Leicester, Nottingham, Newark and Lincoln

The past week or so has seen me making my way north from Market Harborough along the river Soar through Leicester and Loughborough to join the mighty river Trent and continue up to Newark before entering the tidal section for 20 miles and turning off onto the Fossdyke Navigation to visit the city of Lincoln for the first time.

As the Leicester Line of the Grand Union canal get closer to Leicester it merges occasionally with the river Soar until just before the city when the canal ends and the river is thereafter navigable to it's junction with the Soar.  The route up to Leicester is largely tree lined and passes through open countryside very similar to the Nene.

The approach to Leicester is signalled by an impressively large weir which I stayed well clear of as I approached the last lock before reaching the city.  I was a little concerned when I notices a group of young lads around the lock as Leicester has a poor reputation within the boating world and indeed the city has provided a couple of secure moorings to encourage boats to stop.  Thankfully my fears were misplaced and the lads were only too happy to help with the lock.

The approach into Leicester from the south is pleasant with a couple of impressive bridges.

I spent the next morning exploring the city with it's cathedral and large market.  While I had not had any problems overnight the mooring was a little noisy due to a busy road nearby and I decided to move off in the afternoon to find a quieter spot.

The journey out of Leicester was not pleasant as the two locks I passed through were strewn with empty beer cans and fast food packages and one had a large group of men just sitting drinking. Whilst they did not bother me it is a shame that the canals are becoming the gathering places for anti-social behaviour.  However, once through that short section the river once again opened up to wide country vistas and I moored up for the night in a lovely peaceful spot.

The following day I continued a few more miles to Loughborough where the old canal basin has been enhanced with good visitors moorings very handy for the town centre. 

After Loughborough the river continues to wend it way northwards until it joins the river Trent which I then followed to Nottingham before heading on to the lovely market town of Newark. The approach by river is impressive and the view dominated by the castle. Unfortunately little is left of the castle beyond the riverside wall but there are pleasant gardens to stroll through.  The town itself retains its large market square and many old building which give it an air of history.

I left Newark the next afternoon and moored up above Cromwell lock, the beginning of the tidal Trent, to await the high tide the following morning and thus head down the river with the flow rather than against it.  The river was becoming noticeably wider by this point.

The trip down the Trent to Torksey was uneventful and with a wide river passing oncoming boats is much easier.

I arrived in Lincoln on Saturday and have spent couple of enjoyable days exploring the city.  There is a significant climb up the aptly names street "Steep Hill" to the cathedral and castle.  I did not visit the cathedral as they were charging a £10 entrance fee and I refuse to pay to enter any church.

The moorings are very handy for the city and make an ideal base for exploring.

Down the Foxton Flight and onto waters new

Yesterday I continued along the Leicester Arm of the GU canal though the 10 lock Foxton flight which is made up of two sets of 5 staircase locks.  Staircase locks are connected so that the bottom gate of one lock is the top gate of the next one.  This allows the locks to descend a steep hill in a short space. It also requires a little more care as each lock has colour coded paddles which must be opened in the correct order to avoid flooding the lock below. There is a simple if slightly ominous mantra: Red before white you'll be alright, white before red you'll wish you were dead.  

Arriving in the top lock you do get the feeling that you are on top of the world. The flight is quite a tourist attraction so if you make a mess it will be witnessed.

After descending the flight I took a detour along along a short arm to Market Harborough.  The basin at the end of the canal offers comfortable moorings with electric hook up which allowed me to give the batteries a good overnight charge. 

The town also has a Sainsbury's where I stocked up the fridge this morning before retracing my route to Foxton and then heading through bridge 65 onto the main Leicester Arm. Having not travelled beyond Foxton before this was the start of new water for me and the rest of my trip North and through the Yorkshire waterways will all be new waterways which I'm looking forward to.

After leaving Foxton the canal meanders through largely open countryside for 18 miles until it reaches Leicester.  The first few miles passes through wooded cuttings giving it the feel of a narrow river. 

Having had a few long days to get the familiar sections behind me I now intend to travel in shorter hops to enjoy the new scenery and explore the towns and villages on route.  Today I only covered a few miles before mooring up in an isolated spot where I'm now enjoying the peace and quiet.

 The forecast for tomorrow morning is heavy rain so I may well stay here for second night.

Heading Up North at Last

Firstly apologies for the lack of a blog for the past couple of months but now it's back.

Last Spring I planned to head North and cross the Leeds Liverpool canal but plans changed - as they do.  However, Yorkshire is back on the radar and after spending a couple of weeks in Milton Keynes I am now on my way up the country.  Yesterday was a long slog up the Grand Union main line from Milton Keynes to Bugbrooke.  I had planned to stop at Stoke Bruerne but unfortunately there was no room due to a festival this week.  On route I past a tiny pea green narrow boat called the Owl & the Pussy cat before stopping for the night at Bugbrooke Wharf where I decided to eat in the pub rather than cook.

As the forecast was suggesting 25c today I made a fairly early start in the hope of getting through the 7 heavy locks on the Buckby Flight before it got too hot.  Sadly I failed and even worse did not manage to meet a boat to share the wide locks which made even more work.  On the bright side the views were lovely and a gentle breeze eased the mid-day heat.

For this trip I've decided to come up through the Eastern route which saws me turning off the Grand Union main line at Buckby and onto the Leicester Line.  This is a narrow canal which I prefer due to the narrow locks designed to fit one narrow boat and are thus much lighter and quicker to operate. After a few miles I met the first of the locks, a flight of 7 at Watford Gap.  Unfortunately, having seen few boats in the morning, I discovered it was because they were all on this route and I joined the end of a line of 8 bots waiting to go up.

After a little over an hour, spent happily chatting with fellow boaters I reached the front of the queue and made my way up the pretty flight aided by volunteer lock keepers.

Once up the flight I carried on for a couple more miles, through Crick tunnel to the village from which it takes it's name.  I'm now moored up near Crick marina for the night.