Ashby Canal part 2

Wednesday 13th June

Only writing this a day behind! It's been tricky keeping the blog up to date and sometimes impossible due to poor wifi connections. Also it's sometimes hard finding the time believe it or not! I thought I would have all this spare time on my hands to make jewellery and paint - NOPE! Boating is pretty much a full time job and what with keeping the blog I am kept very busy!

I was steering today and John walking Dex. No locks to worry about. Nice weather again, we've been so lucky..

  With John and Dex walking ahead they could warn me of any boats approaching which was a great help on some of the sharp bends. Actually the Ashby is full of bends and blind bridges. You get to use the horn a lot!

 Over the aquaduct at Shenton.

We passed the Willow park marina at Stoke Golding.

                   

 The side hatch was open as it was such a nice day so I decided to take a different view from the boat for a change!

 It was lovely seeing these waterlilies in bloom.

 This garden had a great display of red hot pokers.

 You could see the remains of an old railway bridge.

 We arrived at Snarestone tunnel which is only 250 yards long but not wide enough for 2 boats to pass. So we pulled over to wait until it was clear.

 It was a good job we did pull over as the tunnel light wasn't working so we had to set up our other lights. Later on we found out that there was nothing wrong with the light, we had accidentally switched it off at the control panel! Oh dear! 😂

 We got through the tunnel without incident however it was so low John had to duck for most of it!

 At the end of the canal there is a winding hole and we had to turn around here. There is another turning point further on but it's only suitable for boats up to 52 foot and Prairie is 57 foot.

 We found a good mooring spot for the evening.

 There is a great shop at the terminus selling all kinds of bric a brac and canal ware to raise money for the canal restoration. We had a look inside and bought some glasses, a teapot, a painting and 2 painted lanterns!

 The old pumping station looked quite grand, it looks to be a house now.

 This is the end of the canal at this time although there are plans to extend it.

 We liked this notice on the bridge

 It really is a lovely tranquil spot to enjoy.