Loughborough wharf, was a tricky area to turn the boat around especially as the driving rain/wind forced the boat into a sail! We deposited more rubbish, filled up with water and carried on.
Going through Kegworth, I just thought this Hall was worth a photo, as it really did look the part in amongst the woods. The Soar valley is very beautiful and charming even on a rainy day! Soon we came around the corner to 
Kegworth Deep lock with the remains of an earlier chamber next to it, by-passed as part of a flood protection scheme. It was strange to see all the relevant parts of the lock still poking through the grass even the gates! I filled the deep lock so that Richard could bring the boat in and then attempted to open the paddles to empty it, only to find they would only lift half way. So there we were for about 10 minutes and another boat arrived. The guy came over and suggested I opened the paddles a little more else I'd be there all day, so I explained they didn't go any further. I gestured to him to try and they opened fully, another case of 'if at first you 
don't succeed, try a bit later'!25 miles from Leicester, the river Soar meets the Trent, overlooked by the 8 cooling towers of Ratcliffe Power Station. Reeds lined the Soar past Redhill Marina. We are going to a regatta there in Augu
st, so we hoped there would be an improvement in places to moor, it was quite congested! Further on houses on stilts lined the red cliff bottom.We spotted this boat all done out like a captain's ship with a wheelhouse
at the stern!Trent lock is where the counties of Derbyshire, Leicester and Nottingham meet, the Trent, Soar, Erewash Canal and Cranfleet on the Trent to go back to Newark but we were going West to Sawley. The river can be quite a battle against the wind as it was and the sailing dingies crisscrossing our path. Into the lock at Sawley, the lock keeper welcomed us and activated the machnical lock gates behind us. We were now in safe hands once more.
Wind and now rain hindered our passage through the marina where we eventually moored in the temporary visitor moorings, reassured albeit hesitantly by the brokerage office that the 'party' boat next to us would be angry if he couldn't get out that evening. Then he backtracked and said we would be fine so long as we moved first thing. The party boat man must have been a
formidable figure, as I got the impression the office had had run-ins with him before! As we usually moor in a BW marina we are allowed to moor free at any of their other marinas across England, so this being one we were allowed to plug our land line in and use the facilities free of charge. So the washer went on, the carpet got hoovered, you know the story.Not long after we had moored, Richard's parents arrived to take us to his brother's in Sawley.
We stayed there for a couple of hours for a Chinese and several attempts at Rockband on their boys XBox, which was hillarious as I have no sense of rhythm, and their 4 yearold was better than all of us!Rain and more rain meant that the next day and indeed today, we are still moored on the 'cut' (rather than the marina itself) now, but
the river is in flood, so we cannot go anywhere!Looking across to the river Trent, whole branches could be seen floating downstream. Whirlpools swirl around giving the water a treacherous appearance. It was obvious to us that going back through the lock towards Nottingham was not an option,
but to sit it out and do some painting was quite appealing!If you big up this picture you can see the warning sign that the river is in flood.
Richard's brother took us shopping to get loaded up with a week's worth of food and then today we cycled into Long Eaton to have a look around. The level has not gone any higher and should subside in the next day or so, provided there is no more rain, watch this space......
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