Day Nine - Loughborough to Leicester

We set out at seven forty-five under a very grey sky and a cool wind. There was very little boat traffic all day and the boats we did encounter were coming towards us and had set up the locks for us. This meant we didn’t have to drain the lock before entering it.
The wind grew very strong by the middle of the day and Henk had trouble controlling the boat coming in and out of the locks because of the crosswinds. He held onto the centre rope with his dear life. At lunchtime we reached Thurmaston and decided to have a break. Just as we were mooring and tying the ropes the rain came down in buckets. We could do nothing but keep tying the ropes as the wind was strong and there was also a strong current coming from the flooded weir. By the time we got inside our jeans were soaked. Thankfully, we had our rain jackets on. We had lunch and waited for the weather to clear and then we had sunshine for the rest of the afternoon. It certainly is changeable weather.
We arrived at Leicester at three forty-five and got the last mooring at the locked moors. Lucky! We quickly packed our daypacks with our valuables and headed into Leicester to have a look around. We emerged from the canal up a set of stairs to beautiful gardens known as Castle Gardens. It was quite a contrast to the first impressions of Leicester as we came along the canal. There were constant police sirens, loud music and a lot of floating litter. We are pleased we are at a locked mooring.
The centre of Leicester was very busy along its very long pedestrian mall. At Marks and Spencers we had coffee and a Victorian Sponge which was a favourite of mine from last year when we were on the walk. It’s basically a sponge cake with raspberry jam and cream in the middle. Yummy! We did a little more grocery shopping and set off to Leicester Cathedral which is away from the busyness of the shops.
Dinner was on the boat again and sitting and relaxing reading the newspaper. At eight o’clock we watched the final episode of “The Last of the Summer Wine” which has ended after thirty-three series. It is set in Holmfirth where we stayed two nights last year at the Blue Door B&B.
Photos: Ducks making the most of flooded reeds; Castle Gardens, Leicester; Henk entering a deep lock.