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River Soar Moorings


Lottiespal

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We are planning a trip to Nottingham this Spring and are intending to go via the GU Leicester line and River Soar. Have already travelled this trip clockwise some years ago and got lots of tips from the forum then which will be useful this time I'm sure. We've planned the route via Nick's Canal Plan and 2 of the overnight stops suggested are North Lock 42 & Bishops Meadow Lock 54, neither of which I can remember from our last trip. Would be grateful if any members familiar with that stretch would advise on their suitability for an overnight stop. TIA

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11 hours ago, Rickent said:

The 48 hr visitor moorings at Barrow Boating are quiet  and safe.

If the CRT boats stop hogging it!!

Just above Barrow Deep lock is good access for pubs and shops.

I would stop at City centre Castle Garden moorings rather than North Lock, it's secure and on a pontoon, some new ones just past King Richards Bridge too.

 

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17 hours ago, NickF said:

zouch cut is not bad if you don't want to stop at Bishops meadow . can be a bit breezy there though . only a short walk back to the pub .

Is the pub on Zouch Cut still open?

We had a cracking night in there the last time we went that way in 2009.

Hoping to visit again next year.

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11 hours ago, matty40s said:

If the CRT boats stop hogging it!!

Just above Barrow Deep lock is good access for pubs and shops.

I would stop at City centre Castle Garden moorings rather than North Lock, it's secure and on a pontoon, some new ones just past King Richards Bridge too.

 

The crt boats are gone now. 

I agree , North lock is a bit dodgy, Castle Gardens and the new ones just up a bit are where I would stay in Leicester.

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4 hours ago, Naughty Cal said:

Is the pub on Zouch Cut still open?

We had a cracking night in there the last time we went that way in 2009.

Hoping to visit again next year.

My Soar knowledge is from when I was a volunteer skipper for Peter le Marchant 1979 to 1991 so I may be a little out of date!

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On 28/03/2017 at 20:12, Lottiespal said:

We are planning a trip to Nottingham this Spring and are intending to go via the GU Leicester line and River Soar. Have already travelled this trip clockwise some years ago and got lots of tips from the forum then which will be useful this time I'm sure. We've planned the route via Nick's Canal Plan and 2 of the overnight stops suggested are North Lock 42 & Bishops Meadow Lock 54, neither of which I can remember from our last trip. Would be grateful if any members familiar with that stretch would advise on their suitability for an overnight stop. TIA

I personally think that the Soar through and around Leicester is disgusting. Stay in Leicester at Castle Gardens or Friars Mill VM.

Bishops Meadow is OK but if you stop before Loughborough Town Lock you will have all the usual services. The Loughborough Basin is OK if a trifle noisy.

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Moor in Loughborough the Leicester side of the junction. The basin is noisy and a pig to wind in. There are bollards outside the ex Albion pub if you turn right at the junction. There is good beer at The Swan in the Rushes and plenty of decent eateries to suit all tastes. Good supermarkets in walking distance and Englands best outdoor market on Thursdays and saturdays. Cheshire Rose also rates the charity shops!!!

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Canal plan only suggests moorings as per your time limits you put in per day, I would not consider anything they suggest mooring in, unless they correspond with other advised recommendations, a handy planner but not a ,bible,

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On 3/30/2017 at 07:25, matty40s said:

Yes, pub still open with its 1970s menus.

Fantastic I am off for a visit

Prawn cocktail......T bone steak.....and black forest gataeux.........all washed down with a bottle of black tower or blue nun :D

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for all your replies, back home now after our sojourn on the Soar.  We were blessed with beautiful spring weather and a benign river which always helps, although I did find a few muscles which I hadn't used in a while owing to some heavy locks, and gates which refused to stay closed on the run down into Leicester. 

We moored at Kilby Bridge, then just before Junction Lock, which was particularly lovely and on Zouch Cut.   

With regards to Leicester itself, we chose not to stop off at all but there would have been plenty of room on the Friar's Mill moorings (Castle Gardens being completely full). I must admit to feeling quite disgusted at the amount of rubbish in and around the navigation.  It really is shameful and so avoidable.

 The only time I felt a bit vulnerable was when we locked through Limekiln, there were around 10 local chaps, (I was travelling with my teenage daughter) who were drinking, heavily if the number of beer cans is anything to go by, around the benches next to the lock.  I nodded and smiled as I usually do but although they didn't speak to us, they watched us very closely and seemed to be discussing/commenting on us and the boat and I did wish that the people we'd locked down into the city with hadn't stopped off for provisions.  :unsure:

Other than that, we had a good trip and there are certainly some very picturesque stretches with surprisingly little boat traffic although I suspect it may not be quite so peaceful next weekend!

Thanks again, :D

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When we came through Limekiln in 2015, we saw a whole bunch of guys sitting/standing around drinking beer - a local told me that they were guys who were culturally forbidden to drink alcohol, so they get together there away from home and their local environs where they aren't seen by anyone who knows them (hypocrisy ...) I found them a bit scary - any sizeable group of guys drinking next to a lock give me pause. They didn't interact with any of the boaters, which is unusual.

We enjoyed our Soar experience, but thought the canal through Leicester was pretty unkempt.

Cheers, Marilyn (nb Waka Huia)

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