Still at Zouch

It was torrential rain this morning but had died down enough by lunchtime for us to take Chico out for a nice long walk. We headed off along the towpath towards the Soar Boat Club to see if there was any entertainment on at their Spring Bank Holiday Rally but they’d already finished and packed up. We carried on walking through a buttercup meadow and followed one of the parish walks for 2 miles to Bishop Meadow Lock where we sat for a while and watched the boats. Chico thought the buttercups were very tasty and obligingly posed for the camera.

Overlooking Bishop Meadow Lock is the 69 acre Astra Zeneca research and development plant which closed earlier this year with the loss of 1200 jobs. It was the second largest employer in the area, after the university.

We noticed that the weir at the start of Zouch Cut was flowing faster than when we passed the other day. Presumably the heavy rain overnight and this morning has raised the water level a bit, but not enough to activate the flood-water relief gate.

flood-water relief gate

Just beside the flood gate there was an enormous Elderberry tree in  full bloom. If it's dry in the morning I might nip back and pick a few blossoms to make Elderflower Champagne.