I greatly enjoyed my time on the Ashby Canal. It’s primarily rural, lots of fields, cows, sheep, and horses. Also, as mentioned, there are no locks! I don’t generally mind doing locks, it’s good exercise and often a pleasant change of pace. It’s also nice, occasionally, to not have to do them.

Although it is very rural, there are a couple of villages and the small town of Hinckley. I stopped on the outskirts and walked into ‘town’ to get some groceries. Little did I know that I was in a real-life ‘Little Whinging’. It felt like I was back at the Harry Potter Studio.

Mostly I’ve been continuing my plan of working on the boat, not travelling too far. I sometimes move for a few hours to find a good mooring spot, something with a wide enough towpath and not too much foot traffic, then moor for a few days. I’m still working on the starboard side, all the canals in this area are set up that way. It’s good though, I’ll have everything completely done, then when I more further north the towpath will switch to the port side and I can finish the job.

Some days were spent in Braunston, one of the canal system ‘hubs’. Always lots going on there. My good friends (a ‘brother from another mother’ as we put it) drove half-way across the country for a visit! Phil and Ang are amazing friends from up in Cheshire, we were moored near each other for several seasons, in two different marinas. With Todd, of course.

I also finally managed to make it to the local parish church. It has elements from the days of William the Conqueror, but was largely rebuilt in the 19th century. The vicar Katherine was really interesting and told me lots about it’s history.

I was glad to leave Braunston when I did, apparently there was going to be an ‘historic boat’ festival this weekend. As much as I love looking at these old boats and hearing their stories, the crush of the crowd and lack of mooring space would be too much to handle! I did manage to see some on the way out of town though…

On the way from Braunston north, you travel through the ‘infamous’ Braunston Tunnel. There’s nothing that special about it, except that it’s not entirely straight, barely wide enough for two boats, and allows two-way traffic. So, needless to say, there’s lots of paint on the brickwork. There’s also a couple of ventilation shafts along the way…

I’m presently moored at a fantastic, quiet, perfect mooring spot for getting down to work. I have shade all morning (it’s become quite warm and sunny) so I can paint, then when the sun hits the boat after lunch I get lots of solar to charge the batteries and dry the paint. I’ll stay here until I’ve done the entire starboard side. More to come when I’m further north and can do the port side!