“Chance” comes home.

The River Soar was as we’d expected it to be, very pleasant, tranquil and different round every corner.  Thursday night’s mooring at Pillings was made all the more exciting by the express trains thundering past on the Midland main line just a spitting distance on the other side of the hedge.  

The very low flow on the river made our journey upstream quite a doddle.  James likes to take pics. of boats with names special to us – this is for youngest daughter Frances.

The river borders the village Mountsorrel which is becoming more attractive every time we come through.  These beautiful Dutch style houses have just been built around a new marina (moorings to let) on the edge of the village.

Going up stream the massive brick railway bridge built in 1860 comes just before the lock …

…… and the very popular Waterside Inn next to the lock has had a really good face lift and looks better than ever.

The River Soar, for most of its length, is wide and deep but at this one spot (which is all a bit complicated because it’s actually the River Wreake at this point) it’s pretty challenging if you meet something coming the other way! 

Like all our journeys up the Soar the object is to pay a visit to our boat builders MGM at Thurmaston.  We’ve got a couple of minor jobs for them to do for us this time (and James has a an awful lot of jobs to do himself) so we’re here for a few days now.  It’s a little bit of luxury for a while as we have water and power on the mooring.  We wake up in the morning to the geese taking off in Watermead Country Park on the other side of the river and, on Saturday mornings, the local brass band practices just a few yards away!  “Chance” is home for a short while.