We reversed out of the marina; being moored stern out directly opposite the entrance made it easier to do this than turn around in the thin but unbroken ice. Out onto the canal we turned to head towards the flood lock, and spotted a great pile of wood left after the felling of a dangerous tree.
Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth I pulled in, set up the chain saw and pretty much filled the roof with free fuel. We reversed some more, almost up to the flood lock, and I got a fair proportion of the slices chopped ready for drying.
We’d come out of the marina on Wednesday, on Friday we headed back into town.
There’s still plenty of wood left…
Back in Loughborough we moored in our regular spot, up from Chain Bridge.
The weather has been fine, with frosty nights and sunny days, with overnight ice on the canal usually melted again by noon. One of my shopping trips involved picking up a new walking stick for Mags. Her old one is now lurking in the depths near F Pontoon in Pillings Lock Marina…
The last couple have seen a change though, with cloudy overcast days and milder overnight, though after the skies cleared yesterday afternoon, we did have a thin skim of ice left by a sharp frost.
A pretty little female mandarin duck, keeping company with the more common mallards.
No sign of hubby, though.
We’d decided to move on today, not too far, maybe only back to below Pillings Lock. So we turned left under Chain Bridge, heading to the old terminal basin for water and rubbish disposal.
Moored on the pontoons there were Mick and Sue on Mercury, with whom we came up off the Trent a couple of weeks ago. Mick came across to enquire which way we were going, and we agreed to share locks, at least until Barrow Cut.
We filled with water and set off, they pulled across to do the same and followed us.
Waiting for our lock companions at Pillings Lock.
The warning signs have all be recently replaced. We only had time to make a mug of soup before they arrived.
In the lock with Mick and Sue.
A fine but short stretch of river up to Barrow.
County Road Bridge straddles the navigation just below Barrow Deep Lock, and can be awkward if there’s a lot of water coming down the river channel. It enters almost opposite the bridge, the lock is through the centre arch and to the left.
We parted company once again with Mick and Sue at the lock. They were pressing on to Sileby while we had decided to stop here at Barrow. It’s further than we’d planned, but the chance to share the locks, especially Barrow Deep, was too good to pass up.
We pulled in on the moorings in the cut, and I walked up to see if the rather better moorings just above Barrow Boating were free. There was one space so we moved up to there instead.
In front of us is the weir that takes the river around the lock cut.
We’ll stay here tomorrow, then head up to Sileby on Thursday. We need diesel and a couple of bags of solid fuel to keep the stove in overnight. Through the day the wood keeps the boat warm.
Locks 2, miles 7
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