Just Pottering…

That’s all we’re doing at the moment. After the Sheffield run we were intending to head up onto the Trent and Mersey, and use Willington as a base for the Great North Run weekend. But, with one thing and another, we’re still on the Soar, so we’ve booked into Pillings Lock Marina again for a few nights over next weekend instead.
We had a night above Sileby Lock, then headed upstream to the Hope and Anchor on Friday afternoon.

Sunset at Sileby

Towpath works near the Hope and Anchor Inn.
We moored just the other side of the bridge from the pub, and went to spend a very pleasant evening with brother Andy and family.

Not wanting to spend another night so close to the main road, we turned around and came back down to Sileby yesterday.

Good moorings above Cossington Lock
We’ve never used these, though. The busy A6 is only a field away. In fact it runs quite close to the river often, taking advantage of the flat flood plain.

I had a good walk around Cossington Meadows with Meg this morning.

Cossington Meadows
Sand and gravel extraction were major industries in the Soar valley, like the Trent further north. Most of this has finished now, and the pits have been reclaimed as water parks. Watermead, running from Syston into Leicester, is heavily developed, with hard cycle paths and walkways. In contrast, Cossington Meadows has been left much to it’s own devices, and benefits from minimal management.

Sileby Mill
Sileby Lock
We’re moored on the left above the lock.

A floating hen party gets lock instruction this morning. They had a good day for it.
Locks 4, miles 5