A wet morning so we stayed put until a passing trad who displaced so much water, probably 25 tons, sucked us away from the bank pulling out one of our pins. Not an ideal place to moor, so after lunch when the rain stopped we moved on. Of course 30 minutes later it started raining heavily, but with only 2 locks to do only the helmsman got wet. One upside was going thru Burton upon Trent, a bright blue and orange kingfisher posed several times on trees as we passed. Superb but impossible to catch on film sadly. With the batteries charged we are moored at Branston, only 5 hours and 7 locks from our final destination.

There is a large water park alongside, sadly its raining again, but the Canada geese are honking away, and several swans drifting around.

It’s good to be on a canal again, but it’s fairly uniform agricultural land with occasional villages. The towpath has mainly hawthorn hedge, with occasional breaks to views.

One other uniform thing are the massive 14′ deep wide locks. Some present a real challenge for Hazel, and I climb out of the lock on a slimy ladder to give her a hand. She’s very good scrambling across the lock to open 2 ground paddles and 2 gate paddles as we are going upstream for the next couple of days. Luckily CRT volunteers did the last one, promising and delivering a “smooth” ride.

Long lost relatives at Swankstone Junction ? We passed a couple from WA earlier.

We are moored outside of Burton upon Trent tonight, hoping to blast thru tomorrow weather permitting. It’s looking very dark and grey at present……

A few showers setting off from Zouch this morning, and straight into a lock. On taking off the alternator belt squealed, we’ve already adjusted once, then bang as it broke. We pulled over and I replaced it in 4 minutes, good enough for the Ferrari team Rico said.

A couple of other boats caught up with us, and we all squeezed into the next lock.

By now we were reaching the end of the River Soar, where it joins the Trent. This is a massive expanse of water, and has some large Dutch barges on it. We’ve also just completed the Leicester Line, another canal and River system for T42.

Then it was a turn into the Trent, and we are going up locks rather than down. Sawley Locks are manned and automated. A relief as they are rather deep ! It’s also the the home of the Derby Boat Club, Lazy Otters Marina. Time to say goodbye to Rico and Lorraine for another year, we really do enjoy their company, and sharing the work makes for a more enjoyable holiday. Till next time guys …..

We’ve done 2 more locks by ourselves, but the rain has set in and we’re moored for the day now. It’s about 12.5 hours to Kings Bromley Marina where we are being trailered back to Pyrford on Friday. We can take our time over the next couple of days..

Another glorious day, apparently it ends tomorrow, sailing down the Soar.

It’s a maze of side rivers, weirs and channels. Large numbers of Canada geese are cropping the fields and water weeds.

It’s also been declared a holy river by the local Indian population. That means it’s good for spreading ashes, we’ve passed 2 large groups doing so and have managed to get downstream / downwind in time. One group was at a boating service point, Coco the Chihuahua and his young master helped us moor, and posed once I’d asked his mum.

Barrow upon Soar was a pleasant surprise, lovely scenery and friendly folks.

We are moored at Loughborough Arm at present, pronounced Luff BuRRa. A quick provision at the local Tesco then into the country again. We are looking for good moorings in case we are moored up tomorrow to avoid the rain and winds forecast.

So we are on the long downhill slope to Leicester, passing numerous homes..

Some have nice gardens, whilst others look a trifle unkept.

Upon entering Leicester there are a lot of swans, Leicester City Football Club, numerous University buildings and the Mile Straight.

For a city it’s remarkably tidy, green and graffiti free so far. The girls are out shopping, then it’s a few more locks and out into the countryside again.

It took a while to find our evening mooring spot. Great to be back in the country, on a river surrounded by lakes. One more day of fine weather then the rains are coming…

Out cruising by 8.30 this morning. Superb reflections and only 1 boat past us all day.

Churches, cows and general scenery, it all drifts by…

Life doesn’t get much better if you are a “slow boater”. Tomorrow Leicester

Today was supposed to be a lock free day, but the fine weather meant we could push on ahead and bank some miles for a rainy day. Some fine reflections in the water.

So after 5 hours cruising, going thru a tunnel and topping up with water, we arrived at Foxton. This is a double set of 5 staircase locks. Another fine bit of engineering. The girls were gently reminded by the lock keeper “red before white and you’ll be alright” so that the water is correctly diverted to the side pounds after filling the next lock.

View of 1 set of staircase locks, double this and you will get a sense of the scale. Originally it was an inclined plane, where 2 cassions moved in opposite directions sideways up and down the hill. However it proved a very unreliable system and only the tracks remain, and the staircase locks that replaced them

Well the girls limbered up with 6 locks straight after breakfast, luckily we were joined by an experienced crew who made it a pleasure to cruise with. This was followed by a 2 mile tunnel, and 2 way with a spare inch between the wall and any oncoming boats.

Then it was a short time to Napton Junction where we turned onto the Leceister line proper. This is a narrow canal, everything is a bit tighter on them, but we prefer it!

It feels a proper canal, and we can double up with Lazy Otter in the Locks.

To finish the day off we had 3 more normal locks and a staircase of 4 at Watford Gap. This was an impressive feat of engineering, and required the right paddle sequence. After we had done the first the lockmaster left us to it, recognising an experienced crew ! We are on schedule and have at least 4 more sunny days to bank up the miles.

Another early morning, are we on holiday?, saw us moored at the slipway with Norm arriving at 7.30. He has taken over from Ray Lily who has moved us numerous times, and did a wonderful job loading us.

A few hours drive saw us at Calcutt Marina where Rico and Lorraine in Lazy Otter we’re waiting for us. Water tank filled up, goods restowed, good for cruising. Just a short day today, 3 locks and 2 hours to Braunston. This is a major canal town with lots of facilities. It also has numerous graceful ironbridges.

We are being spoiled tonight with a 3 course dinner cooked by Lorraine. Tomorrow sees numerous locks and a 2 mile long windy tunnel ! Looking forward to it all.

Marionette was the original Sea Otter, being just 18′ long, the one behind it is the same length as ours at 27′. Tiddlers compared to the traditional 72 footers. I’ve climbed onto one of the bridges to get a wifi signal for the dongle. Here’s our mooring tonight.

Another early start saw us arrive just after 9am. Hospitality for the day was the Goodwood Mess, a WW11 airforce mess complete with officers. The Doc said I was fine…

The film studios were filming the Italian Job, complete with actors, cars and props

Whilst the Earls Court Motor Show had a fantastic display of Aston’s, including Valkyrie and an original publicity shot for the mini.

Racing wise the highlight was the BROOKLANDS Trophy, for Bentley’s up to 1930.

Over 30 of them thundering around the circuit. As well as many other special cars with unique history. They even recreated a fire in the pits to simulate Aston winning the world championship in 1959.

And finally a few fashion shots for Sally…

By 3pm it was 27 degrees and we were both fading fast. I didn’t really do the event fully but feel glad I actually made it ! Oh I got a few brochures, books etc as well…