Guess what – we are still moored on the River Soar, and because we are back in flood again it seems we might be waiting a little longer!
John Flower, a renowned landscape and architectural artist of the 18th and 19th centuries was known as ‘the Leicester artist’, and he knew the Soar intimately. He was born at Castle Mill on the river, just near Castle Gardens, one of our favourite city moorings.
What Flower said about the river is similar to our current progress along it:
“The River Soar has never hurried; it has always preferred to linger.”
As so many have said over the years, the River Soar and the Leicester Line form one of the most beautiful waterways available to us. The observations may come from decades or even centuries ago, but they remain current today.
Just to set the scene, the Soar is navigable (when not in flood) for 24.1 miles and 18 locks. the Leicester Line is 41.2 navigable miles with 41 locks. The Leicester Line is also known as the Grand Union Canal and runs from Norton Junction in Northamptonshire to West Bridge in Leicester. There the River Soar takes over and transports boaters to the mighty River Trent and the Erewash Canal.
The co-founder of the Inland Waterways Association, Robert Aickman, wrote in the 1950s:
“The passage of Leicester itself is very remarkable: it compares with going through a capital city. The bridge over which Richard III rode to defeat and death at Bosworth is decorated with the white roses of York – visible only from the water.”
In Know your Waterways, Holidays on Inland Waterways Aikman encouraged holidaymakers to take to the water, and guided them to enjoy the Soar, just as we would today.
“Without doubt the most beautiful reaches are on the Leicester Section, and especially on the River Soar. All over the country there are waterways of outstanding though little-known beauty; but, having regard to its size, the Soar is perhaps the pre-eminent in that combined category. There are few rivers so big which afford such continuous views…”
In the same volume Aickman reminds us of attitudes of the times in his observations and advice for boat women, and particularly what the ladies should wear…
“The right to wear trousers without comment is an important achievement of the female emancipation; and it is one of which on the waterways every woman is wise to take advantage.”
So, clad in trousers, even jeans dare I say, I do enjoy cruising the Soar (and all the other inland waterways)!
In his remarkable 43 volume series The King’s England: Leicestershire published in 1936, Arthur Mee observed:
“The Soar winds patiently through meadow and city alike, never losing its rural heart.”
And of course these days, as we all know, you don’t have to be a narrowboater to enjoy the Soar. You could be a walker, a runner, a cyclist, a canoeist or kayaker, or be into fishing.
It seems remarkable, and perhaps one of the most glorious things about our inland waterways, is how current the observations about our rivers and canals seem in our own experience.
The other co-founder of the IWA LTC Rolt in his 1944 Narrow Boat which has become a classic about living aboard, even though it was based on just four months afloat. It shows in every page his passion for the waterways, and shows just how little time one needs on the water to relax and feel revitalised.
He wrote,
“To Travel by canal is to step sideways into history.”
And as we know from experience
“The canal is a world apart where time has lost its tyranny“
In his earlier (1911) wonderful book The Flower of Gloster, E Temple Thurston details his longing to escape into the English countryside, to view it from the canals. The Flower of Gloster is the narrowboat that carries him on his escape (with the help of a man hired to work the locks for him!). His journey gave him insight that we would echo today
“The waterway leads you not merely through England, but through its soul.”
And…
“One comes to understand England best by moving slowly through it.”
The book was the inspiration for a Granda Television’s first drama series filmed in colour. The tv version of The Flower of Gloster was the narrowboat equivalent of Swallows and Amazons, with 3 young siblings and a friend save the day by taking the boat from North Wales to London with lots of adventures on the way. That’s something that chimes with us – even though we are far from youngsters! The inland waterways you see are destined for everyone!
It could be a while before we can get seriously going along the Soar again, but once we do, we can reflect the words of English poet John Clare who wrote about this beautiful river in the early 1800s:
“The river soothes me with its going,
A soundless sermon to the soul.”
Pickingupducks 