Leicester Riverside Festival - Sunday

The weather wasn’t as good today. Although the rain kept off there was a really strong chilly breeze and I think that kept visitor numbers down from yesterday. Having said that, there were still hundreds of people walking along the towpath, taking boat trips and hiring the canoes as well as in the main arena and around the music stage.

The bungee trampolines and the 'walk-on'water' attraction in the children's arena were particularly busy.

The Dragon Boat Racing took place today in front of Castle Gardens and we walked down to watch a couple of the heats. The crews certainly enter into the spirit of the competition and most were in fancy dress. They were raising money for PROSTaid, a local prostate cancer charity and LOROS which is a local hospice. Their collecting buckets were rattling nicely so hopefully they raised a lot of cash.

The owl display was repeated from yesterday, the eco village had a rustic wood working demonstration and the wandering children’s entertainer was a robot called Sparky. He was made from recycled materials including a plant pot, a welding mask and a hoover and went round the site squirting the kids with water.

The theme for the decorated boats competition was “Wildlife”  and one cruiser really went to town with its display of palm trees and stuffed animals.

The bands on the main stage were pretty good again, although I personally preferred those on yesterday. I think the sound system wasn’t adjusted quite as well today and a couple of the bands were just too loud to be enjoyable.

Altogether we’ve a really good weekend. I can heartily recommend Leicester Riverside Festival and would definitely come again if we’re in the area at the right time.  Leicester has had a bad reputation in the past for being rough and unsafe but from what we’ve seen this hasn’t been the case. Everyone has been very friendly and there hasn’t been any trouble at the festival. We’re stopping here again tonight and are staying moored on the Mile Straight. The secured moorings at Castle Gardens are full and I don’t want to have to breast up with other boats as it’s just too awkward getting the dogs off.  Hopefully some of the boats will have moved off in the morning and we’ll move over there to leave the boat while we go into town to do some shopping.

Leicester Riverside Festival - Saturday

Friday night and early Saturday morning saw a posse of volunteers (mostly dodgy looking local kids which shows you shouldn't judge by appearances) do a fantastic job of cleaning up the litter and transforming the festival site ready for the official kick-off at 12.30.

main stage, early morning

We’d taken the dogs for a walk around the site in the morning just as all the stalls were setting up and before the crowds arrived. There were craft stalls selling hand-made jewellery & hand-made mugs,  vintage clothes, henna tattoos and hair braiding and an assortment of the usual charity ‘tat’ stalls. The food stands did a roaring trade and for once it actually smelled really nice. There were gourmet burgers, without the usual overpowering aroma of fried onions, Jamaican and Indian food, the ubiquitous doughnuts and a stall selling up-market alcohol free cocktails. Over in the park the crowds were having a really good time with happy smiling faces everywhere. There was a real ale beer tent with live acoustic entertainment, various children’s entertainers wandering around, free craft projects for the kids to get involved in, owl and falconry displays and much more besides. There was something for everyone and the event certainly pulled the crowds in.

Circo Rum Ba Ba - 2 scurvy pirates entertaining the kids

We went to watch the SOS Blues Band on the main stage at 1.30. They're a local band who played blues and rock& roll and were AMAZING!!

A few of the local alcoholics were boogying with the kids and having a great time. I’m pleased to say that everyone we saw was well behaved and the security, which was there in abundance, didn’t seem to have much to do.

one of the local 'characters' having a good time

Down on the river there were lots of activities for the public. Boat trips provided by 3 day boats from Sileby Mill Marina, canoe and kayak hire and displays of stunt canoeing and coracle handling. One group had made a boat from recycled pop bottles stuck together with “no-nails” glue which floated and lasted quite a while before it began to break up.

pop bottle boat

wind powered kyaks

surf boarding river style

At 5pm we joined in with the boat procession which was led up and down the river by the Bill Bailey Jazz Band, riding in the (emptied) rubbish boat. They played some rousing music and the gongoozlers (non-boating public) seemed to enjoy the spectacle with much clapping and cheering as we all went past.

Leicester

The weather has been wonderful again today and apparently the forecast is good for the weekend.  Most of the boats have arrived for the festival and Bede Park is being transformed as the fair has arrived, the performance stage has been erected and some food & drink stands are arriving. Last evening and again this evening there are groups of young people chilling out on the grass, lighting BBQ's and generally having a good time.

As more and more boats started arriving for the festival it was time to decorate the boat. This is the first time it’s had bunting on it and we weren’t too sure of the best way to go about it but think it came out quite well.

After lunch we moved into our official position for the weekend, breasted up with Frenchlands 2 which is the floating book shop.

We’ve decided that we both really like Leicester. The market is huge and much better than the one in Loughborough last week. There is a large covered fruit and veg. market and an indoor, fully refrigerated meat and fish market.  Again, the fruit and veg. was incredibly cheap and so varied I didn’t recognise half of the items.

each bowlful cost £1

While we were wandering around we saw the Magazine Gateway which dates back to the 1400’s and is currently under restoration. It has an amazing vaulted ceiling.

The other tourist spot we passed was the Jewry Wall which dates back to Roman Times. The museum was closed when we went past but the roman remains are thought to be of an old bath house. You can read more about it here

The river continues to be busy, especially with rowing crews. Roger is particularly pleased that over half of the boats are manned by very attractive young ladies!

Leicester

We had an amazing sunset last night which was reflected in the river. The photo doesn't really do it justice.

At about the same time a couple of coconuts floated past. These are quite common on the River Soar and are used in Hindu and Sikh funeral ceremonies when the deceased's ashes are sprinkled into the waters. You can read about this in more detail HERE

Today is our 32nd wedding anniversary. We never give each other cards and presents but this morning Roger got up early and went out and cut me these 2 roses. He can be quite romantic at times and it had me welling up and was worth so much more than shop bought flowers.

As we got closer to Leicester city centre the river got more and more dirty with lots of floating rubbish.  The National Space Centre  looms over Belgrave Lock and Swan’s Nest Weir to the side of the lock was full of rubbish.

This Rottweiller was happy just chilling out looking out over his 20 ft. high wall, but don’t come too close!

After we’d moored up at the festival site and checked in with the organiser Maggie on ‘Forever Young’ we went for a wander round the city centre to find the Post Office and collect our mail.  First impressions of Leicester are that it’s a very ‘young orientated’ city, probably due to the university. It also has lots of international food shops and we stopped in one on the way back to buy fruit and pistachio nuts which we ate in the beer garden of a micro-brewery. It feels like we're on holiday, long may it continue!

river through city centre

tonight's mooring