The end of the Ashby

The end of the canal

Today's journey took us to the current end of the canal at the village of Snarestone. The really nice weather is over, it's now cloudy with a chill wind. We set off at 10 and reached our destination in time for lunch - just a gentle 4 miles. At the end we filled up again with water, turned the boat round and moored up for the day. No point in hurrying, we have plenty of time. It's a good place to stop - despite being some distance from anywhere particular I am getting a 5 bar 3G internet connection, the fastest on our whole journey so far.

Formerly the canal continued for a further 8 miles into the coalfields on the Derbyshire/Leicestershire boundary. However subsidence from the coal workings led to this section of the canal being abandoned in the 1970's. Thanks to an active Canal Society and the desire of the local councils to increase tourism into the area there are detailed plans to reinstate the canal as and when funding becomes available.

Two sections have been restored, an isolated 1.5 mile section near National Forest visitor attractions at Moira and a very short stretch at Snarestone. The photo shows the end of the Snarestone section which was only completed last year.

The Battlefield Line at Shackerstone

An extra from yesterday. We walked to the Battlefield Line station at Shackerstone which runs steam trains to the Bosworth battlefield site some 5 miles south. They were having a GWR steam festival , so we took the opportunity for some more photos.