Another day that started with blue skies and puffy white clouds and ended with me getting wet. I was also looking forward to venturing onto my the first new waterway for Heron in quite a few years. We have chugged past the end of the Ashby at Marston Junction many times, but never sampled it’s 22 mile lock-free length. That was going to change today. But first we had to get off the Oxford Canal and onto the Coventry. Having taken pictures of Hawkesbury Junction yesterday, now it was time to pass through by boat. But first, I took advantage of a free water point just before the stop

lock to top up the water tank. There were no other boats around when I started, but by the time I finished, what another boater termed the “10 o’clock rush hour” had really started. Being a helpful boater, I quickly shuffled over to the other side of the canal to let a pair of boats onto the water point, and then went into the lock. I was rushing, so I left my hose-pipe adapter on the tap. Thanks to the boater on Harlequin for getting it back to me as I entered the lock.

I was swiftly through the stop-lock with the help of another single-handed boater, and then it was time to negotiate the 180 degree turn through the junction onto the north-bound Coventry Canal. Thankfully, the 10 o’clock rush hour was now over, so the way was clear. This was a good opportunity to get a much better picture of the Engine House. It’s an impressive remnant of the operational history of the Coventry Canal, but it really is a shame that there is no steam engine and pump inside. It was a real highlight of our time on the K&A to experience the steam pumping engines at Crofton. They were even able to take over from the modern electric pumps when they failed one year.

There were around 3 miles of Coventry Canal to negotiate in bright sunshine before getting to the excitement of the Ashby. I was now following another boat, but I was keeping my distance. I really cannot explain what was going on. The boat kept zig-zagging from one side of the canal. It was almost as if the steer was inexperienced and was over-correcting. But when he needed to pass boats coming the other way, he was fine. Perhaps he was having a problem with his rudder? I lost sight of him at Charity Dock. This stretch of moorings and a dry dock is based on a fairly sharp bend. As he disappeared round the bend, I was distracted by the eclectic garden decorations on the bank next to one of the moored boats. Shop dummies, posed sitting or dressed up as a ships captain are just the ones that I remember. Some say he has interesting tastes and that he lives on a narrowboat, all we know is he’s called the Stig!

Time for a prog-rock reference. Whilst passing the back garden of a house on the part of the Coventry, I was sure someone was watching me. Then I noticed who it was. Wot Gorilla? Points for the first commenter to tell me the band. (Is that a shameless attempt to get more comments?)

Shortly after this encounter with a large garden gorilla, we arrived at Marston Junction. If there is traffic around, making this sort of sharp turn can be a challenge. You often have an audience of walkers to view you bump other boats or the side of the canal entrance. Magically, Heron was the only boat around and there was no audience to see me execute an absolutely perfect turn. At least the sign confirmed that I was going the right way.

First impressions of the Ashby Canal? The Nicholson guide recommends only mooring where they have marked official moorings, suggesting that it is shallow and hard to moor anywhere else.

Perhaps things have improved since 2014 when the last revision was published, but I found it no better or worse than many other canals. Yes, there are obvious stretches where I would not try mooring, but there are significant stretches of easily accessible pilings, that are not marked on the guides. If you want shallow you should try the summit pound of the South Oxford in a busy dry summer. There are no locks and there frequent attractive accommodation bridges. Definitely rural and quiet, apart from being buzzed by a landing helicopter. If there is one canal that the Ashby reminds me of, that is the section of the Macclesfield from below Bosley locks to Scholar Green.

One of the things that canal doesn’t have is close proximity to major industry. Only for a brief time, in Hinckley, the canal passes some well known names. Passing this one immediately had me humming “This Strange Engine“, and wondering if “There was a magical purple in the chrome of the exhaust of his Triumph motor bike” (yes – another tenuous link to a Marillion song).

North of Hinckley, the ominous dark cloud that had been following me for the previous 30 minutes, finally caught up. I spent the next 30 minutes trying teach the roof-dog the benefits of an umbrella. I’m not sure she was convinced. The rain stopped just in time for me to moor up in splendid isolation, but close enough to the farm shop that has been advertising itself since just after Marston Junction. Hope their bread is as good as their posters promise, because I need some.