The first trip on the River Soar

Heron doing a low fly-past underneath the road

me in the canoe with splash-deck.

My mate in the front

view from the front.

On the river Soar
Last weekend we took the canoe onto the River Soar. We started from Riverside Park on the south side of Leicester city centre, and we canoed all the way to the National Space Centre on the north side of the centre and back.

Total distance: 7.6miles

total number of locks:5 (thus we had to get in and out 10 times)

total time to do this was about 3 hours, including breaks, lunch and lifting the canoe 10 times in and out of the water.

Lifting the 30kg lump 10 times

At most locks it was not too difficult to get in and out, as the distance from the water to the wall was less than 50cm. but one of the locks had a distance of a good 1.2m. The key challenge was actually not getting in and out of the boat, as the canoe is very stable, but getting the 30kg lump of plastic out of the water. Then of course you have to carry the canoe around the lock.

Lesson learnt: take 2 karabiners and 2 lengths of rope so we can lift in and out easier.

The water was not very fast flowing, thus there was lots of rubbish floating in the water, which made it rather unpleasant. We got lots of positive vibes from people walking along the canal path.

And we saw 2 Herons. quite cool.

The rudder held up, the sun was shining, good test of a longer trip. It was a nice way spending some hours on a Sunday morning on the water.