Today's Navigations - River Soar, Grand Union
Another extremely hot day from start to finish!
Yesterday, Christine had booked by phone for us to go to the cathedral for the 10:30 service. This meant we had a slow start until we set off from the boat at 10 am. The short walk took less than 10 minutes so we arrived in good time.
A modern art installation recalls 12 events in the path from Richard III's death at Bosworth to the discovery of his remains in Leicester. It is aligned on the axis between the two places.
Our booking message had worked and seats were reserved for us - as with everyone else attending. We were welcomed, but first we had to use the sanitiser! As we went through the service it seemed as if sanitiser was the common litur3gical action, being used at every possible opportunity, even the person reading had to do so!
Although the choir is now on holiday so no music at all (at least indoors) other than from the organ. Well chosen pieces fitted the mood well.
The service was led by the Canon Precentor and the sermon - excellent and with thoughtful content (including a short video of the singer Sam Cooke!) - was given by the Dean.
Afterwards everyone was encouraged to gather in the gardens outside (still socially distance of course) to sing the only hymn yet allowed.
Christine found out quite a bit about the new development project which was only given the go ahead a couple of weeks ago. It seems that as there is no room to expand the footprint of the building they are, instead, going downwards. Two storeys, in fact!
Artist Vishal Joshi is collaborating with various city centre institutions, including the cathedral, in a project entitled Hands of Freedom. Each piece incorporates images of hands that people have submitted and then layered into the art work.
We managed - eventually - to locate the Richard III statue in a far corner of the garden closest to the main street.
Back to the boat it was now just after noon and we quickly changed and cast off. Our plan was to do about two hours, find a mooring for an ext ended lunch and then see if we had energy to do another couple of hours when it was slightly less roasting.
The first part is a straight navigation that bypasses the river. This was in the past part of improving the city centre environment. By the 1960's, Leicester was a place to pass through as quickly as possible on the navigation. Now, it is very different and the water is extremely clean, except for litter that still defaces the scene.
There has been much re-development, which continues. In some places, older industrial buildings have been re-purposed by the majority of the waterside buildings are modern. Let's hope that the undoubted huge pressure for places to live does noit totally edge out the concern for civic aspirations.
We recruited help from interested onlookers at almost all of the locks. At Freemans Meadow, in the shadow of Leicester City football ground, there was a group of young medical students from Manchester, meeting up at the gap between stages in their rotation.
At the next lock a seven year old girl and her father were most interested and she was especially determined to push the lock gates.
Later, a mother and small child started to help (father sat on a bench at a discreet distance!) but before we were through they left as they thought that the swans were in greater need of the bread that they had brought with them. We caught up with them later - two swans and two cygnets were about to get a meal.#
It was good to see that the Aylestone Globe structure has survived intact when elsewhere vandalism has taken its toll.(see recent events on the Ashby Canal)
We moored below Kings Lock and were blessed with some shade from the adjacent hedge. It was three hours later that we set off once more but at least the evening roast is almost fully prepared and underway.
We only expected to two two locks as we think that there is no good mooring at the following lock. At Kings Lock there is not one but two name boards, each set in attractive flower beds.
3.7 Miles - 5 Locks
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