Soar weekend: Day 2

Last night we wandered along to The Navigation at Barrow, as it was only a few hundred yards from where we were moored. They didn't do food on a Saturday evening, so we walk on to The Hunting Lodge instead. We sat in the garden, and the food was fine.

It rained in the night, as forecast. We slept well, though, and it was fairly late when we finally got up and had breakfast. Showers came and went, so we waited until after 10am before setting off. If yesterday was summer, today was more like autumn, with overcast skies and a chilly breeze.

Barrow Deep Lock was just around the corner. There's a traffic light to tell you what the state of the river below is; today it was fine.

We continued on to Loughborough. By the old railway bridge, no 37, we could hear whistles of steam engines on the Great Central Railway. We turned into Loughborough basin where we winded and began retracing our steps.

We headed back through the town suburbs and back up Barrow Deep Lock. As we passed Barrow Boating again, another Hindu ashes scattering trip was just setting off.

When we got to Mountsorrel Lock, I went to see what the situation was on the rather limited moorings above the lock. As it happened, a boat was just pulling off to come down the lock, so we came up and moored. As we did so, a boat arrived in reverse from the opposite direction; he'd wanted the space too. We moved up a bit, so our bow is well off the moorings, and he just about fitted in behind. We went to the Waterside Inn for a late Sunday lunch, which was pretty good. By the time we'd finished, at almost 4pm, the weather had cheered up considerably, with the sun coming out and the temperature going up.

10 miles, 3 locks. (17 miles, 7 locks)