The Hoods Arrive in Nottingham.

Thursday 30th June, 2016 at Nottingham.
A brighter morning greeted us after yesterday's rain.

We set off after breakfast with R looking very much the well-dressed narrowboater in his new check shirt and brown corduroy trousers. All he needs now is a narrowboater's waistcoat!

We were lucky enough to find another boat to share the locks with. Fortunately, the chap was also going down the River Trent towards Nottingham.

The cooling towers of the power station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar dominate the skyline against a dramatic sky. We came here by train many years ago for an Inland Waterways show held at the nearby marina.

After the confines of the canal, the confluence of the Soar (behind us) and the Trent (coming down from the left and going off behind us) is HUGE! The navigational "cut" goes off to the right and straight on is the entrance to the Erewash Canal. Quite a junction, and certainly much bigger than we were expecting.

A welcome sight was C&RT volunteers setting the lock for us at Cranfleet Lock, where we came off the navigable cut and back down on to the river proper.

There are markers by the exit to the lock for the River Trent Water levels. Green - for normal levels, orange for caution and red for flood levels. The indicator was in the orange but the volunteers said that the water levels were dropping. Let us hope so, because tomorrow we plan to come back against the current.
This is a big river and flowing quite fast, so we made very good time on the three miles to Beeston Lock, where we went back on to a canal section into Nottingham.

 

To our surprise and delight, as we approached Beeston Lock, we had a phone call from Dudley on "Vagabond". They were on the other side of the lock waiting to go back up river.

Having gone through the lock, we stopped to talk to them as they prepared to go into the lock and back out on to the Trent - but going against the flow.
So, the Hoods finally arrived in Nottingham! No fanfare of trumpets greeted us, just a few seedy looking ducks. There were plenty of mooring places along the towpath but the best one (away from traffic noise) necessitated going through the lock in the centre of town, turning round and then going back up through the lock. The handsome building in the background is the former offices of British Waterways (now the C&RT).

We moored up - now pointing the right way to go back tomorrow.
We set off for the Castle; it sits above the town on a high sandstone outcrop. It has a chequered history. Although the foundations date back to a Norman motte and bailey structure, the castle has been destroyed, burnt down and rebuilt numerous times. The main building is now a beautiful Georgian style mansion, a bit like a miniature Blenheim, and houses a museum and art gallery.
The view from the verandah surrounding the main Castle building was panoramic; you could see for miles.

At the foot of the Castle hill are a series of lovely preserved pedestrianised streets and fine old buildings.

One of the buildings below the Castle, "Ye olde trip to Jerusalem", claims to be the oldest pub in England, c.1189.

You can just see the Castle building on the hill above and the pub appears to be built into the sandstone.M was not impressed with the bronze statue of Robin Hood, declaring it to be nothing like the dashing figure that one associates with the legend!

The weather held all day, dry but breezy. The rain arrived just before nightfall.
Today: 11 miles, 5 locks and 4.1 hours.
Trip: 165 miles, 103 locks and 120.7 hours.

A Steam Train and Caught in the Pouring Rain.

Wednesday 29th June, 2016 at Kegworth.
Although our mooring was very quiet, it was opposite a large building site so a great contrast to our very rural, remote and rather lovely moorings over the last few days. We were interested to see that the crane is controlled remotely from the ground - no small cabin high above the site.

It was forecast to rain all day but brighten up after tea so we decided to spend the morning riding on the Great Central steam heritage line. As it was already pouring with rain, we took the big Eddie Stobart umbrella, which is huge and kept us both dry (unlike yesterday afternoon under M's small umbrella).

 

 The trains run on Wednesdays as well as at the weekends. Hooray!

R brought our tickets, which are valid all day. M would happily have spent all day going up and down, but we did need to make some progress towards Nottingham later.

The station is set up to represent the 1950s, including the kiosk with its newspaper headlines, although we noticed one modern addition!

Our train was waiting on the platform and, as it had a very smart restaurant car, we decided to have second breakfast. As usual, the waiter put the big breakfast in front of R and the small cake in front of M. Wrong way round!

M found that there was a mound of extras under the two fried eggs and she couldn't finish it all.
Later, she couldn't resist sticking her head out of the window to look down the line (and got very wet and windswept!). This claims to be the only heritage railway with twin tracks.

Could it be that this station might just be vegetarian? Marvellous names.

Back at the main Loughborough Station, the train made ready to leave on its next trip. Reluctantly, we made our way back to MM in the rain.

Back on MM, it was still raining hard but, by teatime, the rain eased off and eventually stopped, so we decided to move on.

At the first lock, a waft of sweet fragrance turned out to be a large bush of entwined philadelphus (mock orange) and honeysuckle. Lovely,

As we approached Bishop Meadow Lock, the heavens opened again and we both got very wet - but decided to keep going anyway. Next to the lock is an old lock keeper's cottage with a beautiful garden. The owner came out to talk to us (despite the rain).

When M complimented him on his garden, he went and cut her what he described as "the best rose in his garden". What a very sweet gesture.

R said that he must have fancied her - M replied that "He should have gone to Specsavers!" After all, by this time, she was looking like a drowned rat!
Soon afterwards, the rain finally stopped, the sun came out and we started to dry out and warm up (we'd started to get chilled).
At Normanton-on-Soar there is a very unusual church. It welcomes boaters and even has its own mooring for worshippers! The countryside hereabouts is lovely.

Kegworth Deep Lock was a bit scary as it has a very wide cill.  A warning notice said that there had been three boats caught on the cill and sunk in the last year. So, we were very careful. The blue ropes are for skippers to hang on to so as to keep their boats from drifting back on to the cill.

 

Just past the Kegworth Flood Lock, we moored up for the night.

Supper was very light as M had had such a big second breakfast - avocado and prawns. Delicious!

Good thing that we had moored up as the heavens opened again. We just hope that the River Soar and the River Trent (which we need tomorrow to get to Nottingham) do not rise too much - they were both closed for a while last week due to heavy rain.

Today: 6 miles, 4 locks and 5.1 hours.
Trip: 154 miles, 98 locks and 116.6 hours.

To Loughborough.

Tuesday 28th June, 2016 in Loughborough.
A lovely sunny morning greeted us. So did this feathered visitor, who decided to play at being a figurehead - but left his calling card on the roof. "Blooming cheek", said M.

Rosemary and Dudley on "Vagabond" were keen to set off early, so we left together half way through breakfast!
This very handsome bridge built in 1860 carries a conveyor belt to take granite from Mountsorrel quarry to the railway on the other side of the canal. Previously, of course, the granite was carried by canal boats.

At Barrow Deep Lock, the lock was against us (empty) so R and Dudley watched and chatted as the lock filled.

At Pillings Lock, we said goodbye to Dudley and Rosemary, as we were going to stop off at the marina just after the lock for diesel and a pump out. They are on their way up to Nottingham too, so we may see them again tomorrow; meanwhile, they kindly invited us to drop in on them at Gnosall when they are home.

 Pillings Lock Marina had a nice café with verandah seating, so we stayed for lunch - a rare treat for us. We each had a Brie, Bacon and Cranberry Jacket Potato. Delicious!

This bridge (below) marks the current northern terminus of the Grand Central Railway heritage line, which we are hoping to visit tomorrow. Plans are well advanced to extend the line another 8 miles north across this bridge in due course, which would make it one of the longest heritage lines in the country.

On the outskirts of Loughborough, we passed C&RT guys hard at work driving piles to support the towpath.

We went into the basin in the centre of Loughborough, but only to take on water, as it was very noisy and rather uninspiring. We couldn't help feeling that the local authority could have made so much more of an attractive facility with it - although they did at least keep the basin, which they had threatened to fill in to make yet another road.

So, we moored a few hundred yards up the canal, where it was nice and quiet.

M has to go home for a few days this weekend, so we walked in to the mainline station to buy her tickets, passing this converted mill that is now the headquarters of a pharmaceutical company.

While we were getting M's tickets, the heavens opened and we had to walk back to MM in the pouring rain huddled together under M's small folding umbrella. Our heads stayed dry but R's left arm and M's right got soaked! It's quite cosy sharing a small umbrella!
Today: 6 miles, 3 locks and 3.2 hours.
Trip: 148 miles, 94 locks and 111.5 hour.

MM Out of the Water and Repaired.

Monday 27th June, 2016 at Mountsorrel.
Fixing MM's rudder was a priority. Overnight, R managed to do a temporary repair so that at least he could turn the rudder both ways although it still required a great deal of force. M studied the waterway guide books and discovered that MGM Boats (a well known narrowboat builder) was just a mile along the canal.  So, as soon as the boatyard opened, R called them to see if their slipway was available. Luckily they said that the slipway was free but only if we got there quickly. We set off as fast as we could with "Vagabond" just behind. As we arrived at MGM boats, we waved goodbye and a heartfelt thank you to Dudley and Rosemary, saying that we hoped to catch them up fairly soon.

R steered MM, with some difficulty, towards the slipway and on to the cradle. Then Mark and Rachel hooked the front of MM to a JCB and pulled MM and the cradle up the slipway and out of the water (with us still on board).

Once out of the water, we were able to see that the rudder had been knocked right out of its lower bearing. Luckily there was no damage to the rudder, the skeg or the bearing in which the rudder sits. So it could have been a lot worse!

Mark and Rachel set to work. It was heavy work but they were able to get the rudder back in its proper place fairly quickly.

Soon MM was fixed and the rudder was back to normal. Hooray!!

We walked around to their office to settle the bill. M had to go back on MM to get her cheque book and said it was a very strange feeling walking uphill in MM!

After parting with a large cheque, we climbed back on board MM as she was pushed gently back into the water.  We waved goodbye and "thank you" to Mark and Rachel, incredibly having lost only about an hour.

It was such a relief to have normal control of MM again! The cruising on the River Soar was lovely.

We did the next few locks on our own, just using a single gate to save time and effort.

At Mountsorrel we caught up with "Vagabond" and, with their agreement, breasted up beside them as there was not a free mooring place.

They were expecting us as word of our successful repair had gone ahead of us - the old jungle drums of the waterways!
It was a lovely sunny afternoon. M pegged out the washing and washed down the rear deck (very muddy after the repair) while R washed down MM's roof with his new "Wonder Mop" purchased at the Crick Show.

Later in the evening, we walked into Mountsorrel to explore and stretch our legs. A pretty and curious name; apparently it was originally "Mount-Soar-Hill".

The evening light and the reflections in the water made a magical picture. What a day!

Today: 6 miles, 4 locks and 3.2 hours.
Trip: 142 miles, 91 locks and 108.3 hours