Loughborough

Here I am Rune

Distance 3.7 miles

Total 1456 Locks 72 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2087 miles 

We have now reached Loughborough and although I tried mooring in the basin there was no space available so we have come back about 400 yards along the canal into what seems an even better mooring location. We took a look around the town and crew had a look in the local Churchyard where some ancestors are buried but didn’t find the relevant graves. If we stay here for a couple of days I may have a look and see if the bed and breakfast place that I stopped at when cycling through here 14 years ago is still in existence (if I can remember where it is!).

Since I don’t really want to moor in Leicester city centre on Friday/Saturday night we will probably leave it until Sunday before we head down to Leicester but there is no real rush, the Soar is a

Zouch Lock

Here I am Rune

Distance 10.9 miles

Total 1454 Locks 72 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2083.3miles 

So we are finally off the River Trent and onto the more sedate River Soar heading towards Leicester. Today’s trip had little of drama about it just a gentle chug down from Beeston to here at Zouch Lock, the weather held up OK although it did become a bit windy at times. We have now started  to come across more boats out on the river so this seems a busier river than the Trent was.  The only slight oddity today was that as you leave Beeston Lock there is a notice on the lock gates telling you leave one paddle open on each gate to allow a flow of water through onto the Beeston Canal, apparently doing this keeps the canal topped up. One other point of interest is that whilst I have counted 8 locks today, 3 of them were flood locks so the gates on them were both open and didn’t involve any work, so it is sort of cheating I suppose!

The confluence of The Trent and The Soar

The River Soar by Ratcliffe Power Station

Tomorrow we’ll be calling in at Loughborough Arm but I’m not sure how much further we’ll go from there.

Beeston

Here I am Rune

Distance 3.2 miles

Total 1446 Locks 72 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2072.4miles 

A couple of days of swanning around in Nottingham before my parcel eventually arrives this morning. Following a complaint to Amazon they are refunding my ‘next-day delivery’ charge, which is good of them since the parcel has taken five days from despatch to delivery. The parcel concernis a new battery for the computer since a warning came up on the computer to tell me that the old battery was almost knackered. There were a variety of options of battery available from £10 to the one I bought at £49, having read the revues of the lower priced one’s it seemed to me to be a better idea to go for the original Acer replacement and on first impressions it seems it may have been the right choice. The old battery would run for about 1 ½ hours before expiring whereas with this new one I’ve already used it for about 2 hours and gauge still says it has 50% or 2 hours and 27 minutes left in it. I hope I’m not praising it too early.

Today’s trip, since the battery didn’t arrive until after midday, has only taken us as far as Beeston Lock but that is OK since there is an Elsan point and shower here that I have  made use of. Tomorrow, weather permitting it will be back out onto the River Trent for the last bit of this section down to its junction with the River Soar, the plan then being to head down towards Leicester  

Nottingham (3)

Here I am Rune

Distance 2.1 miles

Total 1446 Locks 72 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2069.2miles 

Since we didn’t move again yesterday I didn’t put any update on the blog, partly because I was exploring Nottingham once more and partly because in the evening it was essential for me to watch the opening match of the Rugby World Cup, nervously watching England overcome Fiji!

The roam around Nottingham involved a session at the National Ice Centre so I can now say that I’ve skated at Ice Centre where Torvill and Dean learnt their skill, not quite as good however (but getting there!!).  I only had about half an hour on the ice and was a bit rusty to start with but was becoming a bit more fluent towards the end, and most importantly didn’t fall down onto the ice.

We are now moored at the other end of Nottingham outside of the local Sainsbury’s superstore alongside a large retail park. We’ll need to remain here until my parcel arrives, which Amazon has promised by Tuesday, despite me paying for next day delivery!!

Nottingham (2)

Here I am Rune

Distance 0 miles

Total 1444 Locks 72 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2067.1miles 

Today was an opportunity to have a general nose around Nottingham since we are remaining here for a few days until a parcel that I have ordered is delivered. The overriding impression of Nottingham from today’s perambulations is that it is very much a work in progress. Wherever you go they seem to be developing or building something although there isn’t the air of affluence that we have seen in other cities (Liverpool, Sheffield, Birmingham and even Lincoln). There are some of the high class shops (Harvey Nichols etc) but it still doesn’t give the place the same feel as, say, Sheffield.

Robin Hood statue outside of Nottingham Castle

Having attended two OU Summer Schools in this city it became apparent that I obviously hadn’t ventured out of the University very much on either visit (although I do remember going to the Trip to Jerusalem pub) because not very much of the city seemed very familiar.

On a lighter note I had a mind to make use of a city cycling scheme which I saw when I went to the local shops this morning. Apparently you sign up your mobile phone online and then can use the bikes free on a daily basis. The theory was good but after I’d signed up I then realised that actually finding a docking station where there were any bikes was going to be a major issue. Having walked around the town the only docking station with any bikes at all was in the coach station where there were three, everywhere else was empty.

We should once again be remaining where we are tomorrow awaiting the arrival of the parcel.