Blowy trip to Bosworth

We moved a bit further up towards the terminus at Snarestone today. Not too far, we seem to have reverted back to winter today.

It started well enough, bright and sunny, but cloud and showers were soon driven in by a cold west wind. Not good cruising weather, in fact we’ve only seen one other boat on the move today.

We were ready to go when Mags spotted this chap having lunch.

European Water Vole Arvicola amphibius

Too cute to disturb, eh.

He seemed particularly fond of new nettle leaves, with a side order of fresh grass.

Since February 2008 they have had protected species status in the UK. They were in rapid decline, since a 1960 estimate probably 90% of the UK population had been lost. This was attributed to predation by the American Mink in areas where they’ve escaped (or been released by well-meaning activists), and loss of habitat. A program of conservation seems to be making inroads into the decline.

Once on the move it was clear that today’s cruise was going to be short. The west wind was cold, and difficult to manage on exposed sections of the canal.

Bullrushes gone to seed

This new mum was stoically ignoring the antics of her offspring. (Yes the lamb IS on her back!)

Typical canal near Bridge 37

We pulled over just past Bosworth Wharf Bridge, on the 48 hour moorings, after just 3¾ miles.

This canal is delightfully rural, but one drawback is that it avoids all the villages, and those that are around are small communities. This makes provisioning difficult, so I took advantage of Market Bosworth being only about a mile away and had a walk up to the Co-op there this afternoon. I think we’ll arrange a Tesco delivery somewhere as we head back towards Marston Junction. There are a couple of likely spots….

Locks 0, miles 3¾