Snarestone

Last night was so quiet compared to the night before you could have heard a mouse walk by and this morning we woke to bright sunshine. The boat behind us set off before we were up and winded just through the bridge before heading back down the canal.
After breakfast Diana wandered up into town to get a couple of things and I drew Harnser forward to the water point and topped the tank up while I was waiting for her. We finally left at 11am. The canal was a bit busier today and we met two boat out in the sunshine.
Part of this canal is a SSSI but I don’t think many boaters obey the requirements to the letter with respect of grey water and mooring spots.

One of the fields we passed on the offside was grey with Wood Pigeons, there is probably less than a quarter of them in this photo with the camera set to the widest lens position.

Because this length of canal is a SSSI, to protect the habitat of the endangered Water Vole the Canal and Rivers Trust (CRT) installed this wood and fabric piling along the offside in Shackerstone to give a watery margin for the Voles, it has hole  at the water level to allow the Voles access to and from the canal whilst protecting the bank where they live.

The Ashby Canal Association (ACA) are very active along the length of the canal both working to restore the present end of navigation and maintain the facilities along the CRT controlled section and tries to encourage boaters to go the the present terminus.

Of course, like most organisations they are up against a certain amount of vandalism and fly tipping, this is not the first car to have been burnt out at this location.

There is only one tunnel on this canal, Snarestone Tunnel, its quite wide and 228Mt long, but a shallow profile so it only single boat working. It must be very important as CRT have erected two information notices at each end about it.

I am pleased to say that we didn’t meet any boat while we were in the tunnel.
After the tunnel its not far to the present terminus. Well actually its not the try terminus any more as another section has been restored, but due to Badger workings in the towpath it is temporally

closed. There is a winding hole at the far end but it is of restricted length, see one of our old Bloggs. 
After winding we visited the ACA shop on the right of the picture and donated a couple of small items as well as picking up a couple of jigsaws. We then retraced our steps back through the tunnel to moor for the night. Its the first time ever I have not seen any boats moored along this section.

Today’s Journey

7¾ miles with no lock in 3 hours