Saturday 2 August 2014

River Soar

 

River Soar 023I forgot to put this picture in the last blog…Its Carolyn and Fran returning from their shopping trip to Derby. They only went to get Fran a new phone , but returned with 4 full shopping bags …. Maybe the phone came in 4 separate parts ????

 

River Soar 031After another brilliant few of days with Stewart and Fran we pulled pins on Wednesday morning and headed out of Shardlow at 06.15 with the intention of getting as near to Leicester as we could and mooring before going into Leicester on Thursday.

 

River Soar 037With the flood gates open and no warning lights we dropped down onto the River Trent.

 

River Soar 044Oops I'm in trouble. We are at Sawley locks and as it is so early in the morning there are no lock keepers on duty , so you have to operate the electrically controlled locks yourself. So now my life is in Carolyn's hands as she operates the locks. As you can see she loves the power. After Carolyn expertly operating the locks it was then through the locks along the Trent and then a right turn and onto the river Soar.

 

River Soar 062Is this the smallest numbered bridge on the canal system ???

 

River Soar 065You certainly have to have your wits about you as some of the locks on the Soar are very fierce.

 

River Soar 070Hope we don’t need one of these in the next couple of days.

 

River Soar 076Here…..  Carolyn is training the volunteer lock keepers at Ioughborough the the finer details of how to operate a lock.

 

River Soar 079Bloody nightmare.. 15 tons of steel versus kids not having a clue what they are doing on stupid boat bikes.

 

River Soar 083Canal and River Trust are meant to be spending more money on cutting back vegetation , but you wouldn’t think so on some stretches of the river Soar.

After 11 and a half hours of travelling on Wednesday and being totally knackered we found a noisy mooring near a pub in Birstall which is about 4 miles from Leicester. We have been told by many people that under no circumstances should we stop in Leicester as it can be a very dangerous place. But we have been told that before about other places and have found them to be ok.. We have also been told about some secure moorings in the centre of the city, so we will get up early again tomorrow morning and go and check them out and then hopefully have a day or two In Leicester.

 

                                                                                                  Happy Days

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                  Happy Days

3 comments:

  1. that was a really good blog. some nice photos of Carolyn I like the one of her and fran coming back with all the shopping best. thought you may have liked a go at riding the bikes.xx

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  2. Hi gary we had no problem moorin in centre of leicester last year..not many moorings though. We enjoyed it hope u do to. We enjoying g&s canal not busy at all & catchin up with family & friends. Pam & terry nb the roosters'rest. Xxx

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    Replies
    1. Hello Pam and Terry, good to hear you are enjoying the g&s. We just sped through it last year ,but must go back and spend more time there. Not so good at Leicester,read current blog. Now heading south, Hope we can meet up some time ...best wishes

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