Today's Navigations - Loughborough Cut, River Soar
It was a rather grey morning although not as chilly. We began by making the very short (circa 300m!) trip to Loughborough Basin to be as close to shops as possible. There was just one slot available which we quickly grabbed.
We locked up and walked across first to a retail park so that Mike could visit Currys PC World for anew mouse for his laptop. The current one is still working but is showing signs of age as a result of falling off the edge of the table too many times! We then crossed the road to Sainsbury for our weekend shop.
Back at the boat Christine unloaded and packed away whilst Mike sought to empty the elsan. This should have been a five minute task but when he arrived at the door to the service block there were additional coded key pad and notices saying that the code could be obtained by calling CaRT. So, back to the boat for a mobile phone. Back at the notice he rang and listened to a long recorded message before being given the options. After selecting Option 3 another recorded message repeated most of what had been said the first time except that it added that they were only open 10 - 2 Mondays to Fridays so please call back on Monday - if it is really urgent! As Mike returned to the boat he recounted his woes to the folk on the next boat who said that they could give us the code - which they kindly wrote on a piece of paper! Finally, the simple task was successfully completed. As we finally set off for today's cruise we saw someone from the boat on the other side of where we had moored who was obviously going through he same process. He was mightily glad when we stopped and gave him the magic information!
Shortly after turning back onto the main line we encountered a large party boat with the folk on board all dressed up smartly. Christine asked what was the celebration, to be told that it was a wedding party and they were on their way to Normanton church for the service!
At one time the declining industrial base of Loughborough left many buildings in a poor, often derelict, state. Today we only saw one but many more that have been given a new lease of life. Some are restored with the original external design intact.
Others have opted for a combination of the old industrial and modern styles.
We gradually left the town behind - there has been quite a lot of recent housing expansion and we were decidedly unimpressed by its standard, especially the tiny size of some many and a lack of any real design thought on the outward appearances.
The Peter Le Marchant Trust specialises in providing boats for tripos and holidays for people with disabilities and illness.
At the end of the Loughborough Cut is Pillings Flood Lock - as we expected it was straight through.
A large warning sign refers to a possible red flashing light. As with yesterday, try as we might we could not see where that light is.
Above the lock we then passed yet another radial gate which is now the main method of controlling flood water.
We then had a very pleasant section of river until we arrived at Barrow Deep Lock (no circumlocution used here!) There were two volunteers on duty who were exceptionally good at helping us through knowing just how to to use the paddles to bring us up gently.
At Barrow Boating they have a range of unusual floating 'things' for people to hire and we had to navigate warily as many of the steerers were unsure about which way to go - or how to do it!
The river from Barrow to Mountsorrel takes several wide sweeps - initially passing some very well kept houses and gardens. As we neared the first bridge under the A6 we could see a large event taking place in several fields alongside both the river and the road. We guessed that it might be a horse fair gathering (well, there were plenty of horses and driving carriages!). It later transpired that the Betty Hensers Horse Fair is an annual event and for 2021 is over this weekend. Last year it was said to have attracted hundreds of people and, comparing with an aerial photo of that event, it did seem that this year is very much larger.
We need to be circumspect about what happened next but in short, we, and a following boat, were shot at with ball bearings. We do not know if they were from a gun or a catapult. In both cases a side window was shattered. Christine immediately reported this to the police whilst Mike tried to keep the boat safe a short distance away from the site.
We then carried on - what else could we do? - but a phone call on the way said that the police would like to meet us at Mountsorrel Lock.
It seems that Mountsorrel Lock and others on the River Soar have not yet adopted the latest blue branding - nor several of the intervening makeovers either!
After a little delay we were allowed to continue with our journey so the next question was what to do about the window. We have called at the boatyard below Sileby Lock once or twice before and always found them helpful so we made that our next stop. We were not disappointed and not only have they boarded over the glass so that if it collapses the splinters will not go everywhere inside the cabin, but also have undertaken to re-glaze the window on Monday. They even sorted out a mooring spot for us whilst the work is being done - it may take two days - but we opted to stay the night on the lock landing (it has room for plenty of boats and two others were already moored here!) We now have to consider our options for a marina at the end of this trip whilst we have a couple of weeks back home. This always was a bit tricky as marinas and rail stations are not close companions in this area.
The boatyard also stock gas, which we did not expect from our guidebook, so replacing the one that ran empty yesterday was useful. For the past few months there have been problems over the supply of Calor Gas and some places have not always had any when needed.
The day that had begun grey turned rally sunny after we had moored - so not all is bad news!
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