We started today with several possible plans. We would have liked to be able to attend the church at Normanton tomorrow as it sits right beside the navigation. However, he only possible option for mooring is at the nearby pub and we were concerned that it might be a big ask on a bank holiday weekend to be able to stay there this afternoon and tonight.
However, our over-riding concern was waste disposal and water input! The closure notice at Barrow Mill (former) services clearly stated that there were no facilities until Trent Lock at the stat of the Erewash. We used those at Loughborough Basin twice last year but that was before the new toilet etc closure policy was in full force. The CaRT online Network Map clearly shows them still at Loughborough (as it did for Barrow Mill!) as well as some at Bishop's Meadow Lock that we spotted last year as under construction.
All this might just have been of passing interest were it for the fact that two of our three toilet cassettes were now full as also all of our three waste bins. The remains of the puffer jacket from Lime Kiln Lock are still in a plastic back on the roof. We worked out a plan to cope so long as we reached Trent Lock in two days, but it would mean losing some po the leisurely stopovers that are possible on the way down the Soar.
On another hot and sunny day, but this time with a refreshing gentle breeze, we set off in hope! As this photo demonstrates, the sun was in the wrong place for good photos as we cruised the mile to the basin.
The road sign in this picture did catch our attention - not an obvious name for a street in Loughborough. However, Swabisch Hall is a city in Germany and is one of four European places twinned with Loughborough.
As we arrived into the basin we were pleasantly surorised to see only one other boat on the mooring pontoons
1 Mile - 0 Locks
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