it was getting dark, another boat arrived from Loughborough direction, and we suggested they moor alongside us. It was a young lady called Molly on Genevieve. She was very grateful.

James had a long chat with David on Annie.

No boating today

Mon 11^th Jul Leicester to Syston

On Saturday night we had been on our own. Last night there were five boats. We had moved back as far as we could, with our stern beyond the end of the pontoon. We had Molly on Genevieve alongside us, so we couldn’t go anywhere until Molly was ready.

Genevieve alongside

Stern overhanging the pontoon

Ann arrived and was able to get on at the bows. When Molly departed, we also set off, and there was another boat waiting for the space.

Farewell to Molly

Another arrival

Soon after we set off, we spotted The Stolen Child moored at Friars Mills. These moorings are new since we were last here in 2016. They are not quite as central, but they are probably more peaceful than Castle Gardens.

Friars Mills mooring pontoon

There are some long footbridges over weirs, where we walked to church yesterday. There is also a fine Victorian bridge, which needs a repaint. An old factory arm leads off just before North Lock.

Bridges

At North Lock, the walls are high, to cater for flood conditions. This means it is difficult to get off the boat as there are no steps. James scrambled up, and set the lock. There was a lot of leakage from the top gates, so it took some patience for the lock to empty sufficiently to open the bottom gates.

High walls at North Lock

Descending slowly

At Lime Kilns Lock there were no imbibers, maybe because it was too early for them. We have found in the past that the seats there attract daytime drinkers.

Lime Kilns Lock

Belgrave Lock

Just after Belgrave Lock, we felt something on the prop, so James delved around in the weed hatch and retrieved a lot of weed, as well as a long piece of stretchy something. Then Ann had a go at the helm and showed herself to be competent, even taking us through the tricky Loughborough Road Bridge.

Ann at the helm

Loughborough Road Bridge

At Birstall Lock there was a lot of leakage through the top gates, so the lock took longer than usual. We stopped for a while just after the lock, to have a spot of lunch in a small patch of shade.

Lock leakage at Birstall Lock

Lunch stop

We decided to move on as the visitor moorings were full, and there was no proper shade. We passed through Thurmaston Lock, where there is an unusual sculpture. We moored up on a canal section at Syston, by Watermead Country Park. Thankfully there was some shade.

Sculpture

Moored by Watermead Country Park

We noticed a family of swans, with one cygnet having trouble keeping up with the other five. Later, the parents took the five cygnets through the hedge to the lake, but the sixth couldn’t get up the bank to follow them, so was left alone on the canal.

Later on, James went to explore the park, and walked round John Merrick’s Lake, where he saw the swan family. At one point a rat ran across the path. We had seen two others earlier in the day.

John Merrick’s Lake

Under the willow

Crow

Song Thrush

Teasels

Back at the boat, the moorings had filled up, with Annie moored just in front of us. We had a meal on the towpath, before Ann left us to go home on public transport.

A lady arrived, who was very concerned for the cygnet, and she soon had several people involved in trying to catch it to see if had picked up fishing line or similar. She even roped in a boat called The Ark who followed the cygnet slowly hoping it would move to the side where we might be able to catch it. Nothing worked, so we gave up in the end. The lady said she would be back in the morning with a long net.

In pursuit of the cygnet

5 locks, 6 miles. Dep 0955, arr 1215 Birstall. Dep 1335, arr 1430 Syston

Next: moving on downstream through Barrow to Loughborough