Ashby Canal bridge Bridge 45 Tuesday 26 July 2014

We made an early start for us this morning as there were no locks to do so should be no queues, we moved just before 9am. Although the moorings around us were packed there was nothing on the actual visitor moorings in Hartshill ether side of the bridge. The old BW yard is looking sad, they cut the grass by the water point but nowhere else. The canal companies set mile stones along the canal, each company had a different style of post, this is one used by the Coventry Canal Company.

I still cant get over the fact that this old telegraph post exists with it insulators and cross beams. I have photographed it from the boat before but never like this, as I am usually on the boat.

It looks as if Dr Who is still in Nuneaton but his Tardis has suffered the riggers of time, but that is only to be expected after all these hundreds of years. On to Boot Wharf where not only were boats two abreast there were also boats moored opposite on the tow path and of course where did we meet a boat? This is the hire boat following us.

We also met the charity trip boat Hargreaves in Nuneaton and one of the crew called out to us, it was the Volocky from lock No.2 on the Atherstone flight yesterday, at least we met them on the straight for a change and not on a bend in a bridge hole.

As we have travelled along this canal we have seen an awful lot of Rag Wort in the fields, often ones where horses are grazing. I thought it was quite poisonous to animals and was surprised the animals owners had not walked round pulling it up. You can see how the animals have grazed round it and it must get worse year on year.

Just before we turned onto the Ashby Canal at Marston Junction this caught my eye in a boat window, I do wonder if he gets much business?  At the junction its self it is still possible to see the hooks in the tow path that were used to assist boats round the sharp turn, The junction is not quite at right angles to the main canal so if going to Coventry from the Ashby the turn is tighter than 90°. They have been flattened now as I expect people tripped over them.

It was 1130 am when we turned into the Ashby canal, we had to wait for a boat to exit first. To start with to going was quite good with a reasonable depth of water but it didn’t last. The Willow Herb along the banks was quite spectacular in places.

There are some interesting ideas on this canal to control boat speed from imitation mines to differing speed signs.

I am not sure how you are supposed to measure your speed to 0.2 of a mile per hour.

Another thing that surprised us was that the Stoke Golding visitor moorings were completely empty,  I have never seen this before when I have come up here. Could it be the threat of a £25 a day charge for overstaying that worries people, if so how long were they staying in the past. After this for some reason the canal gets much shallower and so slower, we were making about 3mph until we got to Sutton Wharf where after avoiding 4 girls in sailor suits on a day boat, I wasn’t until it veered across in front of me I realised there was a forth one steering who was so short she couldn’t see over the roof let alone the others sitting on it that I came up behind another boat and apart from when I had to wait for oncoming boats our speed was just a touch over 2mph for about 4½ miles all the way to Market Bosworth where we stopped to fill with water. You can see it here on the Waterway Routes display.

Needles to say by the time we had finished filling with water he was out of sight. The area by the new marina at Market Bosworth which use to be the visitor moorings where the water point use to be is now signed Long Term Moorings or we would have stopped there for the night, there was plenty of room and there is no sign to say where the long term moorings end, but we didn’t so carried on to between bridges 45 and 46  where we have moored for the night, although we are moored to the piling we are about 3 feet out  sitting on the bottom.

Today’s Journey.  22½ miles, 1 Junction, 2 canals in 9¼ hours