It's all new territory

First we had to take the hire car back before setting off this morning.

We made our way to the end of the Ashby canal, but not before passing Pete on n.b. pickles-no2. It was a quick hello as we tried to avoid each other and we then got to Marston Junction....but for the first time we turned right and headed north on the Coventry canal.

Up to this point we had already travelled the canals we have been on, and we were very familiar with where we were, but now we are in unfamiliar territory and it's really exciting.

You just get a buzz about what is round the next corner, and check out all the good moorings for next time. You just want to explore every village and town you go through and walk every footpath you see to find out where it goes. We spotted our first cygnets just before we got to the next town.

As we got towards Nuneaton there was a bit of graffiti on the walls of bridges, and there was the odd sofa in the canal, but you didn't get the feeling of threat. The moorings were aright at bridge 19A and we would have left Derwent6 to explore the town...however we didn't and moved on through the old coal quarry's which have now blended into the landscape where the grass has grown over them. This northern section of the Coventry canal is very pretty and has some stunning views, it also has some nice wooded sections as well.

The sun had been out all day and we decided to moor at a place called Hartshill. Hartshill has got a old BW builders yard which contains a 19th century carpenters workshop and a blacksmiths forge. Once moored, we lifted up the cratch covers and grabbed a beer just as the clouds came over and yes, you guessed it.....it rained.

Good job we didn't do the brasses today... It was only a sharp shower, so we drunk up and thought we would have a walk into the village. We walked from bridge 33 and it came out in somebody's garden, but it was a easy walk. It has two pubs, a lovely church, a post office, shop and a castle, yes! a castle, all be it nearly down to it's foundations, and you can't go and look round it as the grounds have been closed to the public.

What we couldn't understand was that we felt uncomfortable leaving Derwent6 at Hartshill and we didn't feel this at Nuneaton. There were a lot of people hanging around the canal as there wasn't much else to do and also they all had some form of alcohol in their hand, so we made our way back.

Al cooked some lovely thick pork chops purchased from the butchers in Market Bosworth, and we sat in the cratch with a candle......they were delicious.

In the evening we just done a bit of reading and we may just have a early night.... zzzzzzzzzz