Steam train from Shackerstone

Well we arrived at Hinckley on Tuesday, spending 2 nights there.  It is a lovely town with a good selection of shops.  Not all chain stores.  Although we did find Lidl and Tesco so the cupboards are once again well stocked.  Although we have seen a few boats moving about as we have been cruising most of the mooring places are very quiet.  The Ashby is a lovely canal.  Leaving Hinckley we have pretty much made straight towards the end of the canal as we wanted to get there for the weekend.  Yesterday we made it to Shackerstone, mooring just after 10.  We then for a ride on the steam train on the Battle Field Line.  This time of year the trains only run at the weekend and at the moment it is the Santa Train.  A shame in one way as it runs to Shenton via Market Bosworth but due to lack of trains we couldn’t really get off and explore.  Still if it wasn’t for Santa the train probably wouldn’t have been running at all!  Today a 3 mile cruise through the Snareston Tunnel brought us to the present limit of the canal.  We are spending the night here at Snareston just beyond the north end of the tunnel.  There is about another half mile of canal but nowhere to turn at the end.  We will probably walk there tomorrow and perhaps on to Measham for a look around.

On the Santa Train

Well this morning when we first looked out of the window it was clear that winter has arrived.  Everywhere is white with frost and at first there was mist too, although that is now starting to clear.  We did all meet up on Saturday.  At Hawkesbury Junction in The Greyhound.  Barry, Leyanne, Dave and Miggy.  A lovely meal and a good old natter with much laughter.  Then back to Falcon for a cuppa.  Strictly Come Dancing in the evening, what a lovely day.  Sunday wasn’t as good as it rained up until about 3 o’clock.  Too late then to go anywhere!  Not to bad though, as we had the fire lit so were snug and warm.  Paul watched the Grand Prix and saw Lewis Hamilton win.  Yesterday we moved on having just one lock to work and now we are on the Ashby Canal.  22 miles with no locks.  Just about to head on this morning and plan to reach Hinckley.  We need bread and milk so need to go in search of some shops!  

The view this morning looked lovely with the mist

Well not quite a week this time.  However we haven’t travelled very far!  We are now in Rugby.  We met up with some other friends from Yelvertoft on Saturday.  Going for lunch together in Butlers Leap.  We then had a ride in their car, very exciting for us, and did some shopping!  A real treat!  Having another get together next Saturday all 6 of us.  Hum sounds like we are spending all our time in the pub!!!  Sorry have to go now to order a pint.

Well another week has gone by.  We are moored very close to where we were when I last wrote but we have travelled a bit in between.  We did catch up with Barry and Leyann last week.  They came over from Yelvertoft on Wednesday and after a leisurely lunch in the pub they took us into Daventry.  So after a walk around the town we ended up in Tesco so we were able to do lots of food shopping!!  On Friday we made our way back to Napton, unfortunately in the rain.  Not so bad for me as being a lock free trip I stayed inside, only popping out at the end to help moor.  By then the rain had stopped.  We had gone back to Napton as there was an open day.  Unfortunately the weather still wasn’t very good but we went anyway.  |It was very interesting and we were able to go down into the empty lock and look at the brick floor and the channels where the water comes in.  Being wet was a good excuse to go into the Folly, the pub there for lunch and sit by the fire and dry off!  So tomorrow we will be continuing along the North Oxford Canal towards Rubgy.

Sorry guys didn’t realise it had been more than a week since I had written anything.  Time does fly!  A lot of that time we have been passing through remote villages and our signal strength has been poor to nonexistent.  Can’t think of a better excuse!!  Well along the way we reached the summit of the South Oxford Canal and had 11 miles of lock free cruising.  This gave me opportunity to get the hoover out.  Oh deep joy.  Still twice a year doesn’t seem excessive!! So now we are working our way downhill.  Had to get to Napton before 2^nd Nov as the lock flight there is now closed for 6 week for maintenance.  So now we are moored at Braunston having arrived yesterday afternoon.  We will probably stay around this area for about a week.  Not too far from Yelvertoft where we started out.  About 20 minutes by car.  2 days by boat!  Again the lock flight at Watford is closed so we can’t go there.  So hopefully a couple of them will come to see us.  If you remember we had some work done to the cylinder heads back in the summer.  Well it was to Braunston we sent them so one of the things we have to do while here is go and pay our bill.  Not that we have had one yet!!  So the sun is shining and we are off out.  Catch you all later.