Through Leicester in a heatwave

1st & 2nd June

Rising early on the first day of the meteorological summer, we were underway by 8.15, after I'd made a quick trip to the paper shop. We had an excellent chug and steady working down the 12 locks to Kilby Bridge, where we contemplated winding so as to get onto the service point there to do a pump out.

A reconnoitre, however, discovered that the Elsan sluice was round the back of the toilet block, so that it was unlikely that the hose would reach. Also, it was hot. We decided to take it a bit easier, and confined ourselves to looking for a geocache near the lock. Sadly we failed to find it, although the GPS insisted we were in the right place, and previous reports described it as being obvious.

Either we were being more dopey than usual (blame the sun) or it's been muggled. Back at the boat, I rigged the anchor in anticipation of river cruising, and checked out the life jackets, examining the auto inflation devices and removing the cylinders to see that their seals were unbroken. I then inflated them both by mouth, and left them to see if they stay up for 24 hours.

Meantime, Peruvian Skies had tied in front of us, and we had a chat with them about this and that. They told us about a couple on Agapé, mentioning that they'd discovered in the nick of time that the gent was a retired vicar, before using any bad language in front of him. They also told us that they'd been able to get diesel at Debdale Wharf earlier in the day, so it is only closed on Sundays.

Other thing of note from the end of the day: Sheila observed the most Roughty Toughty form of beer chilling so far encountered, when she saw a guy lift a keep net out of the cut with several cans in it. All very well, but what does the cut water do to the outside of the can? Presumably you have to give it a good wash before opening, without warming it up or shaking it about too much. Well, I hope so, anyway.

Yesterday (2nd) we got away to a seriously early start, setting off after a quick breakfast by 6.45. It was soon mega hot, which made for pleasant boating down towards Leicester. All the locks from Kilby down have antivandal locks of the most tedious kind, secured with BW padlocks that have to be shut again before you can take your key out to open another one. This slows the whole locking process down considerably, whilst corroding any confidence you might have had about Leicester as a welcoming city for boaters.

Let me say at once that I worked in Leicester for six years. It is a remarkably multicultural city, with a large Asian community as well as representatives of all the other kinds of humanity. It has very little racial tension, and standards of public behaviour are generally high. Nonetheless, it has this problem, partly perceived but partly based on experience, of being somewhere you don't want to moor overnight.

It's very sad. They've tried to address it by creating a safe haven at Castle Gardens, with some mooring pontoons behind a fence and gate with BW lock, but the fence isn't very high, and the local lads see it as a bit of a challenge to climb over and molest the boats. On our way down, we crossed with a boat who had spent the night there, and who had been disturbed by such behaviour. In the morning, he found that a fishing rod had been stolen from his roof.

Now, I don't hold any brief for anyone who was unwise enough to leave a rod out in such circumstances – you are, after all, in a city centre, and wouldn't leave stuff in open view in the back of a pick up, say, and expect it still to be there in the morning – but it just shows that there is still a problem.

I guess the difference between Castle Gardens and Gas Street in Birmingham is that the latter has a thriving community of boaters living there, creating an atmosphere of security, and a source of local advice about where to moor.

For ourselves, we had no problems just working through. The approach is some of the nicest canal in the country, and the only loss we suffered was when my cheapo baseball cap, as bought in the Lakes, was swept off by an overhanging branch when I didn't duck low enough.

I'd just said "Heads!" to Sheila before it happened, a case of natural irony.

We joined Agapé after Glen Parva, and they stayed with us right through to just before Thurmaston. I managed not to say to him "I hear I've got to watch my language because you're a bloody padre", though he was so laid back and jolly it was a chronic temptation.

We had a problem at Belgrave Lock, when the offside bottom gate wouldn't open. It swung half across and stopped, so Sheila tried closing it and reopening it a few times, but the only result was that it stuck solid, half open and half closed. We were able to leave through the other gate, of course, but it meant that the lock was inoperable, so I gave BW a ring to alert them.

Just above Thurmaston, we turned into the backwater that leads to Raynsway Marina, still looking for diesel and a pump out. At the end, we tied on the service quay, and Sheila went off to seek service. She soon came back, having found a sign saying that they are closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. It would help if they put that on their signs out on the river, rather than letting you make a tricky turn and slog up there to find out.

We worked down the lock and tied outside Agapé on the short bit of visitor mooring.

BW are working on the lock, and have taken down the bridge there, so access to Thurmaston is currently a bit of a trek down one side of the river, across a bridge and up the other side. Nonetheless, I made it, and then the slog (in scorching heat) to the Asda across the main road. On return to Sanity, two pints of squash were consumed in short order, before quietly subsiding for the rest of the day.

We've managed to get fuelled and pumped out today, at Sileby Mill, but that's another good story I'll tell you tomorrow.