I am Linda and along with my husband Richard and our dog Muffin we enjoy our summers on the UK's canal system

Monday 26 August 2013

Leicester Marina (River Soar) – Monday 26th August

Richard was worried (again!) that there might queues at the locks as it is Bank Holiday Monday.  However all the boats seemed to be coming towards us so we encountered nice empty locks :-)

Waterfall at Mountsorrel
As we approached Mountsorrel there is a lovely complex of new houses – some of which are still empty.  The estate agent’s blurb says that the development is based on a Norfolk fishing village with Dutch influence, architecturally styled resulting in a striking mix of individual designs and most attractive street scenes.  The house that I looked at has 4/5 bedrooms and 3 en-suites and each house has exclusive rights to moorings in the marina with 32 spaces available price a mere £399,000!

New houses at Waterside
The day got hotter and hotter (I’m not complaining!) and this just seem to make the Soar more and more beautiful.  I know I am probably boring everyone with my raptures over the Soar but I just love it.
 
 
One way of keeping cool
We decided that we would have our main meal at lunchtime today and pulled over at the Hope and Anchor which is about half way between Junction Lock and Thurmaston Lock.  It turned out to be a Hungry Horse pub and I reckon the world and his wife were there – well of course they would be on a hot Bank Holiday Monday!  Richard went in to get some drinks and was gone for ages – needless to say, when he came back, he suggested that we didn’t stay there for food.  The outside area was also plagued by wasps so we headed back to Mary H and I made a couple of sandwiches which we ate on the hoof.  We had one more lock to do which we actually managed to share with another boat.  I hasten to add that all the boats coming down were in pairs – so why are we always on our own – answers on a postcard please!

While we were at the pub Muffin made a new friend, Sasha is a Cockapoo though her mother is an American Cocker Spaniel which makes her face slightly different to Muffins.
 

Sasha
We found the entrance to Leicester Marina just after the lock and turned in, went to the office and settled in to our berth where we will leave Mary H tomorrow to go down to Cornwall for another funeral.  We will spend a couple of nights with Penny and Jim and we also have friends close to Bodmin where the funeral will be so we will spend a night with them too.

So blog readers, another break.  I am already a day behind with the blog and Muffin says that he will get his blog up to date tomorrow on our drive down so that can be published while we are away.  Normal service will be resumed on Sunday.
 

Barrow-on-Soar to Leicester Marina
7.10 miles
5 locks

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