With the weekend forecast predicting good weather, we set off from Hinckley on Friday afternoon. We reached Market Bosworth by half past five and decided to walk up to the town. The local chip shop claims to be an award winning establishment so we decided to try out their wares. The haddock and chips were good and tasty but as far as being award winning? Sorry, no cigar this time.

Saturday brought more sunny weather so we headed off to the end of the Ashby, just beyond Snarestone. After we turned around, we made our way back to Market Bosworth and managed to secure a mooring fairly close to where we had stopped the night before. We took another walk up to town and shopped in the local co-op before returning to the boat.

Sunday morning was again a lovely day and although we had planned to walk up to the town and buy the Sunday papers, the thought of climbing the hill again was less appealing than cruising along with the sun on our faces and the wind in our hair. On the way back, we stopped a number of times and picked enough blackberries for Sue to make some blackberry fool with blackberry coulis. We eventually reached Hinckley around one o’clock, stopped briefly at the marina to replenish the beerstocks and then pressed on towards Marston Junction. Our old mate Jim had told us that it was possible to turn a 65 foot boat at Burton Hastings, despite there being no reference in any of the guide books. We decided that this was the ideal day to put Jim’s theory to the test and of course he was right! Elated, we headed back to the Limekilns with the intention of buying the old boy a pint for his wisdom. On reaching the pub, we could not find Jim but we had dinner out on the back deck there before heading back to the marina. Having been driving for most of the weekend, Sue took the boat into the marina, weaved her way around the pontoons and berthed us back in D4 without any difficulty at all.