There was a work crew tidying up around the lock, so the top gates were open, and we were able to leave the bottom open, too.
County Road Bridge below the lock.
Heading towards Pillings Lock.
The plan was to pull in below Pillings Lock at that pile of logs we’d attacked before, and top up the roof again. But we’d been beaten to it…
So we continued on into Loughborough, mooring in our regular spot near Chain Bridge.
After a day off yesterday I’d decided to head back to Pillings Lock and the wood pile today, hoping that the chap and his chainsaw had had his fill and toddled off.
The work on converting the old hosiery mill carries on apace.
Blue skies and silver birches
We were out of luck, there was still the boat moored up taking advantage of all that free fuel. So we winded just before the marina entrance, retraced our steps for a couple of hundred yards and pulled in. I’d actually managed to collect some logs elsewhere on our perambulations, and the towpath along there was wide enough to slice and dice them. Job done and a week’s worth of wood stacked up in the cratch, we had lunch then headed back into town.
The Peter Le Marchant Trust base on the edge of Loughborough.
They run two wide-beam trip boats from here, Symphony and Serenade, taking groups of disabled and seriously ill people of all ages on day or 4-day trips. They also have a specially equipped self-drive 65 foot narrowboat available for weekly hire by a family or group with a disabled member.
Instead of mooring in out usual spot in town we went through Chain Bridge, turned right and moored near The Albion pub.
Chain Bridge
The bridge is at the junction between the original Loughborough and Leicester Navigations, before they were combined into the Leicester Line of the Grand Union network. As such, it’s likely that a barrier would have been in place to prevent unauthorised boats from passing from one to the other without paying an appropriate toll. The barrier, I would guess, would have been a padlocked chain.
After a bit of shopping tomorrow we’ll head off north, looking to moor the other side of Zouch for a day or two.
Locks 2, miles 9½
No comments:
Post a Comment