Congerstone to Hinkley.

Yesterday having moored up near Congerstone, the weather looked like it may just brighten so it was time to polish the boats brass which was looking a tad dull for my liking. Whilst doing that there was time to chat to Mike and Phillipa on NB Garnet, who are a lovely couple who are enjoying their time on the water. Brass done, I then turned my attention to cleaning out the engine room. The engine room is a magnet for Paddy's hair, it collects on the engine and is sucked up by the mats on the engine room floor, so there was nothing for it but to take up the coconut mats, de-hair them then sweep the floor. It is a job I always over look, but yesterday I could look at it no more. Engine room done, nice and tidy for a change. At some point I am going to need to repaint the engine room floor,  but that will not be until next year now.
I was enjoying a lovely natter with Mike and Phillipa, whilst Paddy was enjoying the afternoon sunshine on the back counter and Marmite was lounging in the dirt on the towpath, well that was until a Jack Russell came motoring down the towpath, even with his owner shouting at him to stop. He tried to take on Marmite, but she had claws out and was ready to attack. Both Keith and I tried to shoo the dog back up the towpath, so that Marmite did not get attacked. Finally it went back to its boat with its owner, who later came down and apologised for letting his dog go for Marmite and whilst I was happy to accept his apology, it would have been better if he had kept it under control in the first place.

All jobs done as far as the boat was concerned, I turned my attention to dinner and doing a bedding wash whilst the generator was on. The rest of my day was spent watching the Paralympic Games, which was fantastic. I am hooked on the blind football and of course watching Ellie Simmonds swimming.

Travelled 11.6 miles in a time of 4 hours 40 minutes.

We left our over night mooring at 9.05am having said "Cheerio" to Mike on NB Garnet. The sun was out and it was a beautiful start to my day.

On the Ashby Canal work has been going on to restore banks.

We had not seen any other boats on the move until we got to Bridgre 35 Bradfields Bridge. There was a boat trying to moor up just before the bridge, the gentleman steering the boat jumped off with his stern line and some how pulled the boat into the bridge 'ole, but because he was pulling the boat with the stern line it kept going across the canal. His partner was on the bow with the bow line but could not throw it towards the bank with the boat across the cut. Eventually the gentleman managed to get the boat in enough through the bridge 'ole and called us through, asking "is there enough room for you to get through". Keith made the room by pushing the bow of their boat back towards the towpath, which meant they could get the bow line on to the bank. I asked "are you ok" to which I was told "We have a full mud box", now I know it as a weed hatch, but we are all different in what we call things on our boats. Behind us was Jim and Vi on their tug boat Galileo, who also managed to get past the boat as it was being pulled out of the way. Hopefully they managed to get themselves sorted out.

Sutton was very busy with customers sitting out in the sunshine.

When you have got to roll, then you have got to roll, this horse was having a lovely time.

It may have been me, but I am sure we were struggling more to get off the Ashby Canal than we had getting on to it. The bends were so shallow inside and outside of the bends and at times I felt like I could have got off and pushed. The sun was now very warm, which was rather nice and a great change. I made us some lunch on the run along with coffee and some squashes to quench the thirst.

We passed by Dadlington and Stoke Golding were moorings were to be had, but we were not stopping.

As Basin Bridge No22 I spotted a small motor boat heading at speed towards the bridge 'ole and it was clear they were not stopping, so Keith slammed Hadar into reverse to let them through. I did not that the children on board were not wearing life jackets. 

Not long after passing Trinity Marina, we were at Hinkley and there was not one boat on the 48 hour moorings, so the decision was taken to stop.

I do not need anything from Hinkley itself, but to get a mooring was welcome. Hinkley  was once known for its hosiery manufacturing. It is known for having installed the first stocking machine in Leicestershire in 1640. 

Having been moored up for a while. Paddy is out on the back counter and Marmite is in the back cabin. The doors are open and the sun is still shining down on us. There seems to be plenty of boats still on the move, so I think us mooring up was a good idea. Along the way today we saw our first Kingfisher on the Ashby and a Water Vole, which swarm behind the boat.