Friday 21st 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 moorings that we had spotted on the way up the canal and decided then to moor here for Christmas. They are on the offside and next to a road leading into the village and we are moored right next to the road. There is room here for about a dozen boats but, surprisingly, there are only two here and they are both unoccupied.

We walked into the village and caught the bus to Hinckley. It is only 3 miles but of course the bus goes all around the houses, at one point passing through a council estate in Hinckley that did not at all, look nice. The bus was an Arriva and the fare £4.20 each, return.

Hinckley was a bit run down but the high street had a good range of shops and there was a market on. As we have found with the whole of Leicestershire, the people on the whole are very friendly. We collected our post, did the last of our Christmas shopping and caught the bus back.

We put our Christmas decorations up and fixed the bunting poles on the roof with lights strung between them. There are wreaths with lights on the tiller and front cratch and many light sets in the cratch itself. It all looks very seasonal.

Neither of us felt much like eating so we just had sandwiches and crisps in the evening.

We heard that “Chugabug”, the boat shell that was delivered to Cunliffes the day Bridge Street left was put in the water today. This must be one of the longest boat builds ever, having been delivered for fit-out on 17th May. If there is a medal for patience, they surely deserve it. We wish them well and hope they don’t have the problems with her that we have had.



Weather: drizzle turning to rain later. Windy. A pleasant enough afternoon and evening.



Day Total: 0 locks; 5 miles; 0 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 2.6

Overall Total: 323 locks; 645 miles; 30 tunnels; 5 Swing Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; engine running hours      395.1



   

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