Glad that’s over!

This sub-tropical, Mediterranean-type weather is all very well, but it starts to pale after a bit. Now the temperature’s lower at least we can get  some sleep at night!
And it had dropped considerably. Yesterday it was a full 10° cooler than Wednesday, and today, with a brisk westerly blowing, we’re back into the high teens. We even had a short spatter of rain earlier this morning.

Heading under Wooden Top Bridge under grey skies

Good for the sun, maybe not so good for the wind and showers this weekend…

We stopped at Sutton Cheney Wharf for water and rubbish disposal. There was only one boat on the plastic pontoon, an elderly Springer.



The canal passes under a railway bridge that carried the Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway.
The track bed to the south (right) is inaccessible, but that to the north is a footpath to Shenton Station and the start of the preserved Battlefield Line.
The name of the railway derives from this being the area of the Battle of Bosworth, when the balance of power in England, and the crown, shifted from the Plantagenates to the Tudors with the defeat and death of King Richard III. I wrote a lengthy piece on the battle when we passed this way in 2011. If you’re interested click here…

We toddled on barely above tickover. The canal is very shallow in places and especially on the offside. Passing oncoming traffic often caused us to scrape the bottom, but going slowly meant we didn’t get stuck fast.

Near Shenton the canal crosses a road on an aqueduct, and a field down on the right used to be the site of Richard III’s memorial stone, it being thought to be the place where he met his end.
New evidence suggests that he more likely died a little to the south, and the stone has been removed to outside the Visitor Centre.  The moorings here and the footpath across the field have been officially closed, but it looks like the bankside, at least, is still usable.


Crossing the open areas of pasture the wind was quite brisk, rattling the foliage.

Looking west across to Warwickshire


I’d forgotten how pretty this essentially rural canal is.



We pulled in just past the entrance to the new Bosworth Marina.

We’ll be here at least for tomorrow. We need some fresh fruit and veg and the town of Market Bosworth is a mile away up the hill.

Locks 0, miles 5