Friday 9th April

Pressure of work meant that our departure was later than we had hoped for but we left the marina around half past four for our weekend excursion up the Ashby canal. An area of high pressure had settled on the UK so the next few days promised sunshine and temperatures in the mid teens. Despite the late start we still had plenty of daylight hours left and after a couple of hours cruising we tied up just past Sutton Cheney, near Ambion Wood.

Saturday 10th April

The sun was shining as we left our mooring and headed on towards Market Bosworth, hoping for a space on the visitor moorings there. We weren’t disappointed and after securing the boat we headed up the hill towards town for the umpteenth time since we bought the boat, two and a half years ago. We bought the papers and sat on the patio of the Red Lion and had a couple of drinks. We bought some bits and pieces to make lunch with from the Co-op and returned to the boat by half past two.

We were soon underway, enjoying the spring sunshine as we continued our cruise in a north-westerly direction. The last time we visited the terminus, the canal had been shortened to allow contractors to carry out the beginning of the restoration works which will eventually re-join the two parts of the cut.

We turned around in the new winding hole before making our way back through the Snarestone tunnel. We made our way back to Shackerstone where we moored for the night. Visiting the pub in the village, The Rising Sun, we had our evening meal before returning to the canal, of course we had to make our usual visit to the churchyard first.

Sunday 11th April

Our journey home started about half past nine, light cloud hid the sun and a livelier wind from the north kept the temperature lower than the previous day. We made a pit stop at Sutton Cheney for some sweets and crisps before stopping at Stoke Golding for sandwiches and a glass of wine.

Half an hour later and we were on our way again back to the marina. We met nb Lunny at the bridge which carries the A47 over the canal and despite the fact that this is a bridge where two boats can pass, Lunny wanted the canal to itself. We reversed and allowed the boater through, he apologised and claimed that he was a novice although by the state of his eyes, he was no novice when it came to being drunk. This turned out to be the only unusual event of the weekend and all too soon we were manoeuvring our way through the marina, reaching our berth just before three o’clock. It took no time at all to clear our stuff from the boat and that was it, our weekend cruise was over. By a strange coincidence, we made the same trip on the same weekend last year, something that we didn’t realise until today.