Early March - We are iced in and going nowhere.
Ice on the canal has a positive and a negative effect. It brings out the worst in some people, they feel the need to chuck everything onto to it to see if they can break the ice - tree branches, bricks, clumps of grass with soil attached, picnic chairs, a clothes horse and innumerable beer cans. On the positive side, at least we can see what we’re going to hit tomorrow.
Later - Today we need water, badly. This is the third day of solid ice so we walk the tow path to see what we’re up against if we attempt a journey to Kilby Bridge, our nearest watering hole. Prodding the stuff with a wooden pole we walk half a mile and turn for home knowing we can’t make it without doing our paintwork or someone else’s boat some damage. As we turn back I feel the need
to explain to the dog walker (DW) behind us that we are checking the ice thickness before we look for water. On hearing our plight he kindly offers us a hose to his outside tap right next to the lock near our temporary mooring. An hour later and several stories about the lock keeper’s cottage that once stood next to his, our tank is full and we can reverse back to our spot on the tow path. No shortage of kindness in these parts.
Moored a couple of days near the County Arms, east of Whetstone Lock
Apart from the distant traffic and a neighbour’s dog with a cough it’s quite tranquil. A nicer type of householder in these parts. Wasn’t always the case so I’m told, the County Arms was alive and kicking, literally. Now it lies derelict (amend your Nicholsons please) with various rumours of what might befall this Art Deco listed building.
Quite different at the Baker’s Arms a 10 minute walk from the canal at Blaby Bridge
A listed building dating from 1485 claiming freedom from brewer and distiller and having a distinctive look of ancient about it.
You need to duck before you get a chance to see the menu.
Quality and quantity are excellent. The garlic bread with melted cheese and salad could have been a main course rather than a starter.
Back on the cut and confronted by a DW I’m asked “On your way today?” Even I wasn’t prepared for my answer when I replied “No, I’ve got too much to do” Quizzical look from DW, as if to say – but you’re a boater, what is there to do? Realised I should have pointed to the ice
On another occasion we’re sitting inside when a small boy passes with granddad in tow. Boy asks what the pipe on the roof is for, granddad answers that’s where the smoke comes out. Do people live in there, the boy asks. Oh yes, little people live in there, answers granddad.
Funny how some people take to narrowboats, or not as the case may be. Making contact with the owners seems to be a frustration for some. Our attention was well and truly got when a group of lads took a break from their bike ride and resorted to stone throwing. I was on the phone at the time and just as I appeared from the cabin with the phone to my ear the local police helicopter appeared overhead which did the trick to their puzzlement and our amusement.
Nearly out fresh water and down by the head with yellow water we made a visit to the visitor’s moorings at Kilby Bridge. Pump-out cards are £6.50 from the bar at the Navigation pub but the clever little electronics box wasn’t having them. Friendly BW man stepped in (not literally) and eased the situation.
If it’s coal or smokeless fuel you’re after then it’s a fair walk to the nearest supplier but thanks to a friendly pub landlord there could be a fetch and delivery service if you ask nicely. Didn’t test him on this as England were playing France that afternoon and we didn’t want to miss it on TV. As it happens it wasn’t worth watching, unless you’re a French supporter.
Watch out for new gate paddle locks on the Kilby Bridge to Kings lock stretch, BW are trialling a locked box to cover the conventional padlocked pinion spindles. Uses the same key that operates the ground paddle locks in these parts. Bush Lock will be fitted with the first and depending on how the night life get on with these a future roll out will cover a further ten or so locks. It seems paddle padlocks have a short life round here, though I’ve noticed several have been broken since early 2005. No one seems to be in any hurry to change them but to be fair I’ve not seen any empty pounds either.
There are some very pretty gardens along the south Leicester section that only boats can take you to.
shouldn’t there be an award for this kind of effort?
Got talking to several house owners along the tow path, as you do, and discovered one of them is the son of the lock keeper who lived just two hundred yards away from our current mooring, that is until his father retired. He remembers his father weed cutting twice a year along a ten mile towpath using scythes and pulling their work flat by hand, no engines for the workers before the war.
Hoping to catch sight of his father’s photograph collection before we move on and maybe, just maybe include something in the Blog.