Hunkering down.

 Tuesday 25th

 OMG. Francis hit with a vengeance! Torrential rain in the early hours and sleep was difficult after that. Bleary-eyed we lay in bed listening to the wind, thanking our lucky stars that this mooring was open and only a few small trees to watch out for. Goodness knows how many trees have come down along the system.

Never moved from the boat all morning. Those gusts and the rain....met office for the Ashby area showed gusts increasing steadily throughout the day with the strongest of 45mph about 10pm tonight.

When we did venture out we checked the farmers field to see the first field of corn/wheat harvested and the straw gathered in bale rolls. Must be a relief to have the grain safely stowed.

After lunch the rain eased and we ventured out. A walk to the farm shop to get us out seemed like a good idea. Talk about battling those gusts and with part of the walk surrounded by trees we did feel a little uneasy.

North Portal of Snarestone tunnel seen from the towpath

British Food Box, strange name for a farm shop we thought until the penny dropped and we realised food boxes were delivery to homes . Fruit, veg, ice cream, bread, scones, cakes, clotted cream the list goes on and on. What tempted us was the pies especially the speciality pies. Venison sounded delicious and probably packed full of meat too. A bit to large for the two of us though. At £7.50 we would probably have bought one, well look at what meat was in it. We went boring and took a small Chicken and Mushroom pie at £4. Hmm just realised if we had been more savvy the larger pie would be better value and could have been eaten over two days! Anyway we also bought scones and clotted cream. Sheer indulgence and terrible for the waist line but what the heck. 

Back to Snarestone Wharf and will you look at those waves. Most impressive for a canal.

Didn't move for the rest of the day. With good Wi-Fi several episodes of Grand Tour were watched.

 And wildlife

Couldnt do much else than to forgive him.

 Okay, so I have forgiven him. We all make mistakes and the previous two can losses (crikey it was actually three) was down to me. Check out my brush with a tunnel in 2017 HERE & 2018 HERE and in 2015 at a bridge 'ole HERE

So now to continue with the journey to Snarestone Wharf. 

Toward the end of navigation is a lovely wooded area, not somewhere to moor during storm Francis though! Along this stretch a Kingfisher was seen. The flash of blue as it sped past, a shout to Ian to take the tiller and I rushed to the bow in the hope of seeing it again.

 

Unfortunately no other sighting but, as the Blue Peter team used to say, here's one I prepared photographed earlier.

Then bridge 59 came into view and you all know what happened there!

The only tunnel on the Ashby (Snarestone) is at the top end. I was pretty sure it was one way traffic but didn't want to be proved wrong by entering without reading the sign first. I was right and with Ian at the bow he could see it was unoccupied so in I went. Got a kink in this one, bit like Braunston Tunnel but that was two-way and much, much longer. If anything raised my stress levels, Braunston was that tunnel.  No such worries about this one and one more bridge to go through and Snarestone Wharf came into view.

Made a right cock-up of winding FS. Put the nose to far over to the right which meant I wouldn't have had enough space get round.  Lots (and I mean lots) of forward and reverse and eventually got round. Fred and Lisa came out to greet us. What they thought of my attempts I can only guess. We go way back as their boat was built on the Erewash by John and Mick (now no longer boat builders) at Kingfisher Trent Lock, and we got to know them through the blogs. Then I had to reverse FS back through the swing bridge to the mooring. This thankfully was completed without further embarrassment.

Moored opposite Fred and Lisa's boat.

After a bit of a catch up I then took myself off for a walk to see what further progress had been made. Gosh the difference from when we were last here in 2013 was massive.

This back in 2013

 

And this is today.

New bridge before the winding hole

Nothing larger than a 50ft boat could wind here and this one had a few problems. He had to pole the bow around.

Looking back from the end of navigation.

 And this from Google Earth

Tea time and the sound of a combine passing behind the hedge. Was he trying to get the corn in before storm Francis arrived? Oh, dear all that dust! Windows and vents quickly shut, after all only two days ago FS had a good clean inside and out. Didn't fancy doing it all over again.

8 pm, and we had a social distance gathering in the shop and office. Just the 5 of us, Fred, Lisa, Mike, Ian and me. Wine and beer a plenty, a kindred spirit in Mike as both of us enjoy photography and wildlife. Gosh, I was envious when he whipped out his phone and showed foxes feeding beside his boat. Anyway it was nearly 11am before we departed for bed and fully expecting that combine to still be harvesting, most surprised that all was quiet.

And wildlife,

And this is the third time!

 Gutted...and I'll tell you why.

Left Market Bosworth about 9 ish and had a really good run to Shackerstone. Even had a chance to stop and have a quick word with Del and Al on Nb Derwent 6. At Shackerstone we were pleasantly surprised that there was plenty of spaces available, might be a good place to stop on our return from 'the top end'. 

 

Bridges came thick and fast from then on and quite a few had sharp bends going into them. Ian had already made a mistake by cutting the corner on one and getting stuck in the mud which ended with the bow heading for the bank. A reverse sorted that problem out. But at bridge 59 and I still don't know what got into Ian, but he clipped the towpath with the bow, this threw the bow toward the bridge wall, he put on the power...(why???)...and ended up with the stern making contact with the brickwork. I happened to be taking a photo of said bridge to show the Willow through the bridge 'ole.

Getting very near to the arch with the bow.

And into the willow branches because Ian tried to get the stern away from that arch.

The sound was horrendous, the chain holding them together snapped and Ian tried to hang on to the can. Unfortunately some bridge brickwork chipped off as well, no longer will I look at damaged bridge holes and blame speeding boaters! I have come to the conclusion that it really isn't worth replacing the Buckby cans again. This is now the third time we have had to replace the larger of the two. So I will leave you with this sorry sight! Really not up to posting anything else about the journey to Snarestone Wharf. That will be for tomorrow.

 

Sending my condolences, said he

As nice a mooring as it was here (so very quiet) it was no good, we just had to move. It was the flies you see. So many and then there were the wasps! Either we shut all the windows and doors and stay or move on. We chose the latter. It did Ian's head in trying to eradicate the beasties. All I could here was the thwack, thwack as the fly swat made contact with windows, furnishing and even me at one point! This morning then, after Ian had put a first coat of paint on the gunwales, (more anti slip from those flies sticking to the paint) we moved on.

On route, and we had a cheeky comment by another boater. "I send you my condolences" said he. Huh...what ever could he mean? We looked quizzically back at him. "You have flowers on your roof, must mean you have had a death in the family" he replied. What??? "Well only boaters that has lost someone has flowers on their roof.... don't they?" You could have knocked me down with a feather until I noticed the cheesy grin coming back from him. Not sure why he made that comment but I think I called him a cheeky sod!

Had another one of those 'near miss' moments. There had been a sound of a horn (well sounded more like a strangled cat) as we came through the bridge but not a boat in sight. So we sounded our horn (bit more beefy) and then suddenly the bow of a boat appeared. I'm assuming he must have seen us although we hadn't seen him but why didn't he slow down? It was our bridge after all, well we were already in it, so the only thing he could do was head for the far bank and go into reverse. We then had to pass on the wrong side, found the mud on the bend and the bow started to swing across to the far bank. We tried to correct the movement, to avoid the overgrowth if at all possible. Lots of forward and reverse before we managed to get ourselves sorted and thankfully not a twig, leaf or mark left on the bow.

Only travelled a mile, 1.2 to be precise and Market Bosworth came into view. Hadn't planned on stopping but every time we have travelled this canal in the past, Bosworth moorings were always full. So we stopped....'cos we could, checked TV, all good, checked to see if we had internet, which we had. This will do for tonight. One boat already there but on the water point, so we had the moorings to ourselves. Settled down to do some fishing (which was rubbish) and noticed that boat was still on the water point and no hose to be seen. This is what I call taking the P and as I posted this, they are still there!

 

Wildlife seen today,

Hmm, a few words said at the water point.

 Hadn't planned on moving today, weather forecast wasn't brilliant for the afternoon so sitting it out seemed the right thing to do, but it had been days since checking how much water was left in the tank, and the cassettes were nearly on critical level too. Sutton Wharf and the facilities, only about 3/4 mile away, so it was untie and head out.

Sutton Wharf was so busy we wondered if the water point was free? A boat was already there but luckily there was room in front. First job, get the hose attached and start the fill. Second job, wash the cabin top and side. Then walking toward me came this chap. "I need water so you should move" he shouted in a really irate manner. I suppose it appeared to him that I was hogging the water point just to wash the boat. He soon shut up when I pointed to our hose which was attached to the tap, with other end in our well deck. It was also at that moment Ian lifted one of the cassettes out of the side hatch ready to be emptied. Proof indeed that we were not monopolising the facility mooring! I do wish people wouldn't just 'assume'! Check first before getting nasty I thought to myself! Anyway it took a good 20 minutes to fill the tank, and still filling when that other boat finished and moved off.  I assumed Mr nasty would then occupy the space but another boater got to it first! Ha his comeuppance indeed, me thinks!

This popular spot now has even fewer places to moor. This pontoon in years gone by had been one of our preferred stopping places, especially when we wanted a meal at the Sutton but today it is no more. 

Looks a bit rickety now.

Trying to find a mooring proved very problematic. Looking on Paul's Waterway routes map several places could have sufficed but overhanging trees were a big problem. Then we found what we thought the ideal spot. Opposite a field and nicely in the open. But could we get in? I know we are deeper drafted than most leisure boats but even they would have struggled here. Ian managed to leap of with the centre rope but then I couldn't get him back on! A bit further along and I managed to get the bow close enough for Ian to make a leap of faith onto the gunwale. It wasn't until we had gone past the Shenton battlefield moorings (full) and through bridge 36 that we finally managed to stop.

Already leaning as I found the silt. We were that far away from the bank Ian couldn't get back on.

 And just in the nick of time because that predicted rain came as we finished securing FS.

still very windy as you can see from the tree.

 

Think this time we may stay tomorrow...but then again....