A bit of a change at the sharp end…..

We stayed in Loughborough Thursday and Friday nights, during the day shopping at the new Tesco on the Rushes and topping up the hardware stocks from B&Q, then in the evening we met sister Kay and her partner Paul for a meal at The Albion.

We all had a good time, the food was nothing exotic, but good, honest fare, the beer was good and the company enjoyable. Kay has been a bit down recently. Her daughter (and my God-daughter) Samantha has gone off to university in Harrow, and they’re missing each other. Sam has been suffering a bit from homesickness, a common affliction for “freshers” at this time of year. But she’s settling in now so Kay’s feeling more relaxed, too.

We moved out of town on Saturday morning, just a couple of miles to Millers Bridge. It was a fine day, so I set to dismantling the old cratch board.

Cruising around Loughborough
Surprised to see the Peter Le Marchant Trust trip boats all tied up on a fine Saturday...
We crossed paths with Kev and Ann on NB 4Evermore, exchanging greetings as you do. They're stuck at Redhill at the moment.

Off with the old…..

And on with the new.
While I was on with this Chris from Tops Tarpaulins in Sileby rang to say the cover was ready to collect after being modified, so I arranged to pick it up today.

With this in mind we set off yesterday with the intention of getting to Sileby Mill. From there it’s a short walk up into the village.

Pillings Lock is in use again now. Through the summer it stands open unless the river floods, but from October to March it performs as an ordinary lock. The level marker shows just below amber (Navigate With Caution) after heavy rain all night.

Pillings Lock
Alongside the lock and it’s attendant weir is one of the automatic flood control sluices. These were installed to manage the river levels during wet weather, and the flashing indicator light showed that this was just opening as we passed.

Pillings Flood Sluice

The heavy rain continued all the way to and through Barrow Deep Lock, so we decided to call it quits and stop just above the lock on the lock cut. Soon after we moored the lockie switched on the red light at the lock, effectively closing the stretch we just came up.

We decided not to press on, even though the evening brightened up. The Soar in flood is not to be trifled with!

This still left us with needing to get to Sileby today, but that problem was solved by a phone call to Dad, who agreed to pick us up at Barrow, take us to pick up the cover, then lunch at their place before dropping us back at the boat. Nice one Pops.

TV is poor to none-existent on the lock cut so first thing this morning we moved on to Barrow Mill, filled and emptied and moored just above the weir. We had a couple of games of Scrabble last night, but I took pity on Mags. We can get TV here, so I won’t have to thrash her again tonight! Anyway, it’s Monday Soap Opera night, and she likes to keep up to date with the doings in the Dales, Walford and Wetherfield.

We got back after lunch at around 3, giving me time to fit the modified cover and mount the tunnel light and horn back onto the new cratch board.

Modified cover and new cratch board.
And the old set up so you can see the difference.
Certainly an improvement I reckon. Chris at Tops has done a good job, well worth a visit if you need something canvassy making.

Now we’re just waiting for a last mail delivery before we up sticks and head up to the Trent and Mersey. Water levels permitting, of course.

Locks 2, miles 4¼