Narrowboat Adagio

Another short day today – more river Soar … through Mountsorrel, Barrow-on-Soar and Sileby Mill – all possible flood risk country but calm & serene today. Hardly saw another boater and we’ve yet to share a lock – weirdly quiet. We moored at the Marston’s pub for lunch but quickly moved on to moor outside the Albion, outside the town. Hmm, first impressions . .. well, you could be in any town – looks all the same … so far, thumbs down I’m afraid.  We also gave the pocket-sized basin a miss too. We do like a quiet spot. A quiet spot with a pub  – even better. Homemade spaggly-boggly tonight. We plan to stay put here as there’s a lot of rain forecast tomorrow.

view looking back at Mountsorrel

one of the awfully nice houses coming into Barrow-on-Soar

and it was deep too …

more than Seven swans a swimming . . 

final mooring – fairly quiet and the famous Albion pub just 100 yds away

Very friendly, old-fashioned pub with all home-made food (lunchtimes only).  They were serving Nottingham’s “Legend”, Hopback’s “Groovy Mover” and their own Albion.  Keith, the landlord was very friendly & welcoming.Their steak & kidney pie was smashing, so glad we stayed the extra day.  It also rained all day – as promised. So, some good planning.  Off we soar to Nottingham tomorrow, well Trent Lock anyway.

Well, we really must be getting the boating way of life – TV hasn’t been on once. We both lost count of the day (a common problem with the G&T diet). Viv went off shopping Tesco’s (Goodbye, dear, have a nice time), whilst I pored over the laptop doing this blog … I then went off for a quick tour of the city centre – bought about 3 lb grapes for a pound in the market! And some licorice …hmm, combine that with last night’s curry … explosive! We then decided to push on for a quieter night at Wanlip – nice water park there and a chance of a good walk and swim for the dog. A 3 hour trip which was about right – from grotty backside view of Leicester, to the large weirs with no signage! Luckily there’s no flow today.  The river Soar was serene and with the amazing hot weather, made for a lazy, hazy day of Summer:

Belgrave lock  – with the National Space Centre in the background plus our friends on Silkwood, returning to base.  

The Soar river was soporific – a very enjoyable cruise with all manner of wildlife

A helpful father & son at Birstall eased us into the lock …

And Toby – hot & bothered gets his promised swim at Watermead Park

Tuesday, 11th August. Just eight miles and twelve locks today.  These locks are big uns; stiff, heavy and always a bit leaky. A real mixture of wiggly, rural waterways to industrial areas, then the river Soar and into the Mile Straight at Leicester. Very poor facilities here – in fact a whole day with NO facilities (come on CRT & Leics City Council!).  They have provided a small floating pontoon by Castle gardens, which has a secure mooring but no water or owt.  Still very handy for the shops, pub and the plethora of eateries .  .

Some leaky gates

Joining the river Soar – no flow at all – very dry … nice signage

And always some modern signage too

and now the back end of Leicester – industrial units and  shed loads of Himalayan Balsam . .

more run down mill buildings

final lock … note the huge weir – with no flow over it …

Just after this – lovely view of Leicester football club

and into the Mile Straight to our overnight mooring

There’s Adagio, on the outside in the middle. Very welcoming family on the inside hire boat (Emerson Speedway No 78).  Many thanks for helping us moor up. They were off to Bobby’s for dinner and then the next day – the Space Centre!  We were off to the Black Horse (Foxon Lane – nice Everards pub) and then Namaste – the landlord’s recommendation for a takeaway.  Brilliant end to the day. Great to be in the city but it was very noisy and full of people shouting, swearing and drinking. Chucking stuff into the river … shame.  Off to Wanlip tomorrow after a shop in Tesco’s and hopefully, some peace n quiet.

With a forecast of heavy rain later in the morning, we set off at 8 ish for Foxton locks, just a mile away.  There were already 5 boats going down the flight but they let us go as long as we “waited in the middle” for two to come up. No problem. Never been down these locks before – a double staircase with 2 groups of 5 locks, taking you down a height of 75 feet. It took about two hours.

Halfway point

vast lock gates 

Viv does all the work

looking back up  …

nearly there . . 

turn left and head for Leicester – water levels were very low – after this lock we went aground … luckily, Viv was still at the lock and I could radio for help . .  “Let more water out!”.  It was then a case of moving along African Queen style at 1 mph … Viv then had a long walk to the next lock.

Our destination – Bumblebee Lock. 21 locks and 10 miles today. Quite a long day but gorgeous weather, lovely fields of wheat and a quiet rural mooring for the night. And a beer!

Steve dons his bowler & pipe for the proper start to a  month out on the Cut

Viv’s keen to take the helm

A truly beautiful day – a following wind, hot sunshine and wonderful fields of wheat, an abundance of flowers … dragonflies … wonderful.

And lunch on the go – Viv made a marvellous ham, lettuce, tomato and radish sandwich (thanks to Colin for those). Note Steve brought his chilli plant on board, “they’re only mild”, says Steve .  .

I let Viv and the dog off for a stroll … which gave Viv that photo opportunity. Rain tomorrow and lots of locks.  We aim to get to Foxton early before the rain. Hopefully Kilby Monday night …

Sunday 9th August
A slow start but who’s rushing? After a pump out, water fill up and a diesel fill up, we were off. At 1100 we left Yelvertoft marina, turned right and headed for Foxton Locks. A hot day but a following wind. After 5 hours we moored up at Lubenham Lodge; a delightful spot overlooking a vale and only a mile from the locks. Slowly getting used to the slow pace of narrowboat life. With a boat called Adagio, you certainly don’t want to hurry. More tomorrow and some pix too.

At last, we’re off! Friday 7th. Engine service, food shop and then off north to Chesterfield.

Looks like we won’t be back on board until August. Tim of Onboard Solar is to fit a set of solar panels … keep us going. Then we’ll do the long cruise up to the Chesterfield & back calling in at Leicester, Nottingham and maybe the Erewash canal too.