Back on a river and really enjoying it

We've now come down from the heights of Northamptonshire and are cruising the River Soar heading for the Trent.  At our last posting we were on the Market Harborough Arm of the Grand Union.  We left there on Sunday (14th August) and started our descent towards Leicester.

Here we are passing the bottom of the Foxton locks that we had come down on Friday.  Several boats were waiting to go up the locks.

You can easily miss this insignificant stream coming into the canal.  It is a feeder from Saddington Reservoir which supplies water to the top end of the canal (albeit below the actually summit level above Foxton Locks)

We have found that quite a lot of this canal needs a 'haircut' to cut down the offside vegetation as this shot shows.  Leo is approaching the Saddington Tunnel which is only half a mile long and the shortest of the three tunnels on this canal.  You can easily see the far end of the tunnel.

There seems to be plenty of water up here as this waterfall at the top end of Crane's Lock shows.  In fact a CRT chap was letting some more water through higher up causing the level above the lock to rise.

We moored overnight at Wistow.  We've been here before and enjoyed again the walk over the fields to the Garden Centre which includes a model village.  Thomas was pushing Annie and Clarabel around the track and generally the model seemed in a better state of repair than two years ago.

There is a canal in the model and a couple of locks, albeit the weed in the water would have meant repeated trips down the model sized weed hatches.  I hope you can see the red boat coming into the lock.

How about this?  A living knife and fork topiary.





















While at Wiston we moored near and then met a friend who, like us, volunteers at Naburn Lock on the River Ouse near York.  Dereck and both of us help out there during the winter months when we are not boating.  it was good to see Dereck again and to meet his wife, Brenda and to be nosy on each other's boats. On Monday we carried on down a succession of locks to moor at South Wigston, the last reasonably safe place to moor before doing the last leg into Leicester itself on Tuesday.

Quite a lot of the wide locks here have gates that don't like closing and open when they shouldn't.  This view shows the gates opening all by themselves once the water level had dropped.  We do like to open just one of the gates and keep the other closed as we can easily fit through just one gate.  However the other gate keeps coming open.  It's infuriating.

This is Kilby Bridge an attractive spot with a very wide stretch of canal and moorings.

We stopped a bit further on that evening and had our first barbeque of the year on the wide towpath.  It was a touch windy but we managed.  Ian is not in fact about to pick up hot sausages with his bare hand!  There are some tongs in the picture which are difficult to see.

On Tuesday we cruised down another 10 locks into Leicester.  This dull view is a spot of history.  This is where the well known removal firm of Pickfords had its water based headquarters at one time.

The last few miles into Leicester from the south are very green and rural as this picture shows.

Eventually at King's Lock you meet this notice which explains that you are about to join the River Soar which had been following close alongside us for several miles.

Approaching Freeman's Meadow Lock you pass this stadium which Leicester City FC have now made world famous by their success this year.

The final stretch into the city is called the Straight Mile.  This channel was dug in 1895 to reduce flood problems.  It is good for rowers too, though we were surprised how much weed was growing in the river.  The river looked a bit stagnant and unloved in the centre of the city.  The council really ought to clean it up.

We had been told there was a car in the river and you can just see its back door sticking above the water.  We did not hit it.  It seems it had come through a barrier and down a slope into the river.

We have previously moored at Castle Gardens but there is a new secure mooring at Friar's Mill just downstream.  This is next to a partially completed development but is quieter than the other mooring, albeit a longer walk from the big Tesco.







We enjoyed two half days in Leicester visiting places we had not seen before and found time for a great pint of Everard's in the Globe.

Last time we came here the Cathedral was not open because they were preparing for 'Songs of Praise' on BBC TV.  This time we were able to go in.  If you visit do look up to the roof which is wonderfully well painted.

Do you remember the fuss about whether Richard III, who was discovered under the letter 'R' in the car park, would be buried in Leicester or York?  This is his tomb which we thought was suitably regal.  There are also three stained glass windows commemorating this reburial.

We visited the Jewry Wall Museum which is next to this site of the Roman Baths.  The high wall with the arches is the 'Jewry Wall' but the name has nothing to do with the Jews.  The wall itself is one of the tallest remaining Roman structures in England.  The museum has a lot of Roman and other remains presented in an engaging way and is well worth a visit.

This is Jubilee Square which we crossed several times and liked.














On Wednesday afternoon we cruised out of the city for a couple of hours to Birstall and ate at the White Horse there.

Leaving Leicester going North is pretty dismal with lots of derelict industrial scenery but this fine mural at Frog Island certainly brightened the view.

Here is a second part of the same mural.

The National Space Centre (the interesting shaped building) is seen across the large weir at Belgrave Lock, not that there was a lot of water flowing as the river is pretty low.

This is a view looking back southwards to Thurcaston Bridge.  Going this way there is no real indication other than the size of the left hand arch to indicate which way you have to go.  If we come back this way next year (which we might) then we must remember to go left.







Today (Thursday) we have left Leicester well behind and come down river to Barrow upon Soar.

A mile and a half below Thurmaston Lock the River Wreake joins from the right.  Once this formed a navigable waterway to Melton Mowbray up the river and then the Oakham Canal went on to Oakham in Rutland.  That would be fun with 20-30 miles more of navigable water.

Here is Leo with Geraniums on top so you can tell it's not windy.  We are approaching Cossington Lock after a stretch where you are cruising on the River Wreake and only join the Soar again below this lock.

In places the River Soar is really wide like this stretch approaching Sileby Lock and Mill.  In other places it is quite narrow.

Here below Sileby Lock we are looking back towards the Mill.  The white foamy water is coming off the weir.  The additional water coming down the River Wreake seems to have increased the flow.

At Mountsorrel the village comes right up to the River whereas most of the villages are at a distance, presumably because of flooding.  Mountsorrel is a pretty spot but was quite busy.  We even met a boat coming the other way through the lock.  Most of the route round here has been very quiet.

This is below the lock looking back at Mountsorrel.

We passed Mum and Foal having a drink.  Their colouring is so remarkably similar.

The gardens coming through Barrow were attractive, some worthy of Chelsea.  Not so sure about this one though with its fortifications and cannons facing passing boats.

 The above panorama shows the view from the River bridge at Barrow looking upstream.  The left channel goes to the lock (a deep one at nearly 10 feet) and the right channel is the river coming from the weir.

This view is taken from the weir above the lock where the River Soar leaves the navigable lock cut for a grand detour of a couple of miles.  The navigable route is only about half a mile.










Our plans in the next few days are to complete our trip down the Soar to where it joins the River Trent and then to turn west up the Trent and the Trent and Mersey Canal heading gradually northwards.

Up the stairs and down again!!

We've come north on the Leicester Branch of the Grand Union and we're now moored part way down the arm that goes to Market Harborough.  This was originally intended to be a main route for wide boats going through to Northampton, but this link was never built, leaving a narrow canal linking to the main part of the Grand Union and another set of narrow locks down to join the River Nene at Northampton.  This is one reason why you still can't take a wide beam boat from north to south in England.

The last posting on our blog was at Norton Junction where the Leicester Branch leaves the main line of the Grand Union.  Last Tuesday we carried on north first going up the Watford flight of locks.  These are close by Watford Gap services on the M1, indeed the canal goes round the back of the services car park before going up the locks.  There are two single locks, then a staircase of 4 locks and a final single lock at the top.

Here is Leo having come up the first two single locks and waiting for clearance from the lock keeper to come up the staircase.  The lock keeper's cottage in the background had a fine showing of marigolds in pots.

Looking the other way you can see the staircase ahead.  For non canal buffs, a staircase is where the top gate of one lock forms the bottom gate of the next, so there is no gap between the locks.

The Watford locks are very well kept either by the lock keeper or by volunteers.  Flowers are everywhere and the services and office block at the top looks pristine.  We are moored here taking on water and getting rid of rubbish.

We moored Tuesday evening at Yelvertoft which is a quiet and attractive village.  Here is the church but we did also visit the pub.

These sedilia in the church have very eroded pillars as you can see.  Apparently Cromwell's soldiers sharpened their swords on them.

We found this huge thistle in a garden in Yelvertoft village.




















Wednesday and Thursday we carried on up the Leicester Branch including the mile and a half branch to Welford.

The Welford Arm has a small lock (only rising three and a half feet) and here you can see Leo in the lock which lifts the canal to its highest point at 415 feet above sea level.

At the end of the Welford Arm we watched this moorhen with her very young chick.  Very late in the year for such a tiny one.

This is the wharf at the very end of the Welford Branch with two narrowboats moored in the bay at the end.  

It is not far to walk into Welford from the end of the canal.  It is an attractive village.  Look at the ornate brickwork in these cottages.

Humbling to see in the church this story from a hundred years ago.  The local doctor was doing his duty trying to help injured soldiers caught on the barbed wire at the Battle of the Somme and was shot himself and died.  Very sad and so unnecessary.  An agreed break in fighting like that now happening in Aleppo could have saved his life.

There are three tunnels on this canal.  This was Husbands Bosworth the second tunnel about three quarters of a mile long.  You can just see the light at the end of the tunnel.










We wanted to get through the Foxton Locks before the weekend because it is a very popular spot.  So we went down on Friday.  Foxton has two staircases each of five narrow locks.

At the top is this engaging bronze of a young lad with the horse towing a narrowboat.

We had to wait about an hour before we could go down, while three boats came up the 10 locks.  This is the view looking up the flight from the top of the second staircase of five locks.  In the pound between the two staircases we passed the boat  you can see in the picture.  The ten locks take you down 75 feet.

Although it was not a weekend there were plenty of gongoozlers as this picture shows.  Still, plenty of volunteers to open and close bottom gates as we descended.  The flight has side ponds with paddles painted white and red.  "Red before white and you'll be alright", "White before red and you'll wish you were dead".

Here Leo is in the last lock and once again there are plenty of visitors.  Not a place to make a mistake with so many spectators.

That evening we turned right at the bottom of the locks to go up the five mile arm to Market Harborough.  We moored after a couple of miles and Ian repainted the light blue line at the stern between white and red.  Most boats have a black line at this point but Leo is pleased to be different.

After doing the painting we walked through the fields to the village of Great Bowden just to the north of Market Harborough.

Great Bowden is another attractive village with a shop and two pubs as well as the church shown here.  We  had a drink at the Red Lion but we were too late to patronise the village shop which had closed.









Today (Saturday) we cruised into Market Harborough and have now come out again and moored near Foxton.

The canal basin at Market Harborough is well restored and marks the end of the five mile arm, so it is time to turn round.

This view looks the other way across the basin.

When we came here two years ago the market hall was behind hoardings being restored.  It now looks splendid next to the parish church of St Dionysius.

Some of the Arm is pretty narrow and overgrown with reeds.  We're not sure what the works is making or processing but the smell (not unpleasant) and the noise made it clear it was still functioning.


















In the next few days we will be heading down the locks towards Leicester where the canal meets the River Soar.  This river has a reputation for flooding so we hope there will not be any heavy rain.