We're definitely heading south now

We made it to Birstall on Friday so that we could go to The Dining Room Indian restaurant here on Saturday. David and I went there a couple of years ago and thought it was great. And the reviews still seem to be good. I hope it lives up to our recommendations as Mick and Julia are fiends for Indian food, and we won't live it down if it's not up to par! Sunday note: Yes it did live up to expectations – a very good place, and what is really neat is that you can take your own alcohol. That is a big saving. Last night, just for food, we paid £80, inc tip, for the four of us and we all had poppadoms, starters and mains, and there were a couple of naans as well.

Just heard some people on a boat going past saying "Cor, that's a nice boat, innit? Unknown No 3" - so not talking about Waka Huia then ... Not to worry, a replica working boat does look far more impressive, there is no denying that!

The first instance this season of boating in the rain occurred for us as we reached the outskirts of Loughborough on Thursday - David and Julia had walked on, so when the rain started I couldn't get my coat (or get David to fetch it). I got colder as I got wetter, and more grumpy with and about the single boater who slipped his mooring as soon as he saw we were about to leave the waterpoint at Bishop Meadow Lock, then seemed to be travelling at dead-slow or stop and took at least three weeks to get to and into the lock (that's three weeks for each operation) and then he took (even with David's and Julia's help) a further 4 weeks to leave the damn thing. Mick said all he could hear from behind him as we waited in the rain was me yelling the same phrase as the fisherman had yelled at me at Sawley facilities area - also in full ... My bad! I was so pleased there were moorings available for us outside the former Albion pub, as I was past moving any further!

We were going to stay in Loughborough overnight on Friday but the forecast was for rain all day so we left late morning, after I'd been to the osteopath. A five hour cruise to Birstall, with me anxious about whether there'd be moorings. Quelle surprise! The moorings were totally empty when we got here. But within 5 minutes of our mooring up, two boats came in from the opposite direction and took two spaces and a third boat turned up not long after.

I could have put another coat of paint on the runnels after we moored, but I thought the call of sitting down was imperative (having just spent £50 on the osteopathic treatment that morning and then spent 5 hours standing and steering); so out came the chairs and the ciders and chardonnay and we found a sunny patch. Unfortunately the house right next where we were moored had 3 dogs who were all barking and distressed – the owners weren't home and the dogs were outside. As four former dog owners, we tried talking to them in a soothing way, but to very little avail. They did stop when David tossed almonds over the wall to them, but soon resumed. We chatted with a couple walking their dog who said it was a common occurrence there. My hunch is that owners generally don't know it occurs, because as soon as the dogs hear the car come down the street, they stop, anxiety over as the pack leader is home.

However after trying verbally to allay the dogs' anxiety, I thought that perhaps showing them another dog might work. Bad idea ... I suggested to the next couple coming along that perhaps they could lift their dog up to show it to the barking ones. The response was not the jovial one we had expected. We were told that the dogs lived here, and perhaps we could move our boats. I did tell the guy that we were more concerned for the dogs' welfare. After that, I became concerned for Mick's welfare as I kept seeing steam coming out of his ears. 'Yes,' he responded, 'that did piss me off.'

Yesterday afternoon, he brought a poem for the blog - he says it's written by Anon, but seeing as he delivered it to me, and I think I recognise his writing, and I know he hadn't been out this morning to collect it from anyone else, I think it's a safe bet either he or Julia wrote it ...

Here it is:

When boating on the River Soar
Be careful where you choose to moor.
Some folk in Birstall are quite keen
For you to move and ne'er be seen.
It seems OK for their dogs to bark
But don't understand when you're having a lark.
Better you move to another site
For some people you meet are not polite.  

It was a blobby and bloggy day for me - too wet to paint, so I did the post that appeared yesterday. David walked all the way into Leicester to visit the National Space Museum, only to find that it was closing at 4pm (it was then 3pm), so he didn't go in. Then he walked back. Mick and Julia had caught the bus into Leicester in the afternoon and checked out the mooring options - all three areas were pretty much empty and our choice for today (well, at least David's and mine) was Friars' Mill.

Dinner at The Dining Room (very enjoyable - I was going to include photos but they are all portrait and therefore look like they are sideways on, so no photos, sorry!) and then a fun walk home to the boats. We took a route that was meant to be a shortcut - you know the kind I mean. But much quieter than the direct route so that was a bonus ...

It rained overnight, so this morning I could wipe down the roof using accumulated rainwater! That surely can't count as the forbidden washing of new paint for 6 weeks!

We were away by 10am today and got to Leicester at about noon. We are now moored at Castle Gardens after David and I stopped at Friars' Mill to top up with water - we coulkd barely squeeze in between two boats whose owners were very accommodating and moved as much as possible to allow us in - Paul on Tilly 2, and a couple on Calm Down.

We had a slow trip in through the outskirts of Leicester - it seems sensible to go slowly through the rubbish that floats on and below the surface - and I hate to stir up whatever is lurking on the bottom. As it was at two locks, I had to avoid a) a piece of fence that was floating in front of me and  b) a wooden panel. I am not sure why people view the river as a rubbish dump, but they do. It's bad enough thinking what it does to the prop and how ghastly it is getting my hands down in the weed hatch to clear it of unmentionable crapola. But it's worse watching the swans and ducks and herons making their way through the detritus that pollutes their habitat.