Kilby Bridge to Market Harborough and Foxton

Monday 29^th September

Bumblebee Lock to High Bridge 79, Newton Harcourt

We set off early, and the first four locks were empty in our favour, but the final two were full.  A lovely morning with a slight mist in the air.  A good view of a buzzard sitting in a field.

Early morning cruise

Top Half Mile Lock

We moored on piling just after High Bridge, with a good view of the valley, and sunshine to dry our washing.

Lots of dog walking going on. One was a German Shepherd who was interested in Hugo.  The owner told us that Newton Harcourt manor house by the church was up for sale, and they were going to build houses behind it.  He then walked on, and an elderly lady came into view a minute of two behind him, saying: “I don’t know why I go along with him on these walks!”

Hazel put out the washing to dry.  A rain shower started. Hazel took the washing in again. The rain stopped.  IS THIS A TEST?

We walked along a bit of towpath, over bridge 78, across two fields and along a road to Wistow Garden Centre, which includes a few craft shops, a farm shop, a pet accessories shop, a tea room and a model village.  We looked at the model village, which is a little tired, and bought a frappe and an ice cream, before walking back another way. 

Model Village at Wistow

This route took us up a lane, and over a new bridge, and past the manor house (not very old) where they are building new homes in the grounds. We guess that the new bridge was to allow works access to the site. 

We visited the church of Newton Harcourt, and signed the visitor’s book. Very dark and not often used.  Back over bridge 80 and along the towpath.  James spotted a bank vole running along a horizontal branch in the hedge.

Back at our boat we found another boat moored in front: Skylark. 

Two buzzards in a tree nearby. This seems to have been the year of the buzzard. We have never seen so many.

6 locks, 2 miles, 1 live bank vole in hedge, 1hr45

Tuesday 30^th September

Newton Harcourt to Smeeton Westerby

Apart from one or two trains, this was a peaceful mooring.  We set off at a leisurely time after consuming some Aldi croissants.  Skylark had not moved.

Rural views near Wistow

Crane’s Lock

Crane’s Lock and Pywell’s Locks were both in our favour, but 19 and 20 Kibworth Locks were full and needed to be emptied.  Kibworth Top Lock had a boat in it coming down, so we went in after it had left..

We paused for lunch after bridge 74, and phoned the Old Crown in Fleckney to check that the music session was happening tomorrow (first Wednesday of the month). It wasn’t – my information was old.  We scooped up Hugo, who was enjoying life on the towpath, and moved on to the moorings for Fleckney at bridge 73. Skylark arrived soon after. We walked across a medieval field with undulating bumps and made our way to the Co-op for some essentials.

We moved on through Saddington Tunnel, which has bats, but all we could see were bat boxes on the walls. 

Saddington Tunnel

Lots of good moorings after this – one local boat had reversed in the feeder from the reservoir.  We found a place with a good view of Smeeton Hill.

It was a lovely evening and we sat out on deckchairs on the grass. Not bad for the last day of September!

5 locks, 4 miles, 2hr35

Wednesday 1^st October

Smeeton Westerby

A sunny morning after a breezy night.  We had a lovely cooked breakfast with Anabel’s bantam eggs.

Djinni is a smart boat we have seen moored occasionally.  Today they went past fairly early, and if we hadn’t seen them we would not have known.  They hardly put out any wash, and the engine was very quiet.

Skylark went past around midday.

James adjusted the setting on the thermostat on the immersion heater. We’ll try in it a few days to see if it works.

Caught up with blogs.

No boating today

Thursday 2^nd October

Smeeton Westerby to Market Harborough

A lovely sunny day. Our first stop was the water tap just before Foxton Locks. There are three here, and the pressure is good.  We thought there might be boats waiting for it at Market Harborough.

Foxton Junction

There were no boats using Foxton Locks as we passed.  There is a small manual pedestrian swingbridge at the entrance to the Market Harborough arm. The instructions say to insert your key and turn it, but it wouldn’t turn.  There is also a handle to lift to release a catch and it is all very fiddly.  The bridge swung without difficulty, and when James swung it back it would not catch in the mechanism, which is probably why the key would not turn originally. He left it as he found it.

A little further on there is a road swingbridge. It has barriers which can’t be released until the key is turned. The bridge can’t be swung (manually) until the barriers are across. It is all complicated due to health and safety.

Foxton Swingbridge

We passed Djinni, and asked them whether they had an enclosed insulated engine, but they said they just had a hospital silencer and trad stern.  We cruised slowly along, making notes of possible moorings, and looking at the fish, as the water was clear. At one place we found the head of a child’s fishing net entangled in a bramble, so we cut it away to use the material as bait bags for the crayfish traps.  While we were doing that, we spotted a bullfinch in a nearby bush.  We haven’t seen one for several years, so it was very exciting.  We used to see them quite often years ago.

On arrival in the basin at Market Harborough, we headed for the facilities, where a Canal Club boat was moored in the middle of the moorings, and they were washing the boat with a hose.  We managed to reverse into a spot round the corner where we could tie on with the stern line and the centre line, with the bows sticking out across the bows of the hire boat.  “You realise you’ve blocked us in?” said one of the two Canal Club staff. The boat had nothing behind it, so was definitely not blocked in.

“We only have two more boats to do, and then it’s all yours” the other one said.  We only wanted to empty our cassettes and dispose of our rubbish. Thankfully we didn’t need water as we had filled up earlier.  This is a C&RT facility, but the hire boat base seem to think it is for their exclusive use.

Market Harborough basin

We left the basin and moored on the visitor moorings, two boats in front of Skylark.

We went shopping in Market Harborough.  They have a Lidl, Aldi, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and a small Tesco.  We pottered round the market, and some of the other shops, had a latte on the square, and took a taxi back with our trolley full of provisions.

A very warm night.  This is supposed to be October!

0 locks, 8 miles, 2 swing bridges

Friday 3^rd October

Market Harborough to Foxton Step Bridge

We needed to leave and come back again, because these are 48 hour moorings and we want to be back here on Sunday for church.

We wanted to get some more milk so James went to the local newsagents and convenience store across the main road. It had “closed” on the door; a little odd at 10am on a Friday.  Closer inspection revealed that the shelves were empty. Closed DOWN would have been a better phrase.

He wandered over towards the Canal Club office to see if they sold milk. Before he got there a lady approached and asked him if he was from Gabriel.  It turned out that she was from Silent Lights, the company from which our angel lights came, and had remembered that we had entered an illuminated procession with them.  She had just had a week on a hire boat.  With not enough space for them on the boat, the lights are now at Weybridge Methodist Church, where, hopefully, they might be erected this December for the public to see as they pass by.

The man in the Canal Club office said they didn’t sell milk, and then a voice piped up from the doorway “But we have some!”  The Silent Lights lady gave us a half full 4 pint bottle, straight from the hire boat fridge.  The Lord provides.

It was a pleasant day for boating, although there was a fair breeze.  We wanted to go out into the countryside for one night, to sit out the rain forecast for tomorrow, and cruise back in the forecast sunshine in late afternoon.

Woodland just outside Market Harborough

We cruised 3 ½ miles to a winding hole, where we turned round and reversed a further half mile through two bridges to a mooring by Foxton Step Bridge.  Thankfully no boats came along while we were making our manoeuvre.  The bow thruster really helps to keep the boat going straight.  Just after we had moored up, three boats came past.

Enjoying the wildlife

We finally managed to put our canal map into the frame we had bought, and we hung it with sticky Velcro-style fixings.  The plan is that we can take down the whole frame to show people canal routes, and put it back up again.

Hugo seemed very happy with the place, and to demonstrate this, he brought us a live field mouse, which James had to return to the wild.

We noticed a sign which said 6.43kph.  Presumably this is the equivalent of 4mph, but as boats don’t generally have speedometers, two decimal places is little excessive in the accuracy department. Who has wasted money on such a futile sign?

6.43 out of 100 for intelligence

Evening near Foxton Step Bridge

Reflections at dusk

0 locks, 4 miles, 1 mouse, 1hr35

Saturday 4^th October

Foxton Step Bridge to Market Harborough

The rain came in the morning as forecast, and then stopped at about 3pm, so we set off back towards Market Harborough, and very soon we had blue sky and sunshine.

We passed the only sight of industry in the area – JG Pears. Apparently they try to find uses for animal carcasses, and bathe the neighbours in sweet aromas on warm summer evenings.

JG Pears factory

We moored on the visitor mooring bollards and as we were finishing off with the ropes, a couple came past, with two dogs and a cat.  They had all been for a walk along the towpath.

James suggested we went to the Mexican restaurant we had spotted in town.  Hazel said it was too far, so instead we had fajitas for dinner on board.

There are water taps on the visitor moorings, so we filled up later on, in the dark, without moving the boat.

0 locks, 4 miles, 2 mice, 1hr20

Sunday 5^th October

Market Harborough to Foxton Locks

After a peaceful night we had glorious sunshine and a slight mist in the morning.

Early morning at Market Harborough

We took our shopping trolley and walked into Market Harborough and found the Baptist Church, where we had a warm welcome.  We were half expecting to see Jeff and Margaret Bonser, one-time BCF members who have since sold their boat.  Sadly they were away in Dublin this weekend.

Market Harborough Baptist Church

The worship was led by a very good keyboard player, accompanied by a guitarist and a drummer.  There was no-one leading the singing, but the congregation were in good voice.  The message was about self-control, well delivered by Nick, the pastor.  After the service, coffee and biscuits were served upstairs, where there are several large rooms – a good facility.

We popped into the Co-op to buy a few things before catching the bus back to the basin.  We used the facilities before setting off for Foxton.

It was a lovely sunny day as we cruised this now familiar stretch.  At the first swing bridge, there was day boat approaching from the other direction.  James opened the bridge, Hazel took Gabriel through, and the day boat came through slowly. The traffic was building up either side, and James swung the bridge back again after the day boat.  After replacing the road barriers and removing his key, he saw a hire boat just stopping on the bridge bollards. Bad timing!

After the second swing bridge, where we had several young children watching our progress, we were hoping to visit Foxton Boat Services, possibly for fuel, depending on price, but also for toilet blue, and coal. The place we thought was the boatyard seemed to have become a gastro pub with a large open air seating area where things like fuel pontoons used to be.  The other side of the locks entrance was a café and a shop.

We went to tie up on the lock bollards to discover that this was reserved for a trip boat!  Where were we meant to queue for the locks? The notice said queue other side. Other side of the notice? Other side of the canal?  Just then the trip boat returned, and there was lot of gesticulating for us to get out of the way.  We realised then that the notice was for people to queue for the trip boat, not for boats to queue for the locks.  We pulled back to some bollards on a bend, so our stern was sticking out into the bridge hole.  While Hazel went to find the lock keeper, James spoke to the man on the trip boat and expressed his surprise that trip boats were allowed to use the lock bollards.  “We’re not blocking anyone,” he said. “You can take your boat straight in.”   “Not without stopping first to report to the lock-keeper and open the gates!” James replied.  Apparently they have been operating like this for 55 years.

At that point Hazel returned to say that we could go into the locks.  Hazel took the tiller, while James cast off the ropes, despite being told by the trip boat man that we should not untie until the gates were open.  James emptied the first lock and Hazel took Gabriel in.  Very soon we had a crowd of people round the boat as it was a hot Sunday afternoon.  The locks have side pounds, and there are two types of paddles.  The red ones empty the water from the side pound in to the lock.  The white ones empty the water from the lock above in to the side pound.  We have to open the red ones first to stop the side pounds getting too full and overflowing, wasting the water.

Plenty of people to talk to

Extra crew

We had a team of small children pushing and shoving on the lock beams with great excitement.  The lock keeper was a CRT volunteer, who mostly just monitored what was going on, except at the gap between the two flights of locks, when he went ahead and set the lock for us.

At the top, we stopped at the first available mooring after the water points and the disabled space.

At about 7pm we took our instruments, drinks and torches, and wandered down to the museum. We found two people there already, with concertina and melodeon at the ready.  A few more turned up, and there were thirteen altogether in the end, two of whom were spectators and raffle organisers.  It was all good fun, with each taking a song or tune in turn.  We sang: Long Way Down; Well, Well, Well; Low Bridge (Erie Canal); and Dorset Juggernaut.  There was more enthusiasm than talent, but they were a friendly bunch and it was worth going.

Night in the museum

10 locks, 5 miles, 2 swing bridges, 3hr05

Barrow-upon-Soar to Kilby Bridge

Tuesday 23^rd September

Barrow to Junction Lock

Moored at Barrow-upon-Soar

Navigation Inn, Barrow

Our first port of call this morning was the sanitary station 5 minutes upstream, where we performed the necessary tasks.  There seem to be permanent moorings right outside the facility, which makes tying alongside a bit of a challenge.  Our hose only just reached. We nearly had to use the new one, which is still in its box!

Dutch houses at Mountsorrel

Mountsorrel Lock

Mountsorrel Lock was in our favour.  There are moorings above this lock, but the A6 is very near, so we have never stopped to visit the place. There are a few pubs, shops and churches, so maybe next time.

We paused just below Sileby Lock and went across to visit the chandlery. We had lunch on board.

Sileby Mill

When we were ready to leave, a boat was coming down in the lock and a cruiser appeared behind us, so we shared the lock with the cruiser.  We also shared Cossington Lock with them, but they moored before Junction Lock, on a high bit of piling. This looked difficult to get on or off, so we carried on through the lock and moored above it, where there are rings and piling. 

New since last time was an “upgraded” towpath which was now smooth tarmac, and formed part of a Sustrans cycle route into Leicester.  The bikes were going at speed and Hugo was rushing back on board from time to time.

The bikes eased off when it got dark, but at about 1030pm there was an awful noise of a fight from the stern of the boat, with Hugo yelling at the top of his voice.  We couldn’t open the side doors to look because the piling was too high.  Hazel put the light on for the back deck, and opened the door. Hugo rushed in, but his assailant had gone.  On the floor there was a lot of grey fur, as well as some reddish fur, and we think it was a fox.  Hugo was limping badly with a lame right hind foot. He wouldn’t let us go near him and swore at us if we got too close.

We locked his flap and kept him in for the rest of the night.

4 locks, 5 miles. 2hr55

Wednesday 24^th September

Junction Lock to Birstall

Hugo was still limping this morning and would not let us look at his foot, so we decided to take him to a vet. 

We checked with another boat moored a few boat lengths away, but they do not have any animals on board. As we were half a mile from the nearest dwelling, we were even more convinced that it was a fox.  What we need is one of those trail cameras they use on Springwatch.

River Wreake junction

We set off past the junction with the River Wreake, where there was a new footbridge (Sustrans), and past the Hope and Anchor, where we had had a meal last year on our way to Newark by car. Then came the Watermead Country Park, which would be a good mooring next time, followed by Thurmaston Lock.

Thurmaston Lock

We moored just above Birstall Lock, and made an appointment with the vet for tomorrow at 1115. (No spaces today) We went to explore the shopping possibilities.  We found the vet at the top of the hill, a bit too far to carry the cat.  We booked a taxi for 1100 at the White Horse, a few yards from the boat.

Back on board we had a very peaceful night.

Moored at Birstall

1 lock, 3 miles, 1hr15

Thursday 25^th September

Birstall to Leicester Abbey Gardens

We visited the Co-op for some essentials, and returned to the boat.

We put Hugo in his carrying cage and went to the White Horse pub to rendezvous with the taxi at 11am.  At the vets, Hugo had a pain killer injection and another with an antibiotic.  We were supplied with pills to continue his course of antibiotics. We also bought some treatments for fleas and worms.  Expensive cat!  Very good service and pleasant staff.

We left straight away, continuing our journey south into Leicester. As we went through Birstall Lock we discovered that there is a nature reserve right there where we could have gone for a walk.

Belgrave Lock and National Space Centre

We passed the National Space Centre (must visit one day) and Belgrave Lock. At Limekiln Lock there were a dozen guys drinking beer and speaking Urdu.  There was considerable leakage from the bottom gates, so it was difficult to get the top gates open. One of the chaps came to help push the beam, but it needed Hazel to nudge the gate with the boat to get it open.

At North Lock we met a Christian guy who works for a local charity.

We were wondering whether there would be space for us on the pontoon at Castle Gardens, as it has been crowded in the past. When we arrived, we were the only boat, so we had it to ourselves.

James went to great lengths to put our plank out as a ramp up to a dustbin, where Hugo could get onto the wall and into the park.  Hugo showed his independence by finding another way up, involving a five-foot leap. His leg must be improving!

In the evening we took our instruments round to the Black Horse, where there was a singaround session. We sang Banks of the Ohio, Well Well Well, Waterloo Road, and Long Way Down.  There was a group of people at one end of the room who were not there for the music, and they made a lot of noise. It made it impossible to sing anything quiet.  It was a great evening, with friendly people.

4 locks, 4 miles, 2hr00

Friday 26^th September

Leicester Abbey Gardens to South Wigston

The first job was to get an antibiotic pill inside Hugo.  We ground it up and mixed it with his food. He had about half of it before retiring to bed.

Anabel came by bus to meet us at our mooring, and join us for the day’s cruise to South Wigston, where she lives.

The journey south from Leicester begins with the mile straight, where there are several ornamental bridges and fine buildings, including one called Soar Point. The straight ends with a slight bend and a large lock, alongside a wide weir.

Freeman’s Meadow Lock

The weir alongside

There follows a series of locks, with river sections and canal sections, and one or two mills. We spotted an Aldi alongside the canal above Aylestone Mill Lock.

St Mary’s Mill Lock

At Kings Lock, we spoke to the proprietor of King’s Lock Tea Rooms, based in the lock cottage. It seems that mooring here is safe and it looks OK. They also have an occasional music session on a Sunday afternoon, and the teas look good. Next time? 

The navigation goes through some quite rural areas, although the housing estates are not far away.  After 9 locks we arrived at a picnic site with bollards, just before Crow Mills Bridge 92, which is close to where Anabel lives.

Hazel and Anabel

Anabel and James

We had noticed an entry for Life Church at Wigston Magna in our BCF directory, with a suggestion that we call them for lift from Kilby Bridge, as they were two miles away. James tried to call, and he left a message on an answering machine.  Being Friday afternoon, it was possible that their office was closed.

Anabel kindly offered to take us if we couldn’t get hold of someone at the church. She left us to walk home, and we moved on a further two locks and found a peaceful mooring above lock 31.

We managed to get another pill into Hugo.  His limp was a lot less today.

We sent a message to Life Church via their website.

11 locks, 7 miles, 4hr25

Saturday 27^th September

Above lock 31

We had a relaxing day doing one or two jobs. James cut the bow well mat in half, as, up until then, it had been difficult to lift up. It was then much easier to remove both halves, and sweep the deck, before removing the cover to the bow thruster, and moving a few of the ballast bricks from port to starboard.

He also had a go at sanding some of the paintwork knocks and scratches, and applying some rust beater.

It was very quiet on the waterway: only one boat went past all day.

Then he wrote a long letter to the BCF committee with some suggestions about the membership directory.

As we hadn’t heard from Life Church, we phoned Anabel who said she would come with us tomorrow. She would meet us on Kilby Bridge at 10.00am.

Later on we had a phone call from Matt, a member at the church, who said he could give us a lift.  Having made the arrangement with Anabel, we said we would go with her after all.

No boating today

Sunday 28^th September

South Wigston Lock 31 to Kilby Bridge Bumblebee Lock 29

After a very peaceful day we set off for Kilby Bridge, one lock and half a mile away.  We stopped first at the sanitary station to take on water, empty cassettes and dispose of rubbish. Then we crossed to the towpath side to moor up on the bollards.

At ten o’clock we met Anabel as arranged by the bridge, and noticed that some slurry lorries had been past, and some of the contents had slopped over onto the bridge, causing a very ripe smell to pervade the area.

We went two miles in her car to Life Church in Wigston Magna, where we had a warm welcome, with many people coming to say hello. The worship group were very good, with drummer, keyboard, guitar, bass, and three lady singers. The lady leading the service was very warm and sensitive, and was good at explaining things, for example when someone spoke in tongues and there was an interpretation. We shared bread and wine, and the preacher spoke about the woman from Samaria, and how Jesus broke several taboos when he spoke to her.  This was followed by four baptisms.  There seemed to be lots going on at this church, with events for older people, a youth group, and lots of children for their Sunday School.

Life Church worship group

 Pastor Phil Buckley bringing the word

Baptism

After the service

Anabel declined the suggestion of a pub lunch, as she wasn’t feeling very well.  She took us via Aldi for some provisions and then delivered us to the Navigation at Kilby Bridge. We said our farewells, and had a set price 3-course meal – excellent value with good-sized platefuls.

Wharf crane at Kilby Bridge

We slept it off in the afternoon back on board.  Later on, we decided that the country smell was too much, so we set off for a short cruise to find somewhere quieter and a little less aromatic.  We moored above Bumblebee Lock on some convenient piling.

Bridge reflection

Peaceful mooring

2 locks, 2 miles, 1hr00

Car Hire weekend from Barrow-upon-Soar

Saturday 20^th September

Car Hire Barrow – Farnborough – Southampton – Farnborough – Chertsey

We collected our car from the Indian restaurant, and with a 9am start we were soon onto the A6, then via the A46 to the M1.  Almost immediately we were into a 50 mph limit with narrow lanes. Thankfully the cruise control on our Vauxhall Astra was simple to operate.

At Milton Keynes they were working on a slip road, which was causing horrendous queues on the M1 in both directions, and there were unexplained stoppages every few minutes.  The traffic in the other direction was queuing from Milton Keynes right down to the M25. We decided to avoid the M1 on the return journey.

Even the M3 was busy as we travelled to Farnborough to collect Oliver. We had a five minute stop there before getting back on the busy M3 to go to Southampton. We worked out that there was some boat show traffic which didn’t help.

We went to Arthur’s house, and Amanda arrived there from Poole.  We drove to a pub a short distance away called the Malvern Tavern. Very adequate for our needs. It was good to catch up with family again.

On our return journey to Farnborough we took the A31 from Winchester to just before the Hog’s Back and the A331 north to Farnborough. We went under the Basingstoke Canal where we had been in May.  This route was much better and we should have gone that way earlier in the day.

After dropping off Oliver we drove into Chertsey to the Bridge Hotel, where we had a noisy night.  This is the text of the email we sent to the manager afterwards, and ten days later we still have had no reply:

When we arrived the room (133) was very hot and we could not find any heating or cooling system other than the radiator which was off. We could not therefore adjust the temperature, so we had to open the window to cool it down. The road traffic outside the window was continual and noisy.

The room had a locked connecting door with the next room, and there were loud voices and music coming through.

We went for a meal downstairs, and discovered that a wedding disco or band was just setting up. Back in our room, the noise from the wedding was very loud, particularly the bass thump shaking everything. The noise from the next room was also still going on. Eventually, around midnight, the wedding celebrations came to a conclusion, but not the noise from the next room.

At 2.40am I went in my dressing gown and knocked on their door. They did turn the music down after that, but the loud laughter and voices continued until 3.40am.

My wife and I had had a long drive on that Saturday, before arriving at Chertsey for a sleep. The following day we had a full programme of events and another long drive. We needed our sleep.

I do not feel that you should let out rooms that have interconnecting doors, unless you have some proper noise insulation installed. I also feel that rooms overlooking the road should have better noise insulation and some sort of climate control so that guests do not have to open the windows.

It is also surprising that we were not warned about the wedding music when we booked. There were other cheaper places where we could have stayed, but we thought we might get better service at the Bridge Hotel.

Bridge Hotel, Chertsey

Sunday 21^st September

Car hire Chertsey - Weybridge – Leatherhead – London – Barrow.

We had a good eat-as-much-as-you-like breakfast, before checking out and driving to Weybridge to attend our Methodist Church service.  It was Harvest Festival and the church looked really good.  Some people knew we were coming, but for others it was a surprise.  It was a good day to go as many of the occasional members were there as well as the regulars.  There was a shared lunch after the service, which gave us more time to chat to people.

Harvest Festival service

Harvest Lunch

Before we left Weybridge we drove past the new Morrisons site, where considerable progress has been made. The store is due to open by Christmas 2014.

We drove to leatherhead and visited Jessy, Greg, Jasmin and Claudia, who all seemed to be doing fine.

We then headed up the A3 to London where we managed to find an empty parking space within range of the Festival Hall.  On Sundays there is no charge on the parking meters and no congestion charge.  We had time for a latte before the Joan Baez concert.  Unfortunately we left the binoculars in the car, but there are no bad seats in the Festival Hall.  The concert was very good, but some of the songs had been rearranged to leave out the higher notes. She did well for a 73-year-old.

Gabriel’s Wharf

 London’s lights

After the concert we had a pizza on Gabriel’s Wharf (appropriate) before returning to the car. It was a warm evening. We had a bit trouble finding our way out of London, but we got there in the end, using the A1 and A47 to get back to Barrow-upon-Soar, where we arrived at 2am. The temperature had dropped from 15⁰ in London to 5⁰ in Barrow and there was a slight fog.

Hugo was pleased to see us, and had eaten most of the food we had left him.

Monday 22^nd September

Car Hire Barrow – Calke Abbey – Loughborough – Barrow

We were late emerging this morning after our long drive and lack of sleep the previous night.  We had decided to make good use of the car, so we visited Calke Abbey.  The brown signs were inadequate at one roundabout, and we took the wrong road, heading for the village of Calke, which we though was logical. On the way we visited Staunton Harold, where a map indicating “You are here” had been moved out into the car park. We weren’t where the map said we were. When we did find the church, it was closed. 

At Calke village we found the gate to Calke Abbey, but it was the exit only.  There was no map there to show how to get to the entrance, and no brown signs to follow.  We got there in the end but it was five miles round to the entrance.  The place is worth a visit. It is huge, and is depicted more or less as it was when it was given to the National Trust in the mid 20^th century. The family did not have the money to maintain the property, and the place is in gentle decay, with some of the rooms abandoned and full of unwanted items.  There were lots of stuffed birds in glass cases.  We could have used an extra two or three hours there, but we had to return the car.

Calke Abbey

 Outbuildings at Calke Abbey

We drove back to Loughborough but had difficulty finding the Enterprise depot. In the end we had to go round the ring road to the A6, and come in that way, which was more familiar.   Enterprise: it would be useful to supply all hirers with a town map showing where the depot is.

We are used to Ordnance Survey maps when driving around. Our magnificent collection went out when we let our house. We now only have room for a 4 miles per inch AA road atlas, and we notice the difference.

One of the Enterprise took us back to Barrow, but James left his wallet and phone in the front of the car. 

The lady kindly delivered them back to us later, on her way home.

We had an Indian takeaway which was lovely.  We noticed on the menu that the Dhansak was cooked in a “sweet and soar sauce”.  Not sure whether it is a joke or a misprint.

A good weekend.

Total driving distance: 481 miles

Swarkestone to Barrow-upon-Soar

Monday 15^th September

Swarkestone to Sawley

We found a gift from Hugo on the stern deck – a bank vole, very stiff.

A boat went past and we cast off to catch up and share Swarkestone lock. When we arrived at the lock there was another boat in the lock already so we had to wait and fill the lock after they had gone down.

If we had known, we could have used the water tap but by the time we had reached the lock we had passed the tap.

Swarkestone Lock

The Derby Canal used to leave from just above the lock, and the first few yards are used as moorings.  This is marked as a winding hole in the Nicholson Guide, but there is a sign saying “No turning in the basin”.  There was plenty of space to turn, so I would take issue with this sign. Why should we not turn a boat at a canal junction?

No turning sign

Thankfully we had no intention of turning, so we continued down the lock and on three miles to Weston Lock.  The two boats were just going down, so we stopped at the water point and filled the tank.  While we were doing this, another boat appeared below the lock and by the time we had finished with the tap, the lock was ready for us.

We stopped for lunch just after the lock, by a railway bridge, as we wanted to see what trains were using the line. We had heard them but not seen them.  Two trains passed while we were there – both were freight trains.

Another boat went past just as we finished lunch, so we set off after them and were able to join them in Aston Lock. Sapphire was the first boat we had shared a lock with since the end of May on the Thames.

We shared Shardlow Lock before cruising through this lovely village with its historic buildings.

Shardlow

Derwent Mouth Lock had a boat coming up, and then we shared our last lock with Sapphire, as they were going on towards Nottingham.

We opened up the throttle on the short River Trent section, passing under the M1,  before arriving at Sawley visitor moorings, to discover that the boat moored in front was another Sapphire, BCF friends of ours Robin and Mary Bielby.  We had a cuppa together and caught up with news.

Under the M1

Robin and Mary

Threat of rain so we put up the hood overnight

5 locks, 8 miles, 1mouse, 4hr15

Tuesday 16^th September

Sawley to Trent Lock.

No rain after all.  Robin and Mary set off before we were ready to go so we said our farewells.

We moved the boat across to the fuel pontoon to visit the chandlery, only to find it is closed on Tuesdays.

Onwards to the facilities block near the lock for rubbish and loo, before taking the boat down the right lock. The left one had tape across suggesting it was out of order.

These locks are mechanised, without the need for pushing things and turning things, so Hazel applied the necessary key.

Sawley Locks

River Trent

Out onto the Trent and round the corner to Trent Lock, where we found Sapphire (Robin and Mary) moored on the pontoon.  They were just about to leave, so we took their mooring.  We only just fitted onto the pontoon, with our bows tucked inside the bows of a wide beam barge named Galatea, and our stern level with the downstream end, so Hugo could just step ashore without having to walk along the gunwale.

Amanda phoned to say she was likely to exchange contracts this week. We did some shuffling of finances in preparation. She also said she would join us for lunch on Saturday in Southampton.

James caught up a bit with the blog, which had fallen behind ever since the Taft weekend.

We went for tea at the tearooms, but they are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.  We were approached by two CRT chaps who tried to persuade us to become members of CRT.

Back to the boat for our tea.

Hugo was quite happy going up and down the gangplank from the floating pontoon, although he wasn’t too keen on the Canada Geese.

Wednesday 17^th September

Trent Lock to Zouch    

A mild windless morning, overlooking this wide piece of water.

James trundled a cassette to the facilities block on the Erewash Canal, and disposed of some rubbish at the same time.

Pontoon mooring at Trent Lock

We reversed out from under Galatea, and backed round in an arc, just as someone else was reversing out of Cranfleet Cut to go into the Erewash Canal.  We went past the Erewash entrance, and past Cranfleet Cut, past the sailing club and turned off the Trent into the Soar just by Thrumpton Weir.

Junction sign

Entrance to the Erewash Canal

Redcliffe Lock and bridge

We passed Redhill Marina, which is not a marina at all really, just a long line of moored boats, with a few portacabins and a fuel jetty (88p).

At Ratcliffe Lock there was no one to share with so we went up on our own.  The remains of a previous lock are visible alongside the present lock.

We saw a kingfisher, and noticed lots of floating pennywort, which reminded us of the River Wey.  We stopped at Kegworth, mooring by the “Shallow Lock”, which is a flood lock in the summer, with all gates kept open.

We visited the village, a half mile walk each way, for one or two basics from the Co-op there.  We had lunch on board when we returned to the boat.

Wild flowers

Just as we set off from Kegworth, we noticed a boat coming into view behind us, and we were able to share Kegworth Deep Lock with them, a boat called Corniche. The lock is quite fierce, and a single hander was going up in front of us, very slowly.  When it was our turn, we were halfway up when a hire boat appeared below us, so we now had a single boat, then two boats, then a single boat.

On the next section, but there are some lovely looking moorings, but the flight path to East Midlands airport passes overhead, so it is noisy.  We tried to catch up with the single hander, but when we arrived at Zouch Lock, he was already in the lock and going up, so we ended up sharing with Corniche once again.

Sharing with Corniche in Zouch Lock

Above the lock there are lots of bollards, and there is no sign to say where the lock bollards end and the mooring bollards begin.  Corniche tucked in leaving one boat length of lock bollards.  We carried on, passing the single hander who had also found a spot, and finding a place further on where we could use one bollard, and one mooring pin, in very hard earth.  Despite the road not far away, and a pub nearly opposite, the mooring was fairly peaceful.

3 locks, 6 miles, 2hr50

Thursday 18^th September

Zouch to Loughborough

Another cloudy start to the day, with a very fine dampness in the air which you could hardly even call rain.  Several boats seemed to set off at once, including Corniche.  We had a cooked breakfast, with lovely sausages bought in Alrewas, so we were a few minutes behind. A boat called My Sharona went past, and we said we would catch them up at the lock.

We pulled out, and went past all the moored boats and under the road bridge.  My Sharona was nowhere in sight, so we put on some speed, and as we were passing Soar Boating Club, we spotted them way ahead, going at quite a lick.  It was two miles to Bishop Meadow Lock, and we managed to close the gap, but to no avail, because there was another boat already at the lock for My Sharona to share with.

We went up on our own, and used the water tap and rubbish facilities at the top, before cruising into Loughborough, and mooring in the small basin at the end (5 boats max). 

The junction in Loughborough

Flying practice

We then spent three hours pottering round the charity shops and market, buying several things we hadn’t planned.

The basin isn’t somewhere you would want to spend the night, as there are busy roads all around, so we set off once more, doing the loop round Loughborough, before mooring on some bollards before Millers Bridge 34.  There was a small white cruiser moored slap in the middle of the line of bollards, leaving not quite enough room for us either in front or behind, so we checked no-one was aboard, and moved the boat up to the end of the line, leaving room for us behind.

A lovely sunny evening.

Moored outside Loughborough

2 locks, 5 miles, 1 mouse, 2hr55

Friday 19^th September

Managed to catch up with the blog backlog, before departing.  There were not many boats around as we headed for Barrow-upon-Soar.

There was CRT volunteer to help us through the deep lock at Barrow, and he had a collie and labrador cross that wanted us to throw stones all the time.  We moored just beyond the bollards.  The piling there wasn’t the usual sort, so we used mooring pins in the slots which seemed more secure.

We went to explore possible eating and parking places, and decided on the Indian restaurant for both.

Enterprise came to collect us, after a chaser phone call, and took us into Loughborough where we were allocated a white Vauxhall Astra 1.6.  

We returned to Barrow and had a good meal at the Bengal Indian restaurant. They said it would be OK to leave our car there overnight.

Lots of driving this weekend: Barrow – Farnborough – Southampton – Farnborough – Chertsey – Weybridge – Leatherhead – London – Barrow.

1 lock, 2 miles, 0hr55