Sharing enriches and reinforces life

For so much of the past year we’ve been unable to share our lives, our experiences with others in person. It’s one thing to write about life and work afloat, another to experience it. This week we’ve been in the company of three groups of delightful people – learning from them, sharing with them how we live and cruise the waterways, seeing our life through their eyes, whilst enjoying their company.

Our first city centre overnight was at a gated mooring in the centre of Leicester. Castle Gardens is a beautiful spot. Gates lead straight from the pontoon into the heart of the garden, complete at the moment with a decorated rocket.

After 8pm when the gardens shut it’s like a private park just for boaters. You can get in and out with a Waterways key if you want to go pubbing/clubbing, but remember to read the sign before you leave the mooring which says which of the 3 locks on which gate gets you back in! If not it might be the Holiday Inn for you, or a less than dignified climb!

With the CRT workboat taking up a good chunk of space there was only room for 3 of us: Evening Standard, Paddington Bear and ourselves.

It’s a surprisingly peaceful mooring, understandably popular with swans, pigeons and rowers situated as it is on the mile straight for Leicester City Rowing Club.

The moorings are overseen by the gargoyles of West Bridge – thought to be characters from The Canterbury Tales, whose author Chaucer, was married at the nearby St Mary de Castro Church. Do you reckon that’s the Prioress or the Wife of Bath? I’d love to know how many others you identified!

We left the moorings in the company of Paddington Bear (from Peru), accompanied on his travels by Nic and Scott.

From Leicester we moved out past the Foxes’ King Power stadium and then 4 double locks took us to Kings’s Lock where the Soar and the Grand Union Canal part company if heading south, or unite when you’re heading north. The Soar is a beautiful river and regularly used for Sikh and Hindu funeral rites, like the Ganges. A Hindu priest has anointed the Soar with water from the Ganges. Ashes scattered on these waters will eventually reach the sea, wending their way accompanied by flowers, holy leaves and coconuts. This time we saw only coconuts bobbing along.

For us the move from the river to the canal is significant – it means whatever the weather brings we are away from the possibility of being delayed by flooding. The canal levels are managed, but still seemed low. By the pound before Kilby Bridge some 8 locks further on, Nic and I were bringing the boats in single file down a narrow channel of muddy water in the centre with silt and rocks visible on both sides. This pound has a reputation for leaking badly and boaters who know try to get through the Kilby Lock for protection before mooring at the visitor moorings opposite the services and handily by The Navigation Pub.

Having Scott and Steve on the locks and Nic and I at the tillers made for a rapid and sociable journey (albeit more bumps to our boat than Steve would have made her suffer). The miles and the locks flew by as did the drizzle and rain, and we made it to the pub together to enjoy a well earned drink…or two.

Sunday saw some boats further down towards Leicester aground, and CRT were actively out managing water levels. The day saw us tackling the next 6 miles, 12 locks and a tunnel (Saddington – 881 yards plus Daubenton’s bats) in the company of friends Emma and Wayne, no strangers to nb Preaux. Such fun was had by all that I took absolutely no usable photographs at all, and need them back to repeat the exercise when I am armed with a camera. How did I not get them mastering the tiller, sorting locks with ease and enjoying the delights of the life we are so glad to lead? Just the same way I didn’t manage to capture for you the heron catching a very large breakfast fish this week…

I did however manage a shot of some of the goodies Emma and Wayne brought: gin plus light for when the gin’s gone, making the bottle dual purpose, the bottle’s contents already being dual purpose for thirst quenching and delight. I also took a shot of the usefully labelled Smeeton Road Bridge which directed us to… yes, you’ve guessed it, a very nice pub, albeit up a VERY steep hill!

We were just thinking that was that for sociability when another former colleague and running friend plus his family came to see us for an evening cruise. Safe to say our wonderful lifestyle and the closeness to nature had his boys enamoured – they appreciated challenging yourself to try new things, having adventures, pushing bridges and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone as well as just revelling in the wildlife around. It was a delight to spent time with them and uplifting to see their excitement mirror our own at how fabulous this life is.

Later in the week we risked the afternoon rush hour down to Market Harborough to find some very quiet and calm moorings near the town from which Steve will run his 100th parkrun today (Saturday).

Another unexpectedly delightful evening visit followed with visitors who really flummoxed us (thanks Charles and Chloe) by asking “What creature comforts have you missed in this year afloat?”

We struggled at the time to answer honestly, and after wracking our brains for 48 hours we are still none the wiser. Yes it would be nice to have an easy solution to the washing conundrum, but we’re getting by and we really can’t think of any creature comforts we are missing or have missed.

And just for good measure – the unexpected pluses have been immense. Here’s a kestrel I delighted in watching in a grass field for hours one day this week. Determination paid off but he/she had to stalk, hover and dive 6 times before getting a meal.

Living 24/7 amid nature; feeling totally aware of the seasons; experiencing the calming slowness of gentle cruising through reed edged waters; hearing the wind rustling in the trees above us; finding a mooring that feels in the middle of nowhere with no streetlights, but owls, moorhens and ducks for company; and being able to share this with friends and family – all are joys I hadn’t expected but which delight me.

As for those creature comforts we’re missing? We’re still trying to find an answer to that one!