intrepid pony: Leicester - ancient and modern

approaching Leicester

Heron swallowing a fish

We had lovely weather for our cruise into Leicester. the scenery was lovely, so why do folk say give the place a wide berth?

The land around Birstall formed a vast water park teeming with wildlife. The water must have been teeming with fish as it had quite a few herons fishing in the park. One speared a small fish as we passed and swallowed it whole.

Do they look heavy to push open?

The whole park was peaceful and largely devoid of humans which was strange as we were less than five miles from the centre of Leicester.

the Space centre

The only problem with the Soar navigation was the heavy locks. At our first lock we met a boat and the lock slave helped me open the gate but at the next I was alone. I pushed and pushed but couldn’t move it so the Captain came to help. No we pushed and panted but the gate stayed glued shut. The Captain resorted to shoving the lock gate with the boat but though it cracked open it shut again.

What do you do when all else fails? Wait for rescue. I was still out of breath when a young cyclist stopped.

Old factories

“Need some help?” he chirped. He pushed with me adding my weight and the gate opened. He wasn’t much bigger than me but boy was he strong! He patted Lottie and she wagged her tail enthusiastically even though she normally dislikes cyclists so she must have been grateful too.

Approaching the city the first building we noticed was the Space Centre which towered over the trees like a giant condom.

Beautiful bridges

We moored at Castle Gardens in the centre of Leicester at the end of a floating pontoon. Lottie was relieved that she could go into the gardens to relieve herself as a bare pontoon is not attractive to a choosy hound. The moorings were separated from the gardens by a huge gate at which Lottie waited keen to explore. However she hated being kept on the lead as the gardens were busy.

Medieval gateway

We went through the gardens and looked at the remains of the castle and old buildings in the city. Although it was early we stayed the night at the moorings as there were a lot of locks ahead between Leicester and Foxton. The Captain suggested that we go on from there to circle round to Fradley via the Oxford and Coventry canals so we may not come back this way.