Between Bridge 2 & 3 to Between Bridges 13 & 14 - Ashby Canal

Thursday 5th July - Where we are moored at the moment, we don't get all the evening sun, so we moved around the corner to where we would and moored up there.

Our New Mooring just before Bridge 3

We are now moored just before Bridge 3.  We walked up onto the bridge and followed the footpath through the fields to the road and walked along there which was busy and no pavement until we came to a junction and turned onto a busier road which did have a pavement.  There was a pub there called The Corner House.  We walked along the road to Bridge 5 which went over the canal.  We walked on up the road and found a Costcutter shop.  We then walked back to the bridge, went down onto the canal and walked the towpath back to the boat, it was a nice circular walk of about 2 and a half miles. We are staying here tonight then will move on tomorrow.

Friday 6^th July

We are on the move today and it was already very warm when we set off along the canal.  There was a boat in front of us and one of their dogs jumped off so they pulled in and told us to go by so we did.  We went through a very narrow section with parks homes overlooking the canal.

Mile Marker

On this canal there are mile posts and they were originally made of stone, later the Midland Railway made them out of half a railway sleeper with the miles and the half miles carved in the end.  Latterly, the Canal and River Trust replaced these as they deteriorated with new wooden posts, but the mileage added up to 22, not 30, the original length of the canal.

In 1991 the local Council decided to replace them all with steel and cast aluminium replicas, all adding up to the 30 miles. We have seen one or two of them, so shall be looking out for them along the way.

Lovely Rural Ashby

Between bridges 5 and 6 it is a long stretch.  After bridge 6 there are some nice open moorings opposite a fishing lake, we will probably stop there on the way back.

Under More Bridges

Nice View Under This Bridge

We chugged on and the bridges come quite close together now, there was two ladies on the towpath walking five dogs and three of them were in the water chasing the ducks, we slowed down and two of them came out but the third one was reluctant to so we dropped back and waited and after a few minutes he came out, the ladies said we deserved a medal for being so patient and we were the best bargees they had come across, I am sure anyone else would have done the same!  We said thanks, straightened out halos and chugged on!

We went under a few more bridges and moored between bridge 13 and 14.

The Lime Kilns Inn

We had lunch then in the afternoon Kev did a few jobs and I sat outside in the shade, too hot for me to do anything.

Late afternoon we went for a walk up the towpath to Bridge 16.  We got off there and walked up the road to a Londis shop to get some bread.  There was also a post office and a fish and chip shop.  We walked back along the canal and stopped off at Bridge 15 where there is a pub on the canal called The Lime Kilns Inn but unfortunately it wasn't open so we trotted along the towpath back to the boat.

We are staying here a couple of days now as its a nice spot and there is some shade which might come in handy if the forecast for temperatures to reach 30 and above is correct!

Moored Between Bridges 13 & 14