Monday 16th Sept
We were a bit slower off the mark today, as we didn't get started till 7.40. We had been through some rather weedy water at times yesterday, so I lifted the weed hatch and checked the propellor, but it seemed to be all right. Just before we started, a boat called Solomon went past us and the steersman said he'd wait for us at the lock. This was a chap called Greg, who was on his own, apart from a dog. It emerged that he and his wife had split up a couple of years ago; she got the house and he got the boat. He hasn't got around to repainting the boat, so it still says rather misleadingly, 'Fred and Daff'.
The locks continued, not in a regular flight, but every half mile or so, for most of the morning. Not quite so long between locks that it was out of the question for those working the lock to walk on to the next, but long enough to be quite tiring after a while. We went through these locks with Solomon, which was handy for him as well as for us, as it must be very slow going even for an experienced person, working through a broad lock single-handed. We got onto the river Soar at five to nine, noting that the river level indicator was on 'orange', which means that caution is necessary.
About ten o'clock we were on the run into Leicester, going past the City football ground and along the 'straight mile' where John told us he does his rowing. He had also mentioned a woman in his club who has been known to accost narrowboats with the merry greeting, 'Get off my river!' Leicester seems to make good use of the river in terms of bankside parks and footpaths, though the derelict factories with broken windows give a less welcoming impression.
By ten past eleven we were through Belgrave lock, the last one in Leicester itself, after which we had a bit of a rest from locking. The later locks were further apart, so we all got back on board after each lock. We moored up at the Hope and Anchor, by bridge 19, at a quarter to one. There was some maintenance work going on, involving a huge pile driver, and the bank was closed off where this was going on. We had to reverse the boat about 20 or 30 yards to find a mooring place from which we could get to the pub.
The ambience inside the pub wasn't ideal from our point of view. Having chosen the non-smoking area we were entertained by the antics of a family with a baby and toddler, whose shrieks (when amused) and cries (when unhappy) were rather piercing for our middle-aged ears. Still, we had a good lunch, with most of us going for some variety of baked potato. Off again at two o'clock.
The afternoon was fairly quiet, with just the occasional lock to punctuate the journey. At one point we went past a row of houses that had gardens running down to the waterside, and some of these were quite picturesque — and those that weren't were often at least interesting. At one point we passed a Sea Cadet base, where it appeared they were prepared to take strong measures against any speeding boats (photo below).
We moored at half past five in Loughborough and went in search of a pub. Nick had already identified a good candidate, The Swan, in a street called The Rushes (quite an appropriate combination). They had the best choice of beers of any place we've come across so far on the holiday. There were some attractive items on the menu, and June was rather interested in the Moroccan Lamb dish, but the majority opinion was in favour for holding out for an Indian.
We ended up in the Koh-i-noor, quite near to where we'd moored the boat. We had an excellent supper there, as regards both the quality and the ambience. As regards quantity, there was just enough to make us feel completely full, to the extent that none of us had room afterwards, even for ice cream. Penny and I are both keen on Tarka Daal, a dish made with lentils and garlic. When I go to an Indian restaurant I nearly always include this as a side dish. I love the flavour of the garlic, cooked till it's just slightly burnt. Penny calls the dish 'garlic bajee', which just about sums it up.
Back to the boat for a nightcap and then straight to bed at about nine thirty. During supper, June had commented the fact that we were all feeling very tired. She wondered whether this was a good thing on a holiday. It is certainly a fair question, but I think that, for myself, there's a huge difference between feeling tired as a result of fresh air and exercise (as I often do when I walk on my day off) and feeling tired as a result of a day listening to so many people, making an effort to concentrate on what they're saying and trying to say something vaguely helpful in response (which so often happens to me at the end of a normal working day).
One thing I noticed today, thinking about our overall plans for the holiday. Going this way round the Leicester Ring, we have a lot more of the locks early on, compared with the later stages. This should work out well, since as we've been quite busy so far, and there hasn't been much time to relax in between one lot of locks and another, we'll be in a good position to appreciate the later stages, when there will be more time to relax. If we'd done it the other way round, we'd have got bored early on and then finished in a rush and a burst of effort that would leave us exhausted at the end.