NUNEATON IN THE SUNSHINE

It has been a very busy few days, driving to London on Thursday with all the gear for Cavalcade then back to the boat on Friday, then another busy day on Saturday with our annual 'day trip' involving our own boat and two day hire boats on the Ashby Canal. This is an annual event and involves people of all ages ranging from 3 years old to 86 years old, a trip up the Ashby from Stoke Golding to Market Bosworth and return followed by a BBQ and sing song (okay then - karaoke!!) back at the local home of the organisers. A long day cruising today, seven and a half hours, (long by our normal four hours a day cruising) as I had to get back close to home as it is off to London in the van again tomorrow to pick up all the gear I took down on Thursday!

And back to Nuneaton, the sun shone as we passed through today but, unfortunately, Nuneaton looks no better in the sunshine than it does in the rain.  Why is it that some towns make a showpiece of their canal frontage whilst others totally ignore the canal?



A BIT BETTER WEATHER TODAY.....

At least it was dry although the temperature was nowhere as high as it should be...  Short trip today, Hinckley to Sutton Cheney, a journey of all of six miles!   We will be here for a couple of days as I picked up a hire van this afternoon, drove over to Barton Turns where Jenny and I loaded the van with all the gear needed to stage Canalway Cavalcade at Little Venice.

An early start for me tomorrow, get up, coffee and drive the van to London, back on Friday so no blog tomorrow.

WHY DOES IT ALWAYS RAIN IN NUNEATON??

Hartshill.... a nice mooring, so long as the wind is blowing in the right direction.... if not, the smell from the dog food processing factory can be a bit overpowering.  Winter moorings available from 1st November to 31at March (2011/2012) although the only facility nearby is water...... however, the bus service is good...  Stagecoach service Number 48 has a 20 minute service to either Atherstone or Nuneaton up till around 5 o'clock.  If you  choose the Nuneaton option it is only 2 minutes walk to ASDA.  The fare is only £3.50 return if you are lucky enough to be under the bus pass age.

Nuneaton itself remains much the same, if there was an award for the most depressing, rubbish strewn stretch of canal in the country, Nuneaton remains my number one!  Leamington Spa was not much better, but, in all fairness, I have not been to Leamington for a while, it may have improved, however, Nuneaton has not improved and in the rain today it was even worse.

What always amazes me though is, that, as soon as you turn off of the Coventry on to the Ashby at Marston Junction, you are immediately transported into a rural landscape that is little troubled by built up areas.

We will be up here for a few days before we return to reality.