Market Bosworth

If you exclude the farmer using his header, it was a very quiet night!  We left the mooring at 10am and reached Market Bosworth by 11am.  Along the way we passed the sign to the farm shop at Shenton Aqueduct.  Jan didn’t have any cash (I’ve almost always got no cash……Cos I spend it ) so we will stop and shop on the way back.

The water point at Market Bosworth has been moved so if you use a Nicolson’s or Pearson’s Guide then it’s probably out of date.  We topped up the tank (good pressure) at the new water point before Bridge 42 and then reversed back to find a temporary mooring.  It was then a case of walking into the village to raid the hole in the wall. The route took us over the Battlefield Railway.

It only took a brief glance on either side of the bridge to realise this is a historic railway run by enthusiasts.  We later passed a sign stating it operated on weekends and public holidays between Easter and October.

On the way into the village Jan noticed a garden she loved.  She told me it was a wildflower English garden.  I thought it was an overgrown garden!

The adjacent house had it’s own fuel bowser.

You’re starting to show your age when you remember using one of these.  I must be ancient!

Jan managed to menace some readies from the hole in the wall so we decided to have lunch at the the pub.  Two meals for £12.  Big mistake.  The food was fresh and hot but the servings were tiny!

Market Bosworth village square

We wandered back to Waiouru and a boat passed by just as we were unlocking the cabin.  The steerer of nb Centurion mentioned he reads our blog.  In the mad scramble to find a camera I forgot to ask his name.  Thank you blog reader!

We decided to look for another quiet rural mooring and headed north.  The bottom of the canal started to get very close to the top on the northern side of Market Bosworth and then we reached an area designated as a SSSI (special site of significant interest).  The flora and fauna in this area are of special interest.  I was actually more interested to discover the water was much deeper.  There’s an idea somewhere amongst that!

At one point the canal passed through a rather attractive area with woodland on either side.

And then in the distance I could see movement under a bridge.  As we got closer I could see a temporary sign on the towpath.

A Waterways Recovery Group (WRG) were enthusiastically removing old mortar from the tiers of bricks under the bridge arch.

I love manual labour and can watch it all day!

We found another peaceful and solo mooring around 4pm. 

Oh,  that old arm at Hinckley.  Geoff (nb Seyella).  Left a link to some further information <here>.

Geoff….. your comment again went to spam!

August 1485

An interesting speed sign on the approach to Sutton Wharf.

Neither of us are quite sure how you judge that speed. Most probably for the local first time hirers.

There were no vacant spots on the 24 & 48 hour moorings at Sutton Wharf but that didn’t particularly bother us as we were looking for a quiet rural location.  We topped up the water tank and disposed of our rubbish before moving on to find a pleasant mooring below Ambion Wood.

We are now very close to the site of the Battle of Bosworth Field fought in 1485.  It was the final major battle of the 100 Year Wars (War of the Roses).  King Richard III had marshalled his army in the general vicinity of Ambion Hill (to the right in the above photo).  Henry Tudor, Earl of Lancaster had landed in western Wales with a small force of mostly Scottish and French soldiers.  He had been joined by the Welsh and then slowly made his way west collecting more forces to his banner. King Richard had come north from London with a larger army intending to defeat the last Tudor contender for the throne. 

Henry Tudor’s claim was rather tenuous, he was ninth in the line of succession but his direct lineage was through his great-great grandmother who had been the mistress of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.  She gave birth to four children before the Duke married her and whilst he recognised the children as his own it was on the condition they were ineligible for the throne.

Richard Plantagenet’s claim to the throne was almost as tenuous.  His brother Edward had been king and when he died Richard became Regent to Edward’s children.  Richard promptly proclaimed Edward’s marriage had been invalid and his sons were therefore bastards and not eligible for the throne.  He had them locked up in the Tower of London from whence they subsequently disappeared.  By then Richard had declared himself king.

Kings didn’t have a large army; instead they relied on their nobles to maintain smaller forces which could be called up by the king in time of need.  This made many of the nobles powerful and the king had to be careful not to alienate them.  There was a third force in the vicinity.  Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby controlled vast areas of the NW of England.  He was related to the Plantagenet’s by marriage and been supporter of the House of York.  However his second wife was Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry Tudor.  This made Stanley Henry’s step-father.

These three forces eventually met in the area to the SW of the town of Market Bosworth.

Richard’s forces were located on and around Ambion Hill whilst the Stanley forces were to the south of Ambion Hill around Dadlington.  Henry’s army approached from the west.

This next map shows the various locations.  Richard’s army at Ambion Hill (top right arrow).  Our mooring (blue arrow).  Presumed location of the battle (middle red arrow).  Location of the Stanley forces (bottom right arrow).  Recently discovered location of the actual battlefield (bottom left arrow)

Richard was an experienced military commander whilst Henry had almost no military experience.  Henry had appointed the very experienced Earl of Oxford to command his forces.  Richard held the high ground and a good defensive position.  However he had divided his army into three components (vanguard, main guard and rear guard) which is a manoeuvre strategy.  This suggests Richard didn’t intend to fight a defensive battle.  Richards vanguard was commanded by the Duke of Norfolk and he promptly attacked Henry’s forces.  This didn’t go well for Norfolk and some of his troops fled the field.  Richard signalled the Duke of Northumberland to go to Norfolk’s aid however Northumberland either didn’t receive the message or ignored it.

Richard then decided to attack with his own force and defeat Henry.  The Stanley force to the east had been sitting on the fence waiting to see which way the battle would turn.  When they saw Richard ride forward with his own small group of knights they attacked and surrounded Richard’s force.  Richard was killed during the fight, his body stripped bare and thrown over a horse to be taken to Leicester as proof he had been killed.  He was then anonymously buried in a public car park (well you know the story).

The Stanley’s crowned Henry under a tree in nearby Stoke Golding.  Apparently the tree still stands!

Bottom right arrow points to the location of Henry’s crowning.

Many of the dead were buried at the small church in Dadlington.

Richard III’s Well.  Legend has it this spring on the side of Ambion Hill is where Richard had his last drink before the battle.  The stone Cain was erected in 1813 which is quite some time after the battle so I have strong reservations!

The visitor centre is located on Ambion Hill however views of the battle field from the site aren’t very good because much of the area is now wooded and the correct location of the battlefield is some 2km away.

Visitor Centre – English Heritage

I was walking yesterday evening and by chance happened to take a photo of the distant battlefield.

The location is in the general vicinity of the buildings in the above photo.

Had to chuckle!

Jan watched a boat coming towards our mooring It had.quite a bow wave and the wake was washing the banks.  There was no attempt to slow down as it passed by, but the most amusing thing about the incident were the two large signs on the boat either side of the front door “Tick Over Please”.

We topped up with water and then moved a short distance mooring for lunch just beyond Nutt’s Bridge in Hinckley.  Along the way we passed a small lake adjacent to the canal.  I’ve been unable to find out much about the lake except it has the Sea Cadet Unit TS Amazon on the NW corner.   I wonder if it was formed by mine subsidence or perhaps a former quarry?

Just beyond it was an old canal arm being used for moorings.  Regrettably I couldn’t find any history about the arm.

Hinckley was famous for making stockings which was done on hand operated looms until the middle of the 19th Century when steam powered looms were used.  Perhaps the arm is the remains of a wharf where coal would have been unloaded to power the steam engines?

I walked to Aldi for a few items before we had lunch.  Then we decided to move and find a quiet rural mooring.  It was on the northern outskirts of Hinckley that we noticed the large Triumph factory.

Triumph have been manufacturing motorbikes since 1902, although the original company went into receivership in 1984.  The new owner built a new factory in Hinckley and the company has grown substantially since then.  There are now three factories, one in Hinckley and two in Thailand.

Further along we went past a boat with a name that reminded me of my own condition.

Actually it’s not all bad news.  In the last decade I have grown at least four inches.  I hadn’t realised this until I noticed I’ve been growing up through my hair.  Some of it is now growing out my ears, nose and eyebrows.  If I continue to grow I’ll acquire a new fur coat but will have to buy a hat!

Another Beacon Boat spotted.  So many of them have very similar colour schemes.

At one point Beacon was 1st on our list of potential builders.  We were very impressed with the quality.  However they had a six year waiting list and we wanted to move faster than that.

We were near the Ashby Boat Company when we noticed a large solar farm to the east.  I did wonder if the output was being fed into the national grid or being used locally?

A window cleaners dream contract!

We eventually moored near Dadlington with the intention of walking to the site of the Battle of Bosworth tomorrow.

A quiet day

A change of plan meant we didn’t move today.  I’ve walked to both Sainsbury’s and Aldi to top up the essentials.  It was a longer walk to Sainsbury’s but Aldi involved a higher risk as the route was along the busy A5 and in places there was no footpath.

Our current mooring is down where the ‘P’ is in the bottom middle of the map.

Some of the locals came to visit and Jan wants to know the name of the black one with teal coloured feathers.

I’ve already told her it’s a duck…. and probably edible!  However she wants more information  My guess is mother was sleeping around!

Jan here….. I know the name of the black one…… it’s Bruce!

After lunch I got out the sandpaper and started preparing the water tank hatch cover and side hatches for painting.  They have already had a first sand and undercoat where required.  Whilst we were in Rugby I bought some Frogtape masking tape from Wickes.  I think I’ve erred in my judgement as it doesn’t seem to be very adhesive.  The “no name” blue tape from Halfords is doing a better job.

Once the side hatches were masked up they were given a coat of graphite grey topcoat. 

You can see some of the green coloured Frogtape below the hatch.

Then the water tank hatch received a topcoat.

I need to paint the rivet heads light grey but that will be done at the same time as I paint the deck around the hatch.

Oh, the other small job Is to repair one of the magnets that holds the sliding rear hatch cover open. 

Mines, buzzing and a reader

A very short cruise today with us stopping on the 48 hour moorings at Limekiln Bridge on the southern outskirts of Hinkley.  I walked most of this towpath yesterday evening and it was during this period I noticed the bridges had been built for a broad canal.

As we passed a line of moored boats during today’s cruise Jan noticed the mine in the water between a couple of them. 

Fortunately we didn’t hit it!

We hadn’t been moored very long when we were buzzed by a yellow gyrocopter.  Not sure if the pilot was interested in us or the adjacent Limekiln pub?

Jan happened to notice a passing boat which she recognized.  In her excitement she failed to take a photo so there was a mad rush to grab the camera and dash to the stern for a distant photo.

Probably heading for a wash and polish appointment with Paul!

After lunch I walked into the Hinkley Sainsbury’s superstore for a few essentials before returning to the boat late in the afternoon where I decided to give the boat poles their final coat of paint.  Jan subsequently informed me I’d done it too late in the day; the paint wouldn’t dry; and the evening insects would stick to the wet paint.  I hate it when she is right!  But then she might not be right….

I had just finished cleaning up and was resting my back when there was a knock on the boat.  It was blog reader Caroline <?> (poor hearing and old age means I might have got that wrong as well).  She and Martin <?> (told you I was bad with names) were moored on the other side of the bridge in their new narrowboat (nb Sonia Louise) .  We had a very pleasant conversation which I continued later in the early evening when I went to record the exact location of the moorings on the gps. 

There’s something particularly nice about a new boat looking clean and fresh

An interesting square stern which apparently provides more room.  Sonia Louise was built by Bluewater Boats.

A very sociable looking stern layout.

It will probably be another short hop tomorrow and some further painting. 

Moira Cut

The Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal (full name) is one that we have passed on many occasions but never bothered to explore. That changed today!  One thing you quickly notice when living on the cut is the way the majority of boats start moving around 9am.  Of course you do have the early birds, often hire boats, but if you wait until 10am the rush is usually over.  This morning we watched the 9am boaters jockeying for the water point and access to the stop lock.

1st boat on the water point mooring and then three more arrived for the lock

At 10am we crossed over to the water point and also disposed of the last of our rubbish.  Water pressure here isn’t great and it took 40 minutes to fill the tank before Jan worked us through the lock.  The Coventry Canal was busy but we left all of that behind when we reached Marston Junction and made the tight turn onto the Ashby Canal.

The reason for the canal was to access extensive deposits of coal and limestone from the area around Ashby Wolds.  Initially the plan was for a wide canal to run north joining the Trent and Mersey Canal near Swarkestone.  However the nature of the terrain meant this would have required numerous locks and at least one long tunnel.  A southern route was identified using the contour technique.  The route was longer (approx 30 miles) but cheaper to construct.  Initial construction was for a wide canal and this can be seen in the wide bridge spans at the southern end of the canal.  This was subsequently abandoned with the stop lock at Marston Junction being converted to a narrow lock around 1819. 

The two red dots on the map below show the approximate end of the original canal and the proposed junction at Swarkestone on the Trent and Mersey Canal.  The arrows point to the ends of the existing canal.

The old boaters affectionately knew the canals as “Moira Cut” after the mines at Moira.  It is very rural and has a number of similarities with the Chesterfield Canal, although deeper and no weed (at least at the southern end).

We slowly cruised towards Hinkley eventually stopping on a quiet mooring just beyond Bridge 6.

Use it or lose it!

By late yesterday my back was allowing me to have brief periods of waddling around the boat like a duck.  Standing upright was a challenge but if you don’t use it you lose it so I managed to get off Waiouru and go for a short local walk.  My initial posture was like a hunched over 92 year old but after 20 minutes I could walk upright.

I walked to Easenhall Lane Bridge and took a photo back towards our mooring.

 

The bridge has a number of disc shaped securing anchor points on each side.  The angle of the shaft suggests they don’t pass completely through the bridge structure to join with a disc on the opposite side

Whilst the fitting of the discs was interesting it was the rectangular black box that puzzled me.  It wasn’t until examined them more closely that I noticed the silhouette cut into the front panel.

Bat boxes!

Walking back past Waiouru I noticed two boats with familiar names.

nb Jannock

nb Mr David.  Brenda makes hand made greeting cards from the boat.

By now my back was telling me it was time for a rest.  A better night’s sleep followed although I woke at the same time as Jan but “played possum” for 30 minutes in the vain hope of tea in bed <just joking>.

We decided to move and headed north towards Hawkesbury Junction.  The large orange cylindrical marker buoys have been here since we first boated this way in 2005.

They mark the ends of cut trees which have fallen across the canal.  I assume they haven’t been cut back further or removed in the hope the roots will stabilize the bank.

Jan opened the pedestrian swing bridge at Rose Narrowboats and we decided against stopping on the water point immediately beyond as the edge is shallow and the pressure isn’t that great.

There is a very short arm just before Les Wilson Narrowboats.  I remember a tracked excavator working here when we passed in 2005 and it’s now a private mooring.

As we turned the bend at Bridge 9 a boater coming from the opposite direction called out advising a CRT work boat was off its mooring ahead of us.

My back unfortunately precluded us from stopping and securing the boat.  It had drifted to the opposite side of the canal and all three mooring ropes were in the water.  Only one of the original pins was still in the ground and that was bent.

Speeding boats.  We’ve noticed quite a few in the last week.

To our surprise there was only one boat on the 7 Day moorings before the stop lock at Sutton Stop when we arrived at 11.30.  Of course that situation had changed by 4pm.  We had a very pleasant lunch in The Greyhound.  It wasn’t cheap, but it was tasty.  Jan chose the chicken whilst I opted for the 3 pies.

After lunch I decided to walk to the large Tesco next to the Ricoh Arena (use it or lose it).  Only a 6km round trip but it did loosen up the back.  Meanwhile Jan had noticed a passing boat with an obvious Australian connection.

A pause in the painting

Yesterday I spent time removing most of the fittings in the cockpit and masking up those I couldn’t. After looking at the area I decided not to paint all of it in one session as the area looks confined and I’m not as agile as I once was.  In the end I decided to paint the more difficult areas first which meant the port side and the cabin bulkhead  These areas were then cleaned before using the electric orbital sander and then hand sanding.  Afterwards the area to be painted was thoroughly cleaned.  I was just completing the last of the lower area on hands and knees when <twang> my lower back went <again>.  For several seconds I was paralysed with pain before managing to crab my way back inside the boat and collapse into a chair allowing the pain to subside to a dull ache.  It’s not the first time this has happened and I dare say it won’t be the last.  It will take several days to recover and we won’t be moving as I have the cockpit pulled apart ready for painting.  The weather for tomorrow (now today) was for heavy showers and I therefore decided to attempt to paint.  I did manage to paint the sanded areas (mostly on my knees) and it hasn’t turned out too bad <if I say so myself>.

 

Port side

Cabin bulkhead

Afterwards a cold cleansing ale went a small way towards alleviating the pain and then Jan supplied the suffering crew member with homemade pizza for dinner.  Later a hot shower further assisted.  Not a great night’s sleep and this morning I refitted all the fittings.  It’s partially completed in the above photo. 

At least the boat is back to a condition where it can be moved!  The starboard side and floor will have to wait until I feel better.

Yesterday evening Jan made bread dough and baked fresh bread for lunch today.  Nothing like the crust off the end of a hot loaf of bread covered with a slice of butter <yum>.   Wonder what happened to that heavy rain which was supposed to arrive during the night and stay all day.  Perhaps it got lost!

Self pump out kit for sale

We are selling our manual self pump out kit, which we have never used.  Asking price is £75 plus delivery (unless the purchaser collects).  Our contact email address in on this blog, top left below the banner photo.

Waiouru obviously has a toilet holding tank and when we started living aboard we were ultra cautious, buying both a self pump out kit and a small portable cassette toilet.  We’ve decided to keep the latter for any potential emergency and will probably take it with us when we eventually give up living on the boat.

This means the pump out kit is surplus to requirements.