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We are now back in Devon for a few weeks intending to return to Muriel and head off to Wales at the end of August.  We had been out from the first week in June to the last in July - the very, very wet weeks - and travellled the R. Soar, Trent, the Trent & Mersey Canal and the Ashby Canal.  We visited the National Arboretum at Alrewas and the Battlefield Site at Market Bosworth, and we passed the Triumph factory at Hinckley.

Although the weather was wet we didn`t suffer at all, spending the rainy days moored up and sitting down below in Muriel or out under the pram cover of her cruiser stern.  The rivers all flooded of course but we were lucky with our timing.  We arrived at Fradley the day before the Alrewas river section was opened (for one day) and we got through on an amber level.  By the time we reached Shardlow on the way back, and the start of the Trent, the sun was shining and water levels had returned to normal.  The trip back up the Soar was perfect and reminded us of just how beautiful that river is - despite the power station at Radcliffe-on-Soar creating clouds in the clear blue sky. 

It doesn`t really matter what the weather`s like; well, not to the neighbours, anyway.  A sparrow adjacent to Muriel`s mooring at Shardlow.

And things go on despite the weather.  Swans, ducks and moorhens all had young on the canals.

Sign of home.  Fenakapan (aka the Wine Boat) actually lived on the Exeter Ship Canal for a short period - she was transported by lorry to the main network.

An old tramp tries to steal M - and then has the nerve to pose for a photo.

We met the wine boat, Fenakapan, at Willington - great wine, 3 for a tenner.

The Trent at Willington - water levels still very high.

The Trent at Alrewas - fast moving during an amber warning.  Navigate with caution, the sign said.

Colourful and traditional - workboats are still home for a number of people.

40 Days and 40 Nights



We`ve been away for over a month now and there seems no end to the unsettled weather.  If it continues like this, and according to the Met Office it may well do, we`ll start collecting pairs of different species.  The truth is, though, we haven`t really got wet yet.  We stay put on the bad days and only move when it`s dry - and it`s dryer more often than its wet, even though it might not feel like it.




A Ford Mondeo 15` cruiser passes through Shenton.



Shenton was badly hit on Friday when the R. Tweed burst its banks.  As far as we can tell from our OS map, the Tweed feeds into the Sence, which feeds the Anker, which then ends up in the Trent - so look out Nottingham!  We left the village and went back to M on the nearby canal and cooked a curry - it seemed the obvious thing to do, don`t ask me why.  But we do hope these peoples` homes will be OK.

More of Shenton.  The wall in the background is part of Shenton Hall, a house of 1629 but much rebuilt in the 19C.

The spillways on the Ashby were in full flow.  The rain did have the advantage of keeping up the water level on this notoriously shallow canal.

It may not look much, but it`s got satellite telly - ideal for the wet weather.

We passed the Triumph factory once again, this time on our way back down the Ashby.  The building has its own weather system due to its status with You-Know-Who, which means it`s permanently bathed in sunshine.

Navigation

Navigation on the canal network is a pretty simple matter, obviously, as the canal itself takes you along and just like a train on a railway track you have little say about which direction to follow.  There are few occasions when you can actually go wrong and even then there are always tell-tail signs that let you know something`s amiss.  Like a few years ago when we went wrong at Cossington lock on the River Soar and ended up heading off towards a weir.  Thankfully, the river was down and peaceful and the weir was a couple of miles away when we realized our mistake and turned around.  Even though we had missed the `turn left` chevrons for the main channel, we should have registered the lily pads completely covering the water ahead and understood that this was not a waterway that many boats passed through.

A moment of sudden awareness did happen though  the other day at the top of the Ashby - when we saw a tank coming towards us. Well, technically, we were no longer on the canal but we were following its path - the Ashby canal route from Snarestone to Measham, now defunct, filled in and in this weather, a boggy mess.  But ideal for tanky people who like driving in and out of ditches on tracked vehicles covered in mud, belching black smoke and spraying great clumps earth everywhere to the sound of high revving diesel engines.  Yes, we loved it and stood watching for ages.



Tanky people - in an armoured personnel carrier of some sort.  If this man owns a canal boat it`s a tug, with a Gardiner engine and ...



The route of the canal, now partly marked by a footpath, passes a marker post indicating how far below the old coal mine workings are.  The mine shafts have different names, colour coded on the post.  The reason this section of the canal had to close was due to leakage into these shafts, a bit of a dilemma, no doubt, for the owners and operators of both the mines and the canal - the canal was there because of the coal mines, to take the coal down to the Coventry Canal and on to London via the Grand Union.  We also passed Harveys, a boat builder and Chandler, in the middle of a field just outside Measham, the only hint of a canal connection being an old bridge that spanned nothing and carried, from what we could tell, nothing either.

Mine shafts below the route of the Ashby Canal navigation, now filled in - that`s the canal, not the mines.  Coal mining, though, has long gone in this area.  Well, almost.

Measham is a town with a mining heritage and interestingly, despite all the pit closures of the last century (1980s), we saw that mining still continues, although in a different form.  There`s a surface mine just outside the town that extracts coal and clay.  Apparently, part of the agreement with the company working the mine is that it contributes towards the cost of renovating (re-establishing) the Ashby Canal through Measham. 




It`s old, big and doesn`t appear to do a lot - and a disused canal bridge.

 



Measham.  Despite the canal no longer reaching it, Measham has a strong link with the Ashby - a literal link with the navigation soon to be reinstated, hopefully. 



We left the top of the canal on Thursday and moved down to Market Bosworth again.  The evening was beautiful, a lull before the storm, of course, as wet weather is with us today, Friday - a months worth of rain in 24 hours, so the Met Office is saying.  There`s a Sea Otter gathering at the top of the Ashby this weekend and we`ve seen a lot of these boats in the past few days as they make their way up the canal.  Lovely boats.  We hope they have a good weekend.  We`re going to sit tight, drink tea, read, blog and cook curry.



The rain`s coming...





... all the signs are there ...

 


... but are we really that bothered? 



The end of the line

We spent a second night at our mooring near the Battle of Bosworth Country Park. It was certainly a lovely spot, but the main reason we stayed put was the soggy weather. It rained all morning, and after lunch we decided to brave it for a walk into Market Bosworth for supplies. Amazingly enough, the rain stopped as soon as we set off. 

Market Bosworth Police....Leicestershire budget cuts must be biting

Central Market Bosworth

We picked up a bit of shopping in the Co-op, then headed back. Our timing was perfect...the instant we stepped back on board it started raining again.


Yesterday the weather was looking better, so we set off in slight drizzle. We had planned to stop before the end of the canal, but in the end kept going to make the most of a brief dry spell. We arrived at the terminus just beyond Snarestone in time for lunch.

Approaching Snarestone tunnel

A novel paint job on nb Potteries

About to wind at the terminus

The village is actually built above the only tunnel on the canal, so we walked back for a look. It's quite a nice little place but not a lot to see. This afternoon we're going to walk to Measham, starting off along the route of the now-defunct section of the canal. The canal used to continue about another 10 miles to Moira, and a small section that end has already been renovated. Plans are afoot to re-open the rest of the canal, so maybe the next time we come this way we'll be able to cruise a bit further. However, this is a far as we can go at the moment, so tomorrow when we leave we'll be heading back down the Ashby & towards home. 

Our current mooring

Blue Sky

We came onto the Ashby Canal on Wednesday after a run down the Coventry, passing through Atherstone (11 locks) and Nuneaton.  Nicholson`s is certainly correct when it describes enterring the Ashby as a complete change from industrial landscape to picturesque countryside.  Our first stop on the canal was near Burton Hastings, with the intention of spending the night before moving up towards the Bosworth `battle` site, and the steam railway.

Unfortunately, the weather had different plans and the following day saw us battening down in strong winds and rain, and 40mm hail stones - that`s golf ball size.  M didn`t seem to suffer too much but the sound of them hitting the chrome mushroom vents on the roof was like an orchestra of fire alarms.  We heard later that several cars and caravans hit by the hail had been given dimpled roofs.  Apparently, it was localised and you only had to go a short distance up the canal not to be effected.  We were just unlucky, or lucky, maybe, in that we suferred no damage and were treated to the spectacle of a once (hopefully) in a life time phenomena.

When we finally managed to move, after a couple of days of rain, we passed through Hinkley and alongside the Triumph factory.  All of a sudden, as we approached the massive factory unit that dominates both skyline and landscape, the sky turned blue and the sun shone.  We weren`t surprised: it`s a well known fact that God favours the Truimph motorcycle, despite his age suggesting a Harley Davidson would be more suitable.  Triumph under completely new ownership have done wonders.  They are now one of the highest selling manufactures in the UK, if not the world, and offer a complete range of motorcycles.  I remember a mismanaged company of the seventies and a failed cooperative in the eighties, and the sadness of seeing it all collapse when the Honda came along.  Now they are back - and better at it than most, just like it used to be.

We are now at the Battle of Bosworth site, moored close to Market Bosworth and the Battlefield Steam Railway.  We visited the Bosworth site today after watching a steam engine at nearby Shenton, a station on the railway line.  Bosworth was the last Battle of the War of the Roses, fought in 1485 between Henry Tudor and Richard III.  Henry won and the Tudor dynasty began.  I wonder, though, if one day there will be another King Richard.  There should be.   Do we really want a King called Charles?  Charleses, like Henrys, ride Yamahas and Hondas. Richard the Lionheart - a proper kingly name - would almost certainly ride a Triumph.

Hail stones the size of golf balls hit M`s roof and the canal to the right

The aftermath....the hailstones beside M

The Ashby (de-la-Zouch) canal really is a lovely stretch of water 

Loco 3803 at Shenton station

Big kids & little kids love steam trains

The Battle of Bosworth, where Richard III was defeated

It`s a great spot - but not in 1485; well, for a day or two, anyway

Triumph the Loinheart