So I haven't been blogging at all this year. Only because I dislike typing on a smartphone so had to wait until I was near a keyboard and that time is now :-).
I started out towards the end of April , just slow hops to start with until the weather picked up, then I headed up the Leicester Arm to Foxton and from there back onto the Soar, which I had only done once before in 2010. When I reached Foxton I was able to catch up with my son, Luke, who has bought himself a bigger, newer boat from Newark and had been heading towards me on his maiden voyage, helped by our friend Heather. I went to meet him at Kilby and crewed with him back to Fleckney where we stopped for the night and had a very nice meal at the Indian Restaurant. The next day we went through Foxton Locks and he moored up next to Olivia. We walked up to Bridge 61 and had a great evening with hilarious punters and a good folk band playing. Luke's boat seems a sunstantial upgrade from his old 40 footer, this one being 60 feet long. It will be just right for his stock of albums for
https://www.facebook.com/therecorddeckuk/.
I carried on to Leicester and moored at Castle Gardens. I was only the third boat on the pontoon which compares very differently to 2010 when there were ten boats squeezed on there:
I visited the Richard III visitor centre which was quite interesting. I preferred the upstairs where they documented the finding/recovery of the remains. There was also a exhibition on "mod" culture at the New Walk museum which I enjoyed. I had a walk around the De Montfort university campus as I had studied there in the early 90s. It has changed so much - looks a really nice campus now. The James Went building where I studied no longer exists and the replacement buildings look much more suited to a modern university. Shortly after leaving Leicester I was joined by my friend, Christine, who came to crew with me as she had never done the Soar before. The weather wasn't brilliant so we did get a bit wet but it was good to have the company and the help and, after overnighting in Loughborough (where we had a really good meal at the Thai restaurant by the basin), we soon reached Trent Lock. We turned Right onto the Trent and up to Beeston Cut where we found a very good mooring. That evening we went to the bar at Beeston Marina where we had a warm welcome. It was fish and chip night and we had a very tasty meal for just £5. It was also quiz night so we had a little go at that although we were not going to win a prize. However, they also had a meat raffle where we won third prize and we played some card games (which was a form of bingo really). I was surprised to win on my first attempt and the prize was £19.....so that more or less paid for our evening. Yay.
The next day we went into Nottingham and booked an evening ghost walk from The Old Trip to Jerusalam pub. The weather wasn't briliiant so we spent the afternoon at the cinema where we saw an Icelandic film called "Woman at War" - I had never heard of it but it was a fabulous film, quirky.
After Christine returned to her own boat I went for a trip up the Erewash. Some of the locks were heavy and although nowhere near as bad as I had been led to believe I found nothing to shout about so probably won't be going that way again. However, I did get myself a plaque for reaching the end of the navigation. While I was on a winning streak I discovered that I had won two weekend tickets to Crick Show, so off I went with Christine and we stayed on site in her campervan. We had a good time (I hadn't been since 2004 and the experience is much more mature now). Anyway I treated myself to a long reach windlass handle which made the return down the Erewash much easier.
Turning right at Trent Lock took me through Sawley Lock and onto the Trent and Mersey canal. I rushed this canal in 2010 because I was still working and didn't have the time to stop off anywhere for long, so this year I had the luxury of doing short hops and exploring the villages and towns en route. It was just as well that I wasn't in a hurry as we had quite a lot of rain and so the locks at both Derwent Lock and Alrewas were shut for quite a few days. I met up with friends at Mercia Marina and had lunch in the cafe there. Branston was a good mooring as was Alrewas. The river section at Alrewas was on Yellow and was a little hairy as we had had so much rain the flow was forceful.
When I arrived at Harecastle tunnel the keeper was already putting the boats through so I quick "have you done this tunnel before?" and I was on my way. Didn't even have time to fetch my torch but did put on a couple of cabin lights to help light the way. There was a huge queue at the Northern portal and a bit of chaos manoeuvring there. I nipped up onto the Macclesfield canal and moored near to Heritage boats. Next day I moved up to the Congleton visitor moorings and got a bus to Crewe so that I could go to the cinema to see Fishermen's Friends. It was quite a fun film although, like all modern films, really cinematised rather than factual. I have been to a few films over the summer including Rocketman and Yesterday.
Well what can I say about the Macclesfield canal? It has so many beautiful, quiet moorings with superb walks within easy reach. I had a go at Nab Head, Tegg's Nose, Mow Cop, Lyme Park and many others. Bugsworth Basin was worth a visit and, yes, I did have a drink in the Navigation. Anyway I was there on the Friday but started back and was at Bosley locks on the following Thursday when the news broke that Whaley Bridge was to be evacuated (We had two days of persistent rain on the Sunday and following Wednesday). That was quite a worry for the townsfolk for most of that week! I had help through all the locks from volunteer Ruth who did a sterling job. Thanks Ruth.
I did the return journey back through the tunnel. I was so slow coming through as I seemed to be gliding over something, so either the water was really shallow or I had something stuck under the hull. Once through the tunnel I did a couple of bursts of reverse and progress improved so i am still not sure why we were slow but I need to apologise to the two boats that were following me. They must have been thinking wtf. Back down to Etruria where I met up with Dave and Soozie. We had a great catch up having not seen each other since the Middlewich FAB 2017.
My Paloma water heater burst around this time and I am still trying to sort it out so no nice hot showers for the moment. I have cruised back towards my winter area but as the weather has been so good I have nipped up the Ashby canal for a week or so. I am unsure where to try to book my winter mooring this year as the one I have used for the last two years has gone up in price by 25%!! Why? Supply and demand - it was popular last year. I bet it won't be this year.
