Leicester

We spent two nights on the moorings at Castle Gardens. Yesterday we both went into Leicester Market,we invested in some thermal underwear at a very reasonable price and also spent some money on some very good value  fruit and vegetables. Ray went back to Morgana while I did a bit more shopping including some fabric remnants suitable for rag rugging at 3 for £1. I got about 4 metres of fabric for £2, excellent !

I searched unsuccessfully for dried haricot beans, I tried supermarkets, health food shops and a couple of small groceries. I could have chickpeas, pinto beans, black-eyed beans, kidney beans,in fact just about any sort of beans except haricot. Ray even went to Tesco this morning for me before we left, without success. Have they all been bought by baked bean manufacturers?

It was a bit windy but sunny today, not long before we left our moorings a CART workboat with a dredger on board went past. This meant that the locks were set against us as we followed them and they, annoyingly, left the top gates open at all the locks so I had to close the top gates before I could set the lock for us.`

We actually met some holidaymakers at Kings Lock,the first we have seen for a while. We were keen to find a cat friendly spot for tonight as the kitties have been shut in since Monday morning. As we approached Blue Bank Lock I spotted a good stretch of bank and we were pleasantly surprised to find there were mooring rings so that was the end of our day's journey.

Today's journey 4.5 miles and 4 locks

So far this year we have travelled 782.2 miles, 615 locks,  50 swing bridges, 23 lift bridges and 27 tunnels

In 2011 we travelled 461.4 miles, 444 locks, 3 swing bridges, 34 lift bridges and 15 tunnels

During 2010 we travelled 740.3 miles, 642 locks, 53 swing bridges, 4 lift bridges and 25 tunnels

Since Ray retired we have travelled 1983.9 miles, 1701 locks, 106 swing bridges, 61 lift bridges and 67 tunnels