27th June

Amazingly hot even before 8am. I did some of the household chores :-) and then took off to Shardlow. Only an hour and a half - a couple of miles and a couple of locks. Shardlow seems to have more than its fair share of pubs - I counted five and didn't go right into the village centre. I had a nice lunch at a cute little place opposite the heritage centre that is only open at weekends: savoury pancakes, cake and a pot of tea - all under £4. Shardlow is right on the route of the 24/7 East Midlands Airport bus which took me to Loughborough where I could get a connection back to Barrow, the car and home.

26th June

Another beautiful warm day and I had started out by 8am!!! This was the stretch that I have been most wary of, so I have been pleased that we have had no rain for what seems like weeks. Just a few sparse locks and beautiful scenery. Even the power station at Ratcliffe has its place in the landscape. Coming out to the Trent and seeing a narrowboat coming out of the Erewash and appearing to be tiny was awe inspiring. There were loads of kids out in canoes some seemed very young (maybe 10 years old) and I thought how exciting for them - much better than playing computer games. There was no lock keeper at Sawley so that was fun working out which lock I could use and what I needed to do. Through that lock, I moored for the day even though it was only about 11am. After lunch I walked to Shardlow and back to suss out a nice place to leave Olivia for a day or two. I must have walked about 8 miles as the bridge over the Trent is down by Derwent Mouth so I had to do a work around. Went for a meal at a pub in Sawley - tuna mayo wraps and a heap of salad to make up for all the junk I've been eating so far this weekend.

25th June

I had a wander into Barrow just for a look round really. It's quite a nice little place - with a train station AND a decent bus service. When I prepare Olivia for "off" each morning by checking the oil, water, etc., I have to lift up the rubber mat and deck boards so I can get into the engine room. As I was doing that this morning, the mat rolled down knocking me into the engine room! I went in at quite a speed and scraped most of the skin off of my lower legs! Just hope I didn't break anything important in the engine. Ouch was my first thought and T**t was my next one. Anyway, half a tube of Germolene later, I started out. My first stop was Loughborough where I went to look for a few provisions and to have a little look round. Seems a nice town. (Later I spoke to a couple who stayed in the basin and highly recommended the restaurant actually at the basin). I cruised on through the wonderful stretch of Normanton to Zouch where I moored for the night. A great place for a summer's evening.

24th June

I arrived back at The Hope and Anchor, loaded up and started out on my cruise. A beautiful warm afternoon and a new part of the waterways for me, more clarity than the canals that I'm used to. I cruised up to Barrow upon Soar as I had decided that this might be a good place to leave the car. Just four locks all of which were reasonable, although at Mountsorrel a couple coming up the lock thought I'd "stolen" their turn but as I always do, I'd gone over to have a look ahead and saw no-one waiting. I had shut the gates and filled the lock before they appeared so even if I had missed them, they hadn't exactly been on the ball. Once I'd moored and had a much needed cup of tea, I walked back to the car, a distance of about five miles. As time was getting on, I ate at the H 'n' A which was teeming and a great place for people watching (but with an uninventive menu). Found a nice road in Barrow to park up for the weekend and went back to Olivia for a fairly early night.

June 20th

Up and ready to go at 9am. Met my neighbours for the first time just as I was preparing to leave. They'd been out all day yesterday. Started off quite cold so lots of layers. I got stuck under North Bridge due to a supermarket trolley, a bike and a lump of stone. Yobs! Why? Luckily a couple who were out cycling stopped to help me and with a bit of tugging we got the good ole girl free (and Olivia :-)). At the next lock I met a couple of Poles who were very happy to work the lock and to practice their English speaking. One of them told me he had been no good at school and was "allergic" to English language. He was doing well though; certainly better than I could ever do in Polish! At another lock I was helped by a man who runs boat trips for underprivileged kids. Everyone I have met have been lovely and friendly. I moored up close to the car and loaded up all the heavy stuff that I had finished with and then I cruised the last two miles to my stopping place. Tidied up and walked back to the car. It had certainly warmed up by the afternoon. Lots of people out walking, cycling, BBQing, fishing, etc. Home by 6pm to get ready for work tomorrow.

June 19th

A non cruising day. I went to the New Walk museum/art gallery and stayed a couple of hours. There was a really cold wind today so the museum was as good as anywhere. On the walk back I stumbled upon the De Montfort students' art exhibition so spent another couple of hours there before going back to Olivia for some lunch. I decided I had better fetch the car from Foxton (as Sunday bus services are notoriously poor) so X3 to Market Harborough and 44 to Foxton. Then, of course, I had to find a safe place to park for Saturday night. I decided that halfway between Leicester and my next stop might be useful and, after driving around for a while, settled on Birstall. I had to walk back to Olivia from there and the towpath takes you through some run down industrial parts of the city where the breweries, hosiery and dye factories used to be. Lots of scope for redevelopment though. I just hope they don't knock down the characterful buildings and replace them with bland square boxes.

June 18th

Again I was awake early and as luck would have it, my ankle felt much better. It remains a little sore but if I could just keep my foot straight it should be alright. Another twelve locks from Kilby to the centre of Leicester - and some of these were hard work. I shared a few with a hire boat but did quite a few by myself. Stopped after eight locks at the Kings Lock cafe for a break. It started to rain in the afternoon and when I got to Castle Gardens pontoon it was full, so I breasted up to one of the boats. No one was around so I couldn't ask I just had to do it. Over the next couple of hours three more boats came along and also breasted up. All very cosy. It felt cold today and nothing like a midsummer weekend. I didn't go out as I thought I ought to be around when the boat owners came back.

June 17th

I woke up early, about 6.30. A beautiful morning so I started out at 8am from my lovely overnight stop near Fleckney. I made my way to the first lock of the day and filled her. Just as I was about to enter a walker said "I hate to tell you this but below the next lock the canal has no water". I walked down to have a look and found that a paddle was up on the third lock and 2 locks and a pound were indeed empty. I put the paddle down and called BW for advice. Within 5 minutes a BW team were on the case (not a result of my call - that would have been miraculous - but as part of their daily checks). I was held up for an hour but chatting away to the BW team, the time soon passed. I was caught up by my mooring companions, Nifty Fifty, and we did the last couple of locks together. I stopped for a cuppa but within half an hour I was off again to do the remaining 7 locks of the day.  It's wonderful on a warm day like today when there is no wind. I met quite a few people to talk to at various locks but very few boats. I had to set each lock before I could use it AND some of them were really hard work. At the penultimate lock I twisted my ankle in a dip, and it has become quite painful. I just hope it doesn't hold me up tomorrow as I have 12 more locks and 8 miles to do. Met our friend, Pete, at Kilby Bridge and we had a drink at The Navigation pub. He is doing my trip but in reverse. (No he's not going backwards all the way, he is going clockwise while I am going anti-clockwise.) Sadly, I couldn't go on my planned walk because of my ankle injury. Blast.

I've started this year's trip

I had to wait until Saturday to have Olivia serviced. My fault as I was very late thinking about it due to the long, cold winter. As soon as she was ready I started off up the Grand Union through the Buckby Locks. Moored up about 8.30pm and it was a muggy evening. Within a short time we had the first storm of the season with torrential rain but I was nice and cosy inside Olivia. Sunday started with not a bad morning and I went on up the Leicester Arm to queue for Watford Locks. Had to let 4 boats come down but then we were very quickly through. I pressed on through Crick Tunnel and moored just the other side. Crick has a handy co-op stores so I topped up provisions but does not have a good mobile internet connection! We had some showers just after I moored up but it remains warm and soon dries. Monday was a greyer day but still reasonably mild so I continued up as far as Foxton. There was very little boat traffic and it rained on and off. I moored up by Bridge 60 ready for the locks next day but still unable to get broadband, so no blogging. With no blogging and no TV it was easy to get on with my marking :-). I awoke to rain on Tuesday but when it eased off a bit I joined the queue for Foxton Locks (my first time through them). Just an hour's wait while a couple of boats came up and then we started down. It rained most of the time so I always take my time so that I don't slip getting up and down the ladders, etc. Did the first set of five on my own and soon found myself a system that worked. When the lock keeper realised I was single handed he helped me down the last five (and it was quicker with his help). Have to go back into work for a few days now, so walked into Market Harborough and got buses back to Weedon to fetch the car. When I got home I found that the electricity had tripped and all the food  in the freezer had thawed. It was so "warm" that I think the storm must have tripped it. That's the second time I've had the system trip and BOTH times I've been away.