Saturday we did indeed stay at Bridge 3 and went in to Nuneaton on the bus (no 56). We didn’t manage to get any fish (it didn’t look very good) but we did venture in to The Tool Box for some hooks. The Tool Box has to be seen to be believed. It is the most cluttered hardware shop I have ever seen. You’d have to work there for years to know where everything was. If you are more than just average sized you have no chance of even getting in the door let alone moving down the aisles. It is a must see if you’re ever in Nuneaton!
We did a bit of shopping in Asda and then watched the football in The George Eliot. When we returned to the boat it had turned really hot and humid. In fact we had just got in when there was a thunder storm.
Sunday (yesterday) we travelled 9 miles through Burton Hastings, Hinckley and Stoke Golding deciding we would stop at Bridge 30, which is Dadlington. We had thought it looked ok there last time we were on this canal and there was a handy pub about a quarter of a mile down the road from the bridge.
We managed to get within a few inches of the bank but were grounded. This canal can be shallow in places. We decided that we were near enough to the bank and moored up. We trundled off to the pub after mooring and found a very nice establishment with friendly, efficient staff, good beer and a lovely view from the garden.
Returning to the boat by a slightly different route to that which we went to the pub we discovered more good moorings towards Bridge 31. Our tranquil mooring turned out to be rather noisy as every car which went over Bridge 30 tooted it’s horn to let anyone coming the other way know they were going over the bridge! However, we were too lazy to move so we put up with it.
Ken woke me early this morning having been woken himself by the tooting horns starting up about 6-30 am! As we had a longish trip planned with a sanitary station stop included it was a good idea to get up early anyway.
Today’s journey was 12 miles, through Market Bosworth and Shackerstone, with a stop at Sutton Cheney Wharf sanitary station, then through the tunnel to Snarestone. The combination of shallow water, meeting a boat at every bridge and rows of moored boats to get past made it a rather protracted trip of 5 hours!
We turned in the basin at Snarestone and moored on the 48 hour moorings. It is nice and peaceful here. No trains, no tooting horns and not even many boats.
We walked back over the tunnel, across the football pitch to The Globe. Another very nice pub, recently refurbished, with excellent staff and beer. It was too hot to sit outside as they didn’t seem to have any parasols up yet so we sat inside.
Tomorrow we are returning to Market Bosworth and will stop for shopping. As the weather is set to go tits up we may have to stay there Wednesday as well.
