Monday 31 st December 2018 The damp in the wardrobe had dried overnight. It will have to be monitored, but in the meantime we have decided to fit vents into the wardrobe doors. We had intended catching the 10:23 bus to the Morrisons store outside Hinckley, but we missed it. We bought some heavy items in the village shop and returned with them to the boat, then set out again to catch the 11:23 bus. Brenda then went in to Morrisons while I visited the nearby Wickes store. Again, far too much stuff was bought to comfortably carry back, but it has to be done. The shops on the Ashby canal are few and far between. We were back at the boat by 1:30 and proceeded to pack the shopping away, no mean feat. The rest of the afternoon was taken up with myself on the computer and Brenda going through contacts on her phone. This evening we intend visiting the George and Dragon in Stoke Golding, they have live music on, but we want to be back on board for midnight. A Happy N
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Sunday 30 th December 2018 Brenda was rummaging in the bedroom wardrobe this morning, and we were horrified to discover the woodwork at the bottom of the outside, front corner was soaking wet and the wood had turned black. Feeling around the whole area it feels dry to touch, welds are intact and there is no sign of water ingress. We can only put this down to condensation of which we have been getting a lot in the mornings around the windows and portholes. It has all been dried up and the whole area left open with drawers removed and doors left open. This will definitely have to be monitored. Today seemed to be a day of churches. We left the mooring quite early and moved the ¾ mile to the rickety looking pontoon moorings at Sutton Wharf. These pontoons were all buckled and looked unsafe and slippery. They were however, made of fibreglass so were not too bad but you still had to be careful walking on them. We walked up the road to Sutton Cheney, mainly to visit the chur
Saturday 29 th December 2018 It has been so quiet at this mooring, once all the walkers have stopped. Once darkness falls, it is eerily quiet and pitch black with just lights showing from Dadlington and Stoke Golding in the distance, and one or two scattered farms. We walked along the bed of the railway track and caught the 11:35 Battlefield Line train to Shackerston. The return fare was £12 each and £2 for Harvey. What is it with steam trains that makes us British all nostalgic? Most people these days would not have been born when steam was king. There is something about the sight, sounds and smell though. We were lucky that there were two locos pulling the train, both sisters, one on loan from the Dart Valley Railway in Devon and one from Llandudno. The Battlefield Line is just five miles long running from Shackerstone to Shenton via Market Bosworth along the long abandoned Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway,
Friday 28 th December 2018 We had a leisurely morning with a breakfast of scrambled eggs and the last of the smoked salmon and then left for a walk to explore the Bosworth Battlefield site. We were last here 13 years ago, but there has been a lot of improvements to the site since and it is well worth a visit. The site covers Ambion Hill although an archaeological investigation in 2005-2010 proved that this was not the actual site of the battle, but rather the starting point of the day for King Richard’s forces. The hill dominates the whole area and you can see for a long way. The battle site was on ground to the south of the hill but unfortunately, the growth of trees hinders the view. The site is based on Ambion Hill Farm which has been turned into a visitor centre. Walks over the hill have interpretation boards introducing the major players in the battle and various aspects of the battle itself. The top of the hill has a commemorative garden with flags of the Houses
Thursday 27 th December 2018 We left our mooring between Stoke Golding and Dadlington early on a very mild but damp and misty morn. We were intending to back-track and retrace our steps to visit the Battle of Bosworth site. This meant us cruising for over a mile to reach the first winding hole. On the way down we called into Ashby Canal Centre for gas, £30 for the cylinder. After turning we came up behind an Ashby day boat that had just left the yard and headed in the same direction. We have gone days and days on this canal and not seen any boats move and now we are right behind one. At Sutton Wharf we called in to the service point again, water, loo and rubbish and also did a wash while on the water point. Much easier doing it that way, with the engine running and able to fill once the wash is finished. A wash takes ¼ of our water tank capacity. I must measure the tank to determine the capacity. We then continued on. This was our third time on this stretch of water
Boxing Day 2018 After a lovely breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs we took ourselves for a long walk. The gas cylinder finally ran out when making the second cup of tea of the day. We had been expecting this for about a week and so have used just 4 cylinders since moving onto the boat in May. We got onto the towpath heading south. It was incredibly sticky and muddy. There are interpretation boards at Stoke Marina pointing out the revised site of Bosworth Battlefield. It had always been assumed that the battle had taken place further to the east around Ambion Hill but research and archaeological excavations undertaken in the wake of the discovery of King Richard’s grave in 2012, show that the battle itself had actually taken place on the flat ground to the east of Stoke Golding and Dadlington. At bridge 23 we headed for the village of Higham-on-the-Hill but turned off before reaching the village. There is a huge vehicle testing ground here used by the Motor Ind
Christmas Day 2018 We had always said that our first Christmas on the boat would be spent just the two of us on our own. And we had a lovely day that fully came up to expectations. We had bought each other just small presents, mainly because of the lack of suitable shops on the Ashby Canal, with a promise to visit the New Year sales in Coventry. However, having said that, this must be the first Christmas for many years that each little gift was a complete surprise. We went to the 10o’clock Christmas service in Stoke Golding Church. A beautiful building originating from the 13 th century. A lot of history here. The service was lovely and the congregation very welcoming. We had three courses for our Christmas dinner, spread over 5 hours. Prawn cocktail, turkey and all the trimmings and Christmas pudding and cream. We also opened a new bag of coal today, so the last 2
Monday 24 th December 2018 We awoke to a beautiful morning. There had been a hard frost so everything was frozen, but there were clear skies with a low ground mist. Very atmospheric. Putting up the last of the Christmas lights yesterday, we discovered we did not have the correct sized batteries. So we caught an early bus into Hinckley and, after buying batteries and a few very last minute things, we were back at the boat by 11:30. Brenda made sausage rolls as she has every Christmas, while I did some housework. We then had showers and retired to the Dog and Hedgehog in the neighbouring village of Dadlington. The views from the back room of this pub are amazing, looking out over probably 20 miles of Leicestershire countryside. We fell in with a lovely couple who had also, in the past, been dub owners, a great connector. We returned to the boat and let Christmas begin.
Sunday 23 rd December 2018 There was heavy rain throughout the night and the day dawned misty with a persistent drizzle, the type that soaks right through you. Brenda went to the local village shop for bread and eggs while I put up the last of the Christmas lights. The shop keeps as strange hours as the White Swan pub, closing for 3 or 4 hours in the afternoon and opening again in the evening. We spent the afternoon reading newspapers, very unusual for us, and attempting the crossword. After a lovely steak dinner, we sat and watched TV for the evening. Weather: a miserable day, misty, drizzly and raining. Cleared a little in the evening.
Saturday 22 nd December 2018 We had breakfast in bed and then went back to sleep. Harvey had had a bit of a walk so he allowed it. Brenda had a busy morning. She prepared the dinner of lamb shanks and set them on top of the stove to slow cook. Harvey was then groomed and I had my haircut sitting in the rear end. Must have given a lot of people a laugh. This is a very popular spot for feeding the ducks, there is a steady procession of cars arriving and there must be a hundred ducks here. Two boats that we know of, have passed by today. One thing about this canal, or is it the time of year, is the lack of moving boats. In the last five or six previous days we have not seen any. For a population of less than 2,000 people, Stoke Golding supports 3 pubs and a club. We like the place already! We walked up to the furthest pub, the George and Dragon, intending to sample each one on the way back. However, the beer was really good and they had mild, we fell into company wi
Friday 21 st December 2018 The day did not dawn well and it had been raining heavily all night. The towpath was water logged and had turned into a quagmire. We set off in a persistent drizzle that just got heavier. We had intended to go only as far as Shenton, go on the train on Saturday and visit the Battle of Bosworth site before continuing to Stoke Golding where we intend to spend Christmas. However, our post is waiting in Hinckley, a bus service runs there from Stoke so we passed Shenton and headed direct for Stoke. We called in at the service point at Sutton Wharf for a top up of water and to empty the loo. We are going to be in Stoke for about a week so we will need to be careful with our water consumption. In the meantime, we filled every available container. We came across this boat at Sutton Wharf, a bit over the top and offensive we thought Arriving at Stoke the wind was blowing strongly but we got moored easily. These are very good moor
Thursday 20 th December 2018 We left the mooring quite early and cruised just 2 miles to Market Bosworth, entering the marina. We had a job getting the boat moored as the wind was pushing us directly off the pontoon. The pontoon was made of decking and, it being wet, was slippery and dangerous, especially when having to pull the boat in. Thank goodness for the bow thruster. We filled with fuel and bought 6 bags of coal. The fuel at 0% was 80p per litre and at 60/40 was £1.27. We took 92.04 litres to fill the tank. We then moved back onto the mainline canal and went individually into town for Christmas shopping. My knee had gone on me, it gets worse. We had planned that I walked up in the evening and got a Chinese, it is a good 15-minute walk and Brenda had to go. The Chinese was a rare treat. Weather: a fine day but windy with strong gusts. Day Total: 0 locks; 2 miles; 0 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 1.4 Overall Total: 323 loc