Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 11:18:02 -0500 From: Kkroeker Reply-To: Canals To: Canals Subject: trip report part 2 (longish) (XP) Slept in to 8:30 and didn't depart our mooring until 8:45. Found another boat coming up and helped work the lock before descending ourselves. Cruised into Shardlow and found a nice mooring adjacent the "Lady in Grey" where we stopped and had a nice breakfast on the boat before looking round the village - at least the part that grew up along the canal. Stopped in at the store at the bridge and picked up a few things we had forgotten at Tesco and boarded Silver Dale just as rain began to fall. The rain continued, changing in intensity from time to time, but remaining quite steady. I called Brian, upon seeing that we had missed an earlier call from him and made arrangements to meet him just inside Redhill Lock. We moored as Brian came up from Rumpus and we adjourned to explore the boat I've been reading about for a year or more. She's delightful and Brian has done a wonderful job. With the fit out progressing nicely, the coming Spring should see her ready for longer cruises. We went to the marina cafe to have lunch and then adjourned to Silver Dale. Brian, always looking for ideas, certainly didn't find any in Silver Dale. Left Brian with a couple of presents from Canada (with instructions) and continued on in the rain, eventually deciding to stop at the Rose and Crown. Finding the pub closed until 7, and with the weather much better, we decided to continue to Loughborough where we moored outside "The Boat". Alas, the pub was not doing food, and so I hiked into town, eventually finding an Indian Take away from which I fetched supper back to the boat. After watching a little TV. I typed this log and we agreed on an early start for the next day. Monday September 25, 2000 We decided that we wanted to visit the Leicester Cathedral, but did not want to moor overnight in Leicester. I think we likely would have been fine moored overnight, but an ounce of prevention etc. In order to get through Leicester and still be able to visit the Cathedral, we elected to start early and were on our way by 6:45. The day began beautiful with lovely light for photographs and many were taken. We arrived at the Castle Gardens visitor moorings at 1PM after a short pub stop for some take away fish & Chips. We walked the short distance to the Cathedral and toured for a while before returning to the boat and a long trip to our evening target (Kilby). This would take us out of harms way as far as the yobs of Leicester are concerned. When we returned to Castle Gardens, there were 3 teenage gents leaning over the gate to the moorings - they scattered quickly as we came down the stairs to the gate. I think they were just looking for a quiet place to conduct a "little business" and were uninterested in causing any harm to the boat, but who knows. The weather turned rotten at about 5PM, but we pressed on through some very slow locks, finding a number with gates left open. Locks with keys applied to the ground paddles and not the gate paddles were a little strange, but perhaps they had the hardware for one and not the other. Eventually we arrived at Kilby bridge in fairly heavy rain. Saw Chris and Pat Kenway's boat Merchant, and decided to pay a call in the morning rather than that evening in the rain. Prepared food in the boat rather than venture out again. Tuesday September 26, 2000 Woke late and walked down to Chris & Pat's boat carrying my morning cup of tea. Found no sign of life and so walked back to Kilby bridge and took some pictures. Decided to try Merchant one more time. To my "Good Morning Merchant" came a response from Pat who fetched Chris. It seems the Kenway's are not early risers. We chatted for a bit and I went back to Silver Dale. Shortly thereafter Merchant came along down the cut and Chris offered to wait for us in the lock if we were about to leave. Extra hands at the locks made sense, particularly the double locks in this area, so we cast off and followed Merchant to the lock. At one point we encountered a BW traffic jam in front of a lock as they had moored one of their new toys there. It was a huge wide beam barge equipped with a Dredge set into a well at one end. With this they were offloading stone and other supplies from another pair of barges. They asked us to stay back until signaled to move ahead. In a terrible display of inattention, I managed to lift a bollard (and the large stone into which it was set) right out of the Lock wall. Fortunately, letting a little water out of the lock allowed the stone to settle back into place. It only took a moment during which the boat moved up and forward, creating a full turn of the rope around the bollard. As the boat rose in the lock, the rope locked on itself and you know the result. It never happened to me again - lesson learned. Chris had a near repeat of this incident, except that the bollard held firm and Merchant listed over. Applying my weight to the side of the boat and with Grant hammering on the rope with a Windlass handle, we cleared the jam without incident. We traveled with Merchant nearly all the way to Foxton, where Chris moored for the night and we continued along the Market Harborough arm. Upon reaching the basin at about 6:45 we winded in the basin and then asked at another boat for directions to restaurants and groceries. It turned out to be a fair hike into town, but we found Tesco and restocked our supplies before wandering into a very American like restaurant/bar where we ordered dinner. At the next table a male/female argument ensued which provided a half hour's entertainment - unfortunately we had to leave before the show was over. ---