Up Hill and Down Dale

Unusually I am writing this posting from home as we have left Leo for a week for some medical checks and for Ian to compete in the Snowdonia Challenge, a walking event in North Wales.  So this posting brings us back up to date.

Last Wednesday (31 May) we were moored near Wistow and later in the afternoon walked across the fields to the Garden Centre which includes a model village.  We have been here before and found the model somewhat dilapidated.  It does now seem to be in better shape, but the canal in the model still needs filling with water.  However, as this shot shows, the railway in the model is running again:

We think this must be Henry from Thomas the Tank Engine, but where is his tender?













On Thursday we climbed the last five locks in the long climb from Leicester finding a Canal Boat Club boat with a family onboard to join us in the locks.

There were lots of volunteers on the locks partly because these two preserved working boats were coming down breasted together.  This is Nutfield and Raymond, the latter being the last unpowered wooden narrowboat constructed.  She was launched in 1958 so is nearly as old as we are.

This is the second of the Kibworth locks with two members of the family working ahead to get the locks set in front of us.

Above the locks lies Saddington Tunnel, the first of three on this stretch of canal.  We didn't meet any boats coming the other way but it is supposed to be wide enough to pass.  Broadbeams have to book their passage.

The yellow flag irises are now in full bloom along the canal.














We moored below Foxton Locks and walked up in the afternoon including visiting the museum there.  The admission price of the museum has been reduced by £1 this year to £3 and is probably worth it, though it is small.  It includes working models of the inclined plane that was built here in 1900 but which only operated for about 10 years.  The following day we went up the ten locks to the summit of the Leicester Branch at 412 feet above sea level.

This photo is taken looking down the remains of the inclined plane from the top.  Two caissons, each carrying two narrowboats or one broadbeam were balanced so that one went up as the other went down.

Here is the view looking down the locks from near the top.  There are two staircases each of five narrow locks with a passing place between them.  It is the narrow locks at Foxton and Watford that prevent broad boats getting between the south and the north of the country.

Here you can see Leo coming into the bottom lock at Foxton.  Helen is on the left working the paddles.  There are side pounds with a white painted and a red painted ground paddle at each lock.  The mantra is "red before white and you'll be all right, white before red and you'll wish you were dead."

Leo in this picture is at the halfway point coming out of the bottom staircase and heading for the first lock of the top staircase. One of the two volunteers who helped us up is John on the left.  We had so much help because no-one else was moving at that time.

Here is Leo nearing the top of the flight.  It is a very good viewpoint over the plain below.

From the top we carried on for miles to moor at the junction with the Welford Arm.

Wild roses are really prolific this year and we have seen lots of bushes like this one covered in flowers.

Here's the second tunnel called Husbands Bosworth after the village nearby.  No possibility of meeting a broadbeam boat here as we are between two sets of narrow locks.










As we cruised this bit of canal we passed Triskaideka with friends John and Ali onboard.  They were just out for a few days from their mooring and, having turned at Foxton, came back to moor behind us for the evening.  It was lovely to catch up with them as we enjoyed tea and cake on Leo and later drinks on Triskaideka.

Sadly the lovely summer weather seems to be breaking.  Here are John and Ian sharing a brolly.  Ali and Helen are on the well deck of Leo under cover!











On Saturday we carried on to moor close to Crick.

John had mentioned this tree to us when we were chatting.  Whether there are in fact two trees, one behind the other, we're not sure but it is still odd that there is new growth at the top of a dead bit of tree.  Very strange.

















Near Crick is a strange round hill called Crack's Hill.  Apparently this is left over moraine material from the last ice age.

So of course we had to climb up it!  Here is the view of Leo from the top.

The villagers of Crick have done splendid work planting trees.  There is a Millenium Wood and a Jubilee Wood which are going to be wonderful in years to come and are already full of wildlife and wild flowers.

And in the young woodland we found a butterfly we'd not identified before.  It is a Speckled Wood.

Crick village has some lovely old buildings made of the warm yellow sandstone common to this part of Northamptonshire.  In the church was this grave shelter which is portable and was used by the parson at burial ceremonies when it was raining.  Rather appropriate that it should now be used as an umbrella stand!















On Sunday we came through Crick Tunnel and down to the end of the Leicester Branch at Norton Junction.

Crick Tunnel is the last of the three tunnels on the Leicester Branch and be warned - it is quite wet at the northern end.

Once through the tunnel which is nearly a mile long, you come under the M1 to the top of the Watford flight of 7 locks which go down off the summit level.  Here there is a staircase of four locks and three single locks, all narrow.  This view shows Leo coming to the top of the staircase.

These and Foxton locks were the first narrow locks we have come through this year so far.  Staircase locks have very deep gates as this picture shows.

And here we are coming out of the bottom lock at Watford.  There was quite a queue of boats at the bottom, waiting to come up.  Like Foxton there is a lock keeper here and you must find him to book in when you arrive.  We had to wait about an hour and a half for our turn but we made good use of the time to wash the boat and clean the inside.














Below the locks you can see Watford Gap services on the M1.  There used to be a gate giving access to boaters but they seem to have put in a new fence to prevent boating riff-raff getting in.  Ian had been hoping to buy a Sunday paper but no chance.  It was only a mile or so below the locks to Norton Junction.  Here the Leicester Branch meets the main line of the Grand Union.  Turn right to Braunston and Birmingham, turn left for London.  We had intended to moor on the left just before the junction but it was full of boats.  So we turned and reversed down 150 yards to moor just above Buckby Top Lock.  Fortunately it was not windy.  We had a late lunch at the New Inn there.

On Monday it was pouring with rain.  We waited until it slacked off and then cruised back up the Leicester Branch to leave Leo at a marina there.  In the afternoon we took the train back home.

When we come back next week we will be heading south towards London.  We've only cruised this part of the Grand Union once before so we are looking forward to seeing it again.

Goodbye to the Soar

We've now come through Leicester left the River Soar and on to the Grand Union Canal (Leicester Branch) which will take us through the narrow locks at Foxton and Watford to Norton Junction to meet the main route of the Grand Union towards London.  However, that is getting a bit ahead of ourselves as we are moored tonight in a remote spot with sheep bleating just two days out of Leicester.

On Thursday while staying at Zouch we went for a walk through the riverside meadows and had our first definite sighting of a Reed Bunting:

On Friday we cruised from Zouch through Loughborough to Sileby Mill, an idyllic spot where we've never moored before.

The stretch of the River Soar upstream of Zouch is very pretty and passes Normanton Church seen here.

This gives a good idea of the lower Soar.  A fairly wide river with gentle river meadows either side.  Compare this with later pictures on this posting where the river gets much narrower.

This swan is shepherding her cygnets out of the way of a passing Leo.

This is Barrow bridge which comes just before Barrow Deep Lock.  The channel below the lock is quite narrow and it pays to tie up the bow to stop the boat being thrown around when emptying the lock.

Round a few bends from Barrow we passed a field with horses and a surprising number of young foals, including this one which can only be a day or two old.  Its legs look out of proportion with its body.

Here is Leo below Sileby Lock with the mill in the background.

We went up the lock and moored above.  Here is the view looking back from above the lock.  The only problem with this mooring was an amazing number of flies, though they did not seem to bite.  No fish jumping and no swallows: perhaps that was why there were so many flies!

We walked through flower meadows to Sileby village where we saw this fine thatched pub.

The meadows were packed with buttercups - yellow as far as the eye could see.













On Saturday we carried on up river to Birstall where we spent two nights as our son, David, came to visit on the Sunday.  We ate out twice at the Old Plough in the village which is cosier and cheaper than the White Horse on the riverside.

Oddly, where the River Wreake joins the Soar, the navigable route goes up the Wreake for a way before joining a cut that goes back to the Soar.  A navigation along the Wreake valley used to go to Melton Mowbray and on to Oakham but is now disused.  This picture shows Leo on the Wreake.

Watermead Country Park is on both sides of the river at Birstall.  A full sized mammoth made from concrete and steel stands on a hillock in the park.  The connection with the park is that mammoth bones were found here.

There are lots of lakes in the park which were once gravel pits.  We saw these strange figures from a distance.  Next time we must get closer and find out what they are.

This picture is taken through the galley window when a goose family came to visit.

With David we walked a mile or so to what is called Leicester North Station, though it is some miles from Leicester.  The station is on the old Great Central Railway which runs steam trains the 8 miles to Loughborough.









From Birstall on Monday it took us just 2 hours to reach the centre of Leicester though the stretch of water between Belgrave and Lime Kiln Locks is foul.  The water is black, bubbles rise from below and break to give a horrible stench.  We had been warned also of rubbish in the canal and we ground to a halt under a bridge with a green sari round the prop. 

From beside North Lock artists have been allowed to paint some colourful murals on the walls of the industrial buildings.  Two painters with aerosols were at work on this one.

We've been to Leicester before but this time discovered the delights of Abbey Gardens.  The ruins of an enormous abbey are here and Cardinal Wolsey was buried in the abbey, having fortuitously died on his way to London to face the wrath of Henry VIII who was later responsible for the sacking of this and other monasteries.

This is part of the Abbey Gatehouse which survived Henry VIII but was burnt down in the Civil War.

The Abbey Gardens (looked after by the City Council) were a delight and include a boating lake, a miniature railway and a pet zoo, all for free (though no doubt you need to pay for the boats and trains which were not running on a wet afternoon).  This rose was one of many in the gardens.







On Tuesday morning we joined forces again with Geoff and Sue on Rubbin Along to tackle the 12 locks and 8 miles out of the city to Kilby Bridge. 

We moored in the city at the new pontoon mooring at Friars Mill downstream of West Bridge seen here and Rubbin Along was at Castle Gardens the other side.  So we came through the bridge to meet our arranged start time of 9.30.

The navigation out of Leicester first goes along the Straight Mile which describes it perfectly.

For a short way you are still on the River Soar but, as this shot shows, it is now a lot narrower and is very twisty too.

Though we didn't have any rain to speak of until the evening, this householder was taking no risks of the washing getting wet!

This was our last section on the Soar below King's Lock.  The Soar comes in under the bridge but the navigation goes left away from the river.

On Monday evening some delightful people had opened the top gates of Whetstone Lane Lock and all the bottom paddles.  As a result the canal above the lock was empty.  By the time we arrived a team of CRT chaps were working to refill it and had moved this motorbike from the middle of the channel.  We had to wait below the lock for 2 hours.






 Last night we enjoyed a meal at the Navigation Inn at Kilby Bridge with Geoff and Sue and today (Wednesday) we have come 7 locks further to Wistow which is a favourite quiet country mooring.

Leo and Rubbin Along are sharing Newton Top Lock which is the last one we have done together since we met this year near Nottingham.

Geoff and Sue have a very gentle and well behaved German Shepherd dog called Harriet so this photo is by way of being a goodbye to Harriet.

Here we are following Rubbin Along coming out of Newton Top Lock.

And here is Rubbin Along heading off as they were going on to the bottom of the Foxton flight this afternoon.  As for us, we've had a restful afternoon in the sunshine, including a short walk to the garden centre and church across the fields from us.








In the next few days we will be continuing south up the Foxton locks and to Norton Junction near which we will be leaving Leo for a week while we go home for various appointments.