Hinckley to Bridge 22, Stoke Golding - Ashby Canal

Hinckley

Coffee & Pastries

Lunch by the Canal

The last couple of days we have stayed put, on Monday we walked up to Hinckley, we found a foot path off the A5 and near the bridge where we are moored which kept us off the road and took us past a huge DPD distribution centre and under the railway and we were at a Lidl and Tesco, we walked on a bit further and we were in the town of Hinckley, it was market day so we had a wander around. We found a nice coffee shop for a pit stop. It's a nice town with plenty of shops. It was worth walking up there and under 2 miles from where we were moored.

Tuesday, Kev walked the other way in the morning to the Aldi which was less than a mile away, I stayed on board, then at lunch time we walked up to the marina and had lunch at the Brewers Fayre pub, it was nice and they have a terrace overlooking the canal. It was a bit cooler today so much more comfortable.

 Today (Wednesday) we are on the move just a few miles, there was a water point just down from us so we pulled down there to fill up.  While we were getting water, I heard a voice say you can’t moor there and I looked up and it was our good friends Pat, Patrick and Poochie on Diligent Too, it was so lovely to see them, they were stopping near the marina for shopping and we said we were going to moor near Bridge 22 so they said they would catch us up later.

Another Sunny Morning

Passing the Brewers Fayre Pub

Passing Pat & Patrick

We chugged on under several bridges, went past the marina and Brewers Fayre pub where we had lunch yesterday and past Pat & Patrick who were mooring opposite the marina and said we would see them later.  We chugged on along the canal and moored not far from Bridge 22. After a while we heard a boat pulling in behind us and it was the 3P's.

Lovely Quiet Canal

Kev and I were walking up to the next bridge where Spinney Bank Farm Shop was so Patrick said he would come with us. It wasn't very far along the towpath and we were soon at the farm shop.  A lady came out of the house to serve us but the shop was empty, we asked if they had any produce and she said frozen sausages, so I asked if she had any fresh meat and she said yes its in this fridge but didn't say what so I had to ask, it was all very awkward like she didn't want to sell us anything.  She said she would be making sausages this afternoon if the meat turned up so we said we would call back later and left.  If she wasn't willing to serve us then we weren't willing to part with our money.

Tomlinson's Farm Shop

Waiting for our BBQ to Cook

We walked on to the next bridge where there was another farm shop just down the road, Tomlinson’s and that was so much better, the lad serving was really friendly and they had sausages, burgers, pork chops, home made pies, free range eggs and local bread so everything we needed.  We walked back to our boats and then all sat outside and had a cup of tea and a good older catch up.

We are having a joint BBQ for tea with the stuff from the farm shop so should be good.  It is great to see the three P's again and spend time together, we always have a lot of laughs.

We are now staying here for a couple of days and tomorrow we will walk up to Stoke Golding to have a look at the village and the church.

Moored at Bridge 22