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| Town centre mooring |
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| navigation through Loughborough |
After a peaceful
night we cruised for five minutes to the end of the town arm and moored on a
pontoon to go shopping. Lottie was keen to come but didn’t like hanging around
outside the supermarket.
After the post-shopping cup of tea the Captain set off
for the morning cruise. There were a lot more boats around including two wide
beam charity boats adapted to take disabled passengers.
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| peaceful suburbs |
Lottie enjoyed a walk with the captain while I steered the boat. All was fine until I approached a bridge where the Captain and Lottie were waiting to re-join the boat. As I pulled the boat tight to the concrete bank to so they could step aboard Lottie leaned over the edge to have a drink.
Somehow our surefooted hound slipped in – directly in the path of our advancing steel boat. I threw the boat into reverse and the Captain hauled on Lottie’s collar.
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| Lottie's narrow escape |
As the boat
scraped along the stone where she had been Lottie scrabbled out of the water.
She thanked the Captain for rescuing her by shaking muddy water all over him.
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| different bridge complete with urban graffiti |
Apart from
Lottie’s dip we had a good cruise before approaching our first lock where a
narrow boat for the disabled charity waited to go up.
While the Captain prepared the lock with them a fisherman set up his lines directly behind my boat on the lock pins. Although he wasn’t meant to fish there he had the cheek to say you won’t let your boat come back will you?”
While the Captain prepared the lock with them a fisherman set up his lines directly behind my boat on the lock pins. Although he wasn’t meant to fish there he had the cheek to say you won’t let your boat come back will you?”
Of course I won’t
- I don’t want fishing line tangled round the prop – the captain would give me
grief when he had to go down the weed hatch to untangle it!
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| the jolly pirate crew |
We passed a small day hire boat was stuffed with revelling pirates. Lottie eyed it suspiciously then barked at the boat as it passed. Was it the laughter or the strange clothes she objected to?
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| Old factories rising from the water. |
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| refurbished work houses |
Both our boat and
the charity boat wanted to moor up after the lock but because other boats had
spaced themselves badly there was no room for us. One boat had moored in the
middle of a huge gap but its skipper didn’t look embarrassed when we commented
on the lack of mooring.
Sometimes boaters in the middle of a space move along to help others. I would have thought he would have helped the charity boat by doing just that as they are providing a wonderful service for people that rarely get out.
Sometimes boaters in the middle of a space move along to help others. I would have thought he would have helped the charity boat by doing just that as they are providing a wonderful service for people that rarely get out.
Barrow upon Soar
was very pretty with the town on one side and meadows on the other. The gardens
leading down to the water were lovely and of course there were loads of moored
boats.
Unable to moor we
stopped for water only to find the Charity boat also needed to top up. Opposite
the water point on the edge of Barrow upon soar was enough mooring for two
boats so we moored tight to the other moored boats to let the charity boat slot
in front of us.
Just before the Charity boat joined us the boat that had hogged
the big mooring chugged by and stared at us moored tight to another fender
while there was 70ft free in front of us. The charity boat however needed all
that space being the maximum length for the canals.
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| unusual buildings |
After our break
we cruised on slowly drinking in the scenery. There were restored mills, bridges of vastly different designs and houses with unusual stepped upper facades.
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| Railway bridge |
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| Afloat but stuck in the reeds |
Our mooring for the night was near a weir so we could hear the water cascading over the edge. It was musical and soothing.
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| weir |
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