Ashby Canal

It's 14 years since we had our last hire boat holiday here on the Ashby Canal. It hasn't changed much although there are more canal-side housing developments and a large new marina at Market Bosworth.

One section of the marina seems to be filling up but the pontoons behind and to the side of the building are empty. Maybe they're not finished yet.

It doesn't look like it's been open very long and there are lots of construction works still going on

We noticed Paul and Elaine's old boat Caxton tucked away amongst the moored boats. It seemed strange seeing the boat without them on it.

On Saturday we met Mark on the coal boat Calisto and while he was restocking us with coal and diesel he told us about this farm shop. He was raving about their chicken and ham pies so we moored up and took a look for ourselves. Wow what a shop! The butcher's counter rivaled some of the best and I bought a joint of brisket and some Barnsley chops. I also bought one of the pies as recommended by Mark and he was right.....yum yum!  We had the brisket for Sunday dinner and I'll definitely be stopping off again on the way back for more meat.

We'd moored outside Bosworth Marina to go into the village to stock up at the Co-op. It's almost a mile uphill to get there but thankfully it's all downhill with a full trolley coming back.

On the way, we passed this gorgeous tiny thatched cottage with it's Christmas themed garden