"We set out at with smiles on our faces."
"The canal was busy, with holiday-makers and boat owners out enjoying the day."
"We stopped only a mile or so up the canal, a secluded spot, open and sunny."
"Most importantly it had a low bank, and we chose the spot so that
we could finish the paint job we'd started months ago."
"...the paint job we'd started months ago."
"I have to confess that Grace did most of the work, and did all of the topcoat,
my style being rather more abstract impressionist than hers."
"And it looked really cool."
"We were joined by a family of ducks."
"The journey onward to Foxton was lovely."
Cats are quite often seen on narrowboats.
"Arriving at the Locks in beautiful warm and sunny weather, we found
a decent place to moor at the top of the staircase, close to the café."
Foxton Top Lock
"We started the next day as planned. Breakfast from the café, which was formerly
the lock-keeper's house, eaten in the old stables in which boat horses used to be housed.
A huge two eggs, two bacon, two sausages, beans and mushrooms plateful
with a large bap, washed down with tea."
"The last time we'd ascended Foxton Locks, it was in the best kind of winter weather.
That day, we descended them in the best kind of summer weather."
Looking north from Foxton
Looking back from the same bridge
Towards the Market Harborough arm
"We moored for the rest of the day and night just above Tythorn Lock."
"...we moved on down seven more locks towards Leicester, mooring up
at around 4:00 at a very attractive spot in open countryside."
"The field opposite us put me in mind of Brighton beach in the 60s,
with Mods and Rockers arriving in their droves, preparing to fight."
On down the Soar
My money's on the swans!
"Much of the journey took us through the outskirts of the city, with a lot of housing
on one side or other of the canal. Nonetheless, it was all very pleasant,
and there were stretches that were entirely farmland."
The River Soar weir just south of Leicester
Freemans Lock
"...we continued majestically into the city of Leicester on the river, wide and deep."
"...we tied up on the path side with a little unease."
"Never have we seen so many swans together in one area as we did in Leicester."
"...we moored here with an open mind. It did, after all, pass the Graffiti Test."
"Leicester has some splendid old buildings..."
"...and some very striking new ones, and much of the architecture is very imposing."
"It was late lunchtime on a Sunday, and the pub was extremely busy, the car park full,
the garden overflowing with families eating under the blue sky."
"We spent much of our time, not on the narrow canal, but on wider and deeper rivers,
the Soar and the Wreake which share their channel with the canal on and off for miles."
Quite a garden, with a lovely view across the river.
"The mooring was a good one, with shops nearby, and services too."
Barrow-on-Soar
And there's the barrow!
"We wound along past Loughborough..."
"...and stopped to spend the night just below Bishop Meadow Lock."
"The air was full of fluffy seeds floating from who knows what trees or plants in the area,
and it honestly looked like snow at times. The water developed quite a scum from them."
"Continuing the following day, we really were feeling the difference
between being on a canal and being on a river."
"The width and the depth of the water allowed faster cruising,
and the river had a certain majesty inherent in its size."
"We were on a river prone to flooding, and we passed through several flood locks."
"Then we reached Trent Junction at the end of the River Soar, its intersection
with the River Trent going east and west, and the Erewash Canal headed north."
"Trent Lock's a good mooring, quiet and secure, with three places to eat and drink, and all services."
"The sight of several floating homes came as a surprise to us,
there and further on up the canal. We'd never seen a floating home before.
What a strange idea; a boat with no motor, no helm, going nowhere."
The lock between the Trent and the Erewash
"...the seemingly huge expanse of water..."
The River Trent, looking west.
Or turn north (left) towards Nottingham.
"There should have been a line for the flipping geese, too."
"Just a stone's throw away up the canal, there was a wonderful piece of
Victorian architecture; a huge warehouse complex beautifully and
sensitively renovated, and now serving as offices."
"Spoken of in positive terms in the map book, “delightfully landscaped”,
Padmore Moorings turned out to be separated from a very busy road
by only a few metres of grass, planted with a number of trees."
"The mooring on the other side of the canal, however,
the towing-path side, put a bigger distance between us and the road
and, as it turned out, there were far fewer passers-by on that side."
"We filled the water tank, descended the lock, and turned right onto the River Trent."
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