Snarestone back to Shackerstone.

Hi Folks.

Snarestone to Shackerstone 2.95 miles travelled in 1 hour 15 minutes. 

What a fantastic morning weather wise, the sun was shining and there was a breeze blowing, which was pushing the clouds away. I did not have a great nights sleep it has to be said, I was so hot all night, so I lay awake for sometime listening to the Little and Tawny Owls calling close to the boat. There is something so magical and haunting about Owls calling. As I drifted in and out of sleep, whilst kicking off the duvet, I did contemplate getting up and making a brew, but that did not happen until gone 7am, when both Keith and I sat up in bed drinking tea and watching Challenge TV, this morning we watched "Are you smarter than a 10 year old" with Noel Edmonds and one of the questions was about the Battle of Bosworth, how spooky is that, yes of course we got it right. It was about who took over from Richard as King and of course the answer was Henry VII. 8.30am I was up and off the boat with Paddy for his walk, we walked past a few moored up boats with people on board and felt horrified that these boats had their back doors padlocked whilst they slept on board. Back and front doors are supposed to be fire exits, if they are padlocked your escape from a fire is not available, which is oh so dangerous. Keith did a write up for Boatman's Banter back in September 2010 which highlighted the huge problem that is developing on the canal. It is worth a read because if it saves lives then it has done its job. We lost someone we knew because of his back doors being locked from the outside.

9.30am the boat was ready for us to leave our overnight mooring.

It was only a short hop for us back to Shackerstone, but I enjoyed every moment in the Winter sunshine, it has to be said the temperature was not very wintery, but I dare say it is coming. This time last year we were frozen in at Market Harborough, having been with a film crew the day before for "The Golden Age Of Canals", so this weather is a real bonus, just wish we were having more rain.

There are lots of occasions when we see old farm buildings going to rack and ruin and all because they no longer serve a purpose in this modern day of farming, which is very sad. I would think that this old brick building would have housed livestock, but it is now being taken over by nature. For many farmers they cannot afford to keep these buildings going or they have no further use for them, especially with the new barns we see going up all over the countryside. A building lost in time, but if those walls could talk, they would have wonderful tales to tell.

We arrived back in Shackerstone and back on the mooring we left a few days ago.

The plan is to stay here for the weekend, so we can go and watch the trains on Sunday running one of the Christmas Specials, which begins on Sunday at 12 noon, but tickets must be booked before the event, they cannot be bought on the day. We are hoping they will have a train in steam, photographs will follow if that is the case, I may even get a photograph of Santa wooooo hooooo. It is now lunchtime and I must go and think of something to eat.

Chat later maybe xx