Thursday 6^th December 2018

We left our mooring at 8am and, once through the stop lock, we turned right and headed up the Coventry Canal, going over new ground. At least for Bridge Street.

It is just three miles from Hawkesbury Junction to the Ashby Canal at Marston Junction. On the way up we again passed many boats we had been seeing on and off for the last few weeks. At one point there was a pony on the canal bank. No doubt he had strayed from a nearby field but it would be a scene from the past. 

Just before Marston Junction we passed the boatyard, Charity Dock. More like a boat and car graveyard, proper Steptoe’s, with strange mannequins in different settings, one lot in World War II uniforms beside an air raid shelter, another beside a petrol pump holding the nozzle. Weird.

At Marston Junction the Ashby Canal leaves at a 60˚ angle when approached from Hawkesbury, meaning the boat has to be turned through 120˚. This is a delicate operation and I got it wrong, so I spun the boat through 180˚ so approaching the junction from the opposite direction. Even then the very start of the Ashby must, at some time, have had a pair of stop locks, the channel is just wide enough for a narrowboat with inches to spare and you can see where the lock gates used to sit.

               

The character of the canal changes immediately. Prior to the junction, the canal was skirting Bedworth at an unattractive section of the town. Once on the Ashby Bedworth is left behind and countryside follows. Having said that, the first village encountered is passed through in a deep and dark cutting with shabby chalet style housing fronting the canal.

After that, it is all very rural, isolated and tranquil. This belies the Ashby’s past and raison d’etre. Originally the canal was planned to run from the Trent and Mersey Canal at Burton-upon-Trent to the Coventry at Bedworth, following the 300ft contour and linking the Leicestershire limeworks and the coalfields around Ashby-de-la-Zouch. However, while the canal was to be lock-free for 30 miles to Moira, the section north would require extensive and complicated works; locks, reservoirs, pumping engines and possibly a tunnel. Consequently, the canal only ran so far as Moira and became one of the most profitable and long lasting. Indeed, it was not until the 1970’s that commercial carrying along and from the Ashby ceased. While the coalmines at Moira greatly contributed to the success of the canal, they also led to its demise when, due to mining subsidence, the last 8 miles of canal was abandoned. However, there are ambitious plans to reopen this last section. Mileposts along the canal give the distance from Marston Junction to the terminus and add up to 30 miles. This is the distance to Moira, whereas the navigable distance of the canal is just 22 miles.

In the past the whole of the Ashby Canal would have been lined with numerous mines and lime kilns with a succession of wharfs. Nowadays, there is very little evidence of this apart from the odd section of wall glimpsed through undergrowth as the boat passes.    

We eventually moored at bridge 22 some 8 miles from Marston. We had passed through Hinckley with all its huge warehouse type buildings including a massive dpd distribution centre and the Triumph motorcycle factory.

Once moored up we went for a short walk. I then finished the knot work on the roof tools. We are very pleased with the end result. A lot of work has gone into them but they look really good and have personalised the boat.

Draught excluders have been fitted to the sliding hatch. There was a big gap under the hatch which was allowing cold air into the back end of the boat. Now these have been fitted the door lock on the hatch can be made even more secure.

Brenda meantime had made a braised short rib of beef casserole, all cooked for free on the stove. 

Tomorrow it is onward to Market Bosworth to meet up with Martin and Michelle. However, the weather forecast is not good.

Weather: mild to begin, rain later on and off.

Day Total: 1 locks; 11 miles; 0 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 3.2

Overall Total: 323 locks; 612 miles; 26 tunnels; 5 Swing Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; engine running hours 373.4