Monday 23rd February 2009





Upsticks this morning - we shall moor at Stoke Golding today where the best fed ducks on the canal system live!




We intended to have a meal at the Dog and Hedgehog in Dadlington and set out in eager anticipation of a good meal, but to our disappointment it was closed - apparently just a week or so ago due to the credit crunch - I do hope it manages to open again. It was a very friendly place which accepted up to 2 dogs per sitting in the dining room and served good food in a lovely setting, both inside and out where you can sit and watch the boats on the canal. Instead we walked into Stoke Golding and had a meal at the White Swan - I have to say this is a rather dismal pub inside but the food was good - all home cooked, plentiful and under a fiver!

Saturday 21st February 2009
Is this really Spring??

George has been feeling guilty about allowing the brasses to tarnesh, so today is the big clean up - mushrooms, tiller, pin, etc., and then lacquered - yes, it may be cheating but who cares .. life is too short for polishing mushrooms .. and they do look great!











.... and another wonderful sunset ..... our cup runneth over!

20th February 2009
Another lovely warm sunny day!
Turned onto the Asby Canal. It's good to be back, we love this canal. We were last here in mid May last year soon after setting out on our new life on the canals. Moored tonight between bridges 7 and 8 and had BBQ number 2.

19th February 2009

Is this spring? Can't believe how warm it is - catkins and pussy willow just showing.

Continued back up the Coventry to Harsthill Yard for water and met Percy - he lives here with his wife in the house built over the bridge and plays blues and jaz on both the guitar and banjo - and is very very good.

The house was built in 1790 when the canal was created and was the toll house for boat cargoes - this was measured by the Archimedes Principle - the displacement of water being used to guage the weight of the cargo. Once weighed the boat passed under the bridge (under the house) and joined the canal proper.

We winded once more and continued on our journey - we moored up about half a mile before the Ashby canal junction and had our first BBQ of 2009

18th February 2009

Moored last night near bridge 32 (still on the Coventry) and today cruised to Starline Boats for fuel, gas etc. We winded and moored at The Anchor pub near bridge 27 as we've arranged for a Tesco delivery here in the morning.

Did part of the Quarryman's Walk in the afternoon - about 4 miles and in the evening went to the Anchor for a meal - great pub - friendly people and lovely food (the steak and Guiness pie was to die for).

17th February 2009

(published on 21st March as I'm having problems with very slow connection to the internet here on the Ashby, so please bear with me - I'm trying to catch up as and whenever the connection is strong enough to enable the pictures to load. I wish this could be done off-line and then uploaded as and when - if anyone has any tips I'd be pleased to hear them)

This is us coming up to bridge 13.

Monday 16th February 2009

Met up with our son and family and had another nice meal at the Red Lion - altogether a good celebration - here's to the next 40!!

Sunday 15th February 2009 - Our Ruby Wedding Anniversary


Well..... 40 years married, where did all those years go?


Alison and Ashley called and brought us a bottle of red wine to celebrate our day, we had a good chat and Alison said that Rock 'n' Roll's layout was exactly what she had envisaged for their build, we exchanged details and hope to see them again in the future.


We again went to the Red Lion in Atherston for our anniversary and had a very nice evening - Iwas a little aprehensive about leaving Molly on board as we could hear her crying as we walked away - she knows how to tug the heart strings - she was very pleased to see us return.

Saturday 14th February 2009


Atherston - Met a Nuneaton couple (Alison and Ashley) who want to become continuous cruisers when he is made redundant in April this year, they were asking the usual questions - what do you do about doctors, dentists, post etc and we had an interesting chat about boat builders and fitters and sailaways etc. I suggested that if they were still around later or on Sunday we had a couple of canal magazines they could have to enable them to see what boatbuilders and fitters are out there. They said they would call on Sunday morning.

Friday 13th February 2009

I had picked up some local information sheets from the BW office at Fazeley, amongst which was a tour of historic Atherstone. The Town Trail started and ended at the Market Square and..........

.............. at about lunch time took us into/past the Old Swan, built in the 16th century and was previously a regular meeting place of the Atherstone Hunt.

An interesting history for what initally appears to be an unremarkable place


We had a call later from our daughter saying that they were currently in Cheltenham and asked us to book a table for 7 at a local hostelry and would see us there at about 7.30 - fabulous! We booked the Red Lion and enjoyed a pre Ruby Wedding dinner - it was so good to see them all. They returned to Cheltenham later that evening and returned home to Scotland on Saturday, Louise's 14th birthday.

Thursday 12th February 2009

The canal froze overnight and we broke the ice all the way from Polesworth to Grendon Dock and from there to Lock 7 of the Atherstone Locks we cruised through snow, hail and then rain!

Proceeding through lock lock 4 towards bridge 42 - nearly there!Finally moored above top lock.

Wednesday 11th February 2009



Stayed at Fazely again last night and upsticks this morning to move on.



This is Pooley Hall on the way to Polesworth