Lyra's Travels

Saturday 29th June 2013
On Friday, despite the pouring rain we decided to shake the dust of Nottingham from our feet. Sitting still for a week was just too much.
Donning full wet gear we prepared to leave. I turned the key and the engine purred to life. The new starter has definitely made a difference, the old one must have been struggling for some time. The engine spins easily and quickly, starting almost instantly.
We chugged through the downpour for about an hour until Beeston lock came into view. the service block here is on the off side, near the lock. We needed water and to chuck a can, so I pulled up on the landing and did all the necessary. After that we had to pull back and find a mooring on the towpath side. Luckily there was one quite close to the lock where we could also dump our week's accumulation of rubbish in the boater facility.
This morning, with the weather looking decidedly better than yesterday, we set off through Beeston Lock, sharing it with "My Darling Boy" returning to Sawley Marina from having its bottom blacked.

 We shared Cranfleet lock as well before waving farewell as we turned onto The Soar at Trent Lock and headed south.

Ratcliffe on Soar power stating looms large here, we remember coming here several years ago to visit the IWA show. We bought our saloon chairs there.

The little blob you see in the sky is actually our fake butterfly on a wire, a pretty Christmas present from a friend.

The first lock here is Redhill Flood lock, the river is a pussycat at present so the lock was open.

Just before Ratcliffe Lock we caught up with another narrowboat, I can't remember its name, but they were going very slow, I thought it might be because there were moored boats around, but after sharing the lock with them we soon learned that slow was all they did. No point in hurrying past them because of the locks, so it was just down nearly to tickover and be patient.

Kegworth Shallow Lock is another one which is only shut if the river is high, so today it was open. Kegworth Deep Lock was very busy, when we arrived there was a pair coming down, a plastic boat waiting to go up and as they went in another pair turned up to come down and finally as we entered the lock another pair turned up behind us. Blimey, it's like Clapham Junction around here!

Soon after Kegworth we found a lovely spot to moor for the night, there are several boats here, I suspect drawn by the beauty of it. this is the view from our hatch