At the turn off the Coventry Canal the two narrow boats, without mishap, entered the Ashby Canal. There’s nothing up there, a boater had offered at Hawkesbury, I’ve just done it in three days! However, as soon as they moored at Burton Hastings, a couple gave them details, from the net, about Farm Shops near the canal and of the Morrisons near Hinckley. Well, that was a good start! There’s nothing like a tasty treat.
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St. Botolph's Church, Burton Hastings.
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At Bridge 6, a precarious exit from the towpath tipped them straight on to the B4114 which led to Gorse Farm, local honey and free range eggs. The walk into the little gathering of houses called Burton Hastings was very pleasant and, if an hour for summer time was subtracted, the church sun dial told the time very accurately.
The tomato plant on one of the boats had been so washed out with 2007’s rain that it was dumped. However, from the towpath hedge very fine elderberries could be gathered to make syrup and the excess fruit was bottled.
It was fun to greet friends on boats heading for the Shackerstone Family Festival even narrow boat PRESIDENT, a steamer, went by. Because their plan was to get to the festival by train, the footpath to Shenton Station was explored as soon as the two boats were established at Shenton Aqueduct. Four hyacinth bulbs were bought from a festival stall and planted in earth gleaned from a mole hill at Shackerstone. They flowered a beautiful blue, became cut flowers and are still around as dried flower heads in a little bowl.
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For tea at the Country Tea Rooms they serve the tallest scones on earth with jam and cream, they are so tall they have to be cut in slices! These Tea Rooms are by Whitemoors Antiques and Crafts Centre in Shenton. They are well worth the walk into the village, past the church then a left at the letter-box will find them. On the way back from the scones you could pop into Aqueduct Farm and buy apple crumble ice-cream.
When first approached on foot from the aqueduct, Market Bosworth was dripping with flowers in anticipation of the In Bloom contest and during Heritage Week, blacksmith skills were demonstrated at the forge. The Peppercorn Deli also in Market Bosworth sold the most delicious Italian nougat and Apple Smoked cheese. These and other tasty treats can become a part of your Ashby experience and for lunch, there might be enough apples and blackberries growing by Shenton Aqueduct to pick and cook for lunch. |
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Left: Stained glass window in St. Botolph's Church. |
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Right: Swallow sign in Shenton Church. |
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Left: Water colour cow, Market Bosworth. |
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At some point while still moored at Shenton a strange smell came from the gas fridge and lots of leaves fell off the Christmas cactus plant! It would be useful to know if these two observations were connected because the fridge turned itself off and on rotating the whole thing, a plug of soot dropped out of the fridge flue!
Moored further along the Ashby, the evening sunshine was shared with about thirty black and white cows as they chewed the cud or drank water from the canal. Though they nudged one another none lost their footing and their gentle gazes reached across the water. They wended their way home over the canal bridge and just the tops of their heads appeared above the parapet. When, a few days later one of the boats went astern to get off the mud to leave, these same cows lined up along the edge of their field to say goodbye and, out aloud, the boat’s steerer said goodbye to them. |
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Left: Tony in chainmail and helmet at Bosworth. |
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As autumn tiptoed in, smoke wound from narrow boat chimneys at Shackerstone and a tractor pulled a harrow, followed by a swirl of seabirds, across the field that, earlier had staged the Family Festival’s model airplane display. The stubble along the edge of the same field scuffed her shoes as they walked home after cake and tea in the Victorian Waiting Room on Shackerstone Station. The boater had enjoyed a short ride on a diesel engine with her nephew and they had each got to pull the whistle! They noticed a large circular zipped bag under the footbridge at the station and were told it held Thomas the Tank Engine’s face. To visit boaters moored in fields, car drivers using Sat Nav cannot know the explorations involved in finding a post code. Luckily, in Barton in the Beans there was a villager at home who knew her code. Once, they had extracted post from a workshop letterbox to establish the post code. Another time a misprinted code was used and that sent friends off to heaven knows where. Even they didn’t know where they’d been. Luckily they found someone who could visualise the route needed, so precisely, she drew a map that included every roundabout!
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Shackerstone Station on the Battlefield Line.
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'Sir Gowan' taking water at Shackerstone. |
At their Shackerstone stop the sound of steam and whistles often reached them from the station and in the silences they heard and saw water voles. The hum of bees busy amongst ivy flowers filled the air Beyond Bridge 56 and butterflies added to the activity. By now most trees held the colours of autumn and owls called out at night. But it was the reduction in the number of boats out and about that really marked autumn.
In Snarestone, after walking for coffee at The Globe they explored the canal terminus and a couple offered them a ride back on their boat. It was that evening the first drink of hot honey and ginger, was made. |
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Left: Thomas The Tank Engine visits Shackerstone. |
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They walked along lanes on leaves as crisp as corn flakes to get to Newton Burgoland where they cleaned their boots with an old tooth brush before going in for lunch at the Belper Arms and then went on to shop in the Village Stores. Autumn leaves and stillness become a glory in the rain don’t they and a crescent moon with a sunset darted by crows became another vivid memory. They once bought marmalade still warm from its cooking that the jars acted as delightful hand warmers. |
Right: Spindle Berries by half-way point on the Ashby canal.
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The same water had been in her stone hot water bottle for the last four years and is heated by putting the bottle with its contents on a stand above a glowing solid fuel stove. They checked on foot that there were spaces to moor before moving the boats through Snarestone Tunnel and on to the terminus of the Ashby Canal. The fund raising shop was open and they left money for the bits bought and felt happy that trust was alive and well at the Terminus. From the galley window at this mooring there was a delightful view of the brickworks on the edge of Measham. The beautiful Ashby journey just completed had been along a canal built to carry coal but so far they had seen no sign of these origins. How dismaying that it was that the subsidence of the countryside into disused mines that had caused the breaching and closure of lengths of the Ashby Canal. |
An enthusiastic group of twenty joined together to clear growth from a length of canal bed beyond the terminus. Brambles, briars, hawthorn, sloe and grass fell under secateurs, shears and saws. An ash tree became logs in next to no time and some of these logs still live on deck heads. As ash burns green it did not have to wait to dry to be used on the stove. At lunch, a pergola was up to shelter the enthusiasts from the only rain of the work day.
They were all powered through this day by Janet serving drinks and biscuits, a variety of Cuppa Soups, her own tasty beef burgers with onions and sauces, jam roll or chocolate Swiss roll for pudding and more drink and biscuits mid afternoon. The day ended with a clear view of a glorious sunset and a bonfire had been built ready to celebrate the 5th of November. It was fun to be part of such a happy, successful work group and it is recommended. Janet's mum and dad had blue and white storage jars in their kitchen. They had been wedding gifts. A small jar had CHERRIES written on it and three others were for FLOUR, SUGAR and CURRANTS. |
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Left: Shadows on the canal bed. |
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It was at breakfast time at The Coral Café in Measham that she heard that the blue and white Cornish Ware pottery was not far away, in Swadlincote. She was excited to think she might buy some of this pottery from the seconds shop albeit 71 years after her parents’ wedding day. Sadly, when a friend drove her there, they found the pottery had been closed for six months!
Still in pottery mode she learnt that Measham Ware was to be discontinued too so bought two of the next to last tea pots on display at Timms in Measham. She had not known that this pottery was also called Motto Ware. A large Motto Ware tea pot was for sale in Whitemoor Antiques for £375 but a damaged one from a stand at the Shackerstone Family Festival was sold for only £50!! How special all this makes the Ashby Canal’s Measham tea pot emblem. To be continued..... |
