Maesbury Marsh

We set out before sunrise in an effort to dodge the strong winds forecast in the afternoon. Despite dreariness of the light and colours it felt fantastic to be on a new canal, travelling between empty fields, watching a large orange winter sun peaking above the horizon through the spindly branches of leafless trees.

The Monty has a grass towpath most of the way so wellies were best worn at the locks we did. The three Aston locks had a wetland nature reserve running alongside with an information boards by each lock. There were a couple of hides and walkways we would have loved to visit but thought it more important we get to our intended mooring safe and sound.

There are only 12 boats allowed to visit The Monty at any one time and we're sure that in summer there'll be waiting lists. One advantage of winter cruising is that we didn't see anyone else on the water. We were especially glad of this when squeezing through swathes of rushes that narrowed the channel to one boat width. Despite the recent deluges we found ourselves grounded at several points and even hit submerged rocks / concrete. Rainboat isn't a particularly deep draughted boat either! Many pinch points like bridges were on bends. At some it was near impossible to steer the front of the boat clear of the bank ahead while the stern had so little wiggle room. Despite its beauty and peacefulness Tiger Lilly gave The Monty a definite paws down for all the bumps and scrapes we had.

Tied up opposite The Navigation Inn was the first leisure boat we'd seen, with 3 more permanent moorings further down. We pulled up and that evening went for a meal. 'The Navvy' is a very homely, welcoming pub. Its small front room was chilly but a log fire was just getting going, warming us up nicely. Mark and Brent run the business but in Covid they had to reduce hours and get other jobs to keep it going. It is only open Thursday- Saturday from 6pm and Sunday from noon. It had a fantastic vegan range and even had a seperate doggy menu! Unfortunately Leo had to stay home because he's been a bit strung out lately. We enjoyed it so much we booked again for Sunday lunch (two people and two dogs). We were really looking forward to it but Vicky's ME got in the way and we had to cancel in the end.

The weather and Vi's health meant we didn't really get out explore otherwise. A couple we got chatting to in the pub had recommended Canal Central a short walk away that did good cake but it wasn't to be. Czytaj więcej