I had a party in Kent to attend so once again put the boat into a marina this time at Alvecote. Upon my return, I continued journeying along the Coventry canal, now heading west, stopping a few hundred yards short of Fazeley Junction, having gone through the two locks at Glascote.
After staying in Atherstone due to a week of non-stop rain, I finally had a nice day when I felt like moving on, and took the opportunity to descend the eleven-lock flight.
With my time on the Ashby canal come to an end, I took my narrowboat back onto the Coventry canal and headed north, through Nuneaton and it’s well-tended back gardens and allotments, and up towards Atherstone where I’d spend a few days while the heavens opened.
Having reached the end of the Ashby canal there is no choice but to turn around and rewind, going back the way you came. Having already documented the journey up in several videos, I compacted much of the return trip into this one, ending up back at Trinity Marina where I stopped again while I went to the Crick Show.
At the time of filming this it was just over a week since the Crick Show where I had bought three new 100 Ah lead carbon batteries for my narrowboat. Having also bought some new wiring and dongle things to plug into my Victron inverter/charger, it was now time to pull out the old batteries and put the new ones in place.
This is a BONUS video, not a vlog. Panic not, the normal vlogs will follow. If you don’t like these uncommentaried, real-time, slow TV videos then just skip this one eh? It’s the bow camera recording in full of the journey seen in vlog form in vlog 177, from Market Bosworth to Snarestone at the end of the Ashby canal.
The weather was sunny, the mood was chilled, the final three-hour stretch from Market Bosworth to the navigable end of the Ashby canal at Snarestone was, without doubt, the most beautiful cruising I’ve ever done. It did indeed take me to the edge of heaven.
I haven’t been to the Crick Show for a couple of years because it’s much the same each time but this year I wanted to book some boat tours and also buy some bits for my current boat – so I moored the boat again and headed off to Northamptonshire in the camper van.
After the first May Bank Holiday weekend away from the boat, I left the marina at Hinckley and continued my journey up the Ashby canal, dodging rain showers as I went, to arrive at Market Bosworth.
A quick bonus vlog! Having popped back to my childhood home of Droitwich for my sister’s birthday and a family meal, I was also able to pop down to the canal as that weekend saw the annual St Richard’s Festival being held in which narrowboats converge on Vines Park and sell all kinds of wares from their boats on the towpath, with other sellers in marquees in the park.