The Ashby Canal

On the morning of Wednesday 1st August we carried on up the Coventry Canal for a diversion up the Ashby Canal. We were going to meet Dale's sister Karen and her partner Les for a few days break. Our map told us that the Ashby was very rural and beautiful but we were a bit disappointed with the beginning of it. It was narrow, shallow and difficult to negotiate and we hadn't managed to escape the ubiquitous electricity pylons.

We arrived at Hinkley, which we had thought was going to be a small country village but in fact it is quite a large town. We stopped outside a large pub next to a marina and a Premier Inn hotel - it was a bit like a motorway service station! We had to see what the pub was like of course so had a couple of drinks in there - it was very busy and friendly. Next morning we walked a couple of miles through Hinkley to get to Tescos after asking several people for directions. We liked the Tescos there, the people from Hinkley are friendly and ready to have a good old chat about anything. We had a chat with the cashier who told us that Market Bosworth (where we were planning to meet Karen and Les) is a lovely town and quite posh. After Tescos we cruised on and stayed at a lovely place near Stoke Golding which was quiet and beautiful. We gave Molly a bath and read our books for most of the evening.

On Friday 3rd August we cut Molly's fur a bit, her legs needed doing, then I cut Dale's hair for him. We are getting the hang of this. Molly looked nice when we had finished (well she thought she did anyway!).

Then we put the generator on and did some hoovering. I cleaned the bedroom. Then we set off for Stoke Golding village. There is a marina next to the village. I did the washing up while Dale dusted (we had visitors coming - we had to clean up!) then we walked up the lane into the village. It has 2 pubs, an Indian restaurant, a post office, a store, a tiny hairdressers and a beautiful church. What a pretty and peaceful village! Later on we walked back up to the pub, the White Swan, in the High Street. As we walked in there were people on 3 separate tables and it was deathly quiet. The tables were arranged strangely around the edge of the room. The bar staff were really nice and we ended up having quite a few drinks and staying quite late. It was busy throughout the evening with people eating and had more of a restaurant atmosphere than a pub. We outstayed most of the people, then bought 2 fairycakes over the bar and walked home.