Here we are stuck at ……….Sileby! Yes we have only made it a few miles. When we arrived here yesterday morning the water was rushing over the weirs into the basin like Niagara falls (well maybe not quite!) and the river level was in the amber. As it was raining (no change there then?) we decided to moor for a while and see what happened.
This is where we made the mistake of going into town to buy a paper and go to the pub (as we do)! Unfortunately the nice pub we had been to on a previous visit to Sileby was closed. In fact the only pub we could find open was the ‘Whore and Strumpet’………..Oops, I mean the ‘Horse and Trumpet’! This is indeed a pub which needs attention. It was warm enough if you sat by the heater and the beer was ok but the fact that the barmaid/landlady and her daughter (we surmised) were intently watching ‘Jeremy Kyle’ on tv in the back bar was somewhat off putting. The whole place was badly in need of a good clean. There were fag ends in the sink in the ladies and the top was missing off the cistern. Oh and they hadn’t got any crisps, none at all! We daren’t ask if they did food!
Conditions had changed very little when we returned, although it had stopped raining, so in the end we stayed here overnight, hoping the levels would drop by today. Rain returned in the evening and overnight so we didn’t hold out much hope.
When we got up this morning the river level had crept into the red so we had to stay here another day. As we emerged for our walk we saw a boat we recognised coming along. It was Barry from the boat yard going to Barrow to tow a boat back for Mark and Martin to work on. Must be mad we thought but it was up to him! It looked a bit hairy making it past the ‘rapids’ after coming out of the lock without hitting the wall but he made it ok. We are still waiting until tomorrow before we go!
Rather than brave the ‘Horse and Trumpet’ again we decided to walk George to Mountsorrel (if he would go!). George, having had yesterday off, was rather more enthusiastic than usual and we had a very enjoyable walk there. We found a really nice pub, ‘The Stag and Pheasant’, that we hadn’t been to before with a roaring fire and a chap doling out dog treats as if his life depended on it so George was happy.
We decided to go back along the towpath. On the way we had to pass the ‘Waterside Inn’, unfortunately we failed miserably and went in there as well! George got another treat off the landlord so he was happy again. After this Bacchanalian extravaganza we had a pleasant walk back.
It hasn’t rained today so hopefully the river will have gone down and we can continue our tour of the pubs of Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire………………………….. I mean our trip to Gunthorpe!
