Snarestone

Since our last post, we have spent a week on a very pleasant mooring in the village of Shackerstone. We departed Market Bosworth, on Wednesday 16/8 on the four mile journey. The top end of the Ashby Canal, is by far the best for scenery, and we could easily spend weeks at a time, just meandering up and down. On arrival at Shackerstone, we found the mooring spot we were after and secured the boat. It was by now lunchtime, so a short stroll took us to the Rising Sun P.H. and liking what we saw, we also booked in for a Sunday roast. The next couple of days had been forecast to be fair and dry, so it was an excellent opportunity to sand down and varnish, a few areas of weathered wood, by the rear doors and side hatches. All went well, despite the fact that the good old Met Office, as usual got their forecast wrong. We encountered several showers, some heavy, but were able to protect the newly varnished wood from the rain. We had always planned on spending at least a week in Shackerstone, only moving when our water tank needed a refill. During our time there, we also met fellow bloggers from nb Freespirit, whose blog which is far more extensive than these ramblings, can be found in our blog list at the side. ( It was nice meeting you again, there was space at the end ). Since Saturday a few trading boats have started arriving at Shackerstone, presumably for the canal festival in a couple of weeks. It appears as if Shackerstone is going to get busy, so our plan to return to the same spot, after spending a few days at the canal terminus is looking doubtful. We also want to avoid encountering too much traffic, on our return if we can, during the upcoming bank holiday weekend. With this in mind, we set off today for the end of the canal at Snarestone. Trundling slowly for the final three miles, we met only one oncoming boat, just as we were preparing to enter the crooked Snarestone Tunnel. The tunnel is single way working only so, after they emerged it was our turn. The tunnel is fairly short at 250yds, but due to a serious kink in the middle it is also fairly dark. Still this would be no problem for the Francis searchlight to illuminate. Pressing the switch for the tunnel light, and nothing. Note to self, check tunnel light actually works, and not just looks pretty on the front of the boat. Once through the tunnel, moorings are fairly limited, and we had been told it was full. Fortunately the newest section of the canal which has been recently restored, also has moorings beyond the small swing bridge. Our boat at 60 feet is too long for the winding hole at the terminus, but we were able to wind before the swing bridge and then reverse a 100 yds or so onto our spot. We can stay here for 48 hrs for free, and then extend our stay if we wish for a fee of ten pounds a night thereafter. As is usual for us, it was lunchtime again so we walked over the top of the tunnel to The Globe P.H. taking the furry crew with us.

Snarestone mooring, new section

We are currently planning to move off on Thursday and hope to be settled somewhere before the bank holiday. It is possible this will be back at Shackerstone, but we are expecting it to be busy there, so who knows.

• Totals Wed 16/8. 4 Miles
•           Tue 22/8. 3 Miles 1 Tunnel 
• Running total 150 Miles 41 Locks 6 Tunnels