Sutton Wharf

Here I am Rune

Distance 6.4 miles

Total 2281 Locks  99 Tunnels

Running total mileage 3274.2 miles 

Having been frozen in at Hinckley for a few days, today we were back on the move, this time up as far as Sutton Wharf. Given the time constraints that we are working to, this is as far up the Ashby Canal as we will be going on this occasion. The ice had fully cleared from Hinckley when we set off, largely helped by the coal boat that came through on Friday morning doing ice-breaker duties, but the closer we got to Sutton, the more ice was still visible on the canal. I did make a bit of a ‘schoolboy error’ when we got to Sutton, we turned in the winding hole and then began to reverse along the canal towards the mooring. When reversing one of these boats you tend to spend most of your time looking towards the bow, or in the opposite direction to that in which you are going, since it is a lot easier to see if you are going off line doing that. On this occasion whilst looking towards the front of the boat I failed to see the sheet of ice that we then reversed into which ripped the tiller out of my hand. No harm done, just a bit of a surprise, although if someone had been standing within the ‘tiller arc’ they’d have gone over the side, and the water is really cold!

So tomorrow we will start to head back towards Braunston.