Onwards to the Ashby

Thursday 17th April 2014

Another fine and sunny day greeted us this morning - are we really in England and is this still only April ?

Today we were turning onto the Ashby Canal - Diane has not been along here before and for me it has been almost 3 years. We think we will be along this canal for about the next week.

Welcome to Charity Dock on the Coventry - where everything
has been given a home and nothing ever leaves.
The effective width of the canal has been dramatically narrowed
and there is a sharp right hand bend just ahead

and I mean everything - old boats, old cars...

... old mannequins - welcome to mannequins corner

Marston Junction is never easy when approaching from the south - today was no different, but fortunately I didn't mark the blacking too much.

see - not too bad

The early part is generally fine but we found a couple of places a bit on the shallower side, but still made good time.

picturesque views again

Finally to the peace and calm of the Ashby
on Easter weekend, just not sure if that will last

As is now our practice we cruise only for a maximum of 3 hours - but today it was just over the two hour mark, as we needed to go into Hinkley to get a couple of things done before the Easter weekend - we are never sure which shops are open over Easter and on which days.

So we have moored up just after Bridge 16 and walked into Hinkley - probably about 2km - it was also Farmers Market Day, but for us there was nothing that took our eye especially - the pantry is completely full as well.

We got the things that we needed and then strolled back to the boat under some threatening skies but without rain.

There was one other thing that we did get sorted out - we have been discussing about solar panels for the boat - to help protect the batteries a bit; reduce the need to run the engine on non-moving days; and finally to help with the end goal to be continuous cruisers.

Getting first hand knowledge from Sue and Andy (nb Fiesta Lente) and also Roly and Bev (nb Klara) has certainly helped - thank you!

So having decided to do it, I rang the supplier to provide a quote for the panels to be supplied and fitted; an installation date was agreed and so in our progress down the Trent we will spend an extra day in Shardlow and have the job done - that will be in about 3 weeks time - which will allow us ample cruising to get there and most likely fit in the Erewash Canal before the short retracing of our steps back to Shardlow.

So nice to get things sorted out and have them fit into the master plan.

6 Miles

Totals: 2299 Miles, 1682  Locks, 75 Tunnels, 32 Lift Bridges, 146 Swing Bridges