Monday 5th April

This morning was one of domestic chores – washing (by hand – roll on the addition of a washing machine!) and making vegetable soup. I’ve never really made soup before but it was very tasty though maybe a little salty!

I took Millie for her morning constitutional today. She seems to like heading the way we have come and isn’t too keen on turning round – is she trying to tell us something? We went through Ansty – we didn’t see the main part of the village but there were some big expensive houses by the canal. Next stop was Hawkesbury Junction where the Oxford Canal joins the Coventry Canal. There is a narrow lock which drops about 18” and then into a lovely basin with a pub. We had a tight turn onto the Coventry canal and then headed north. As we went round Bedworth we came across Charity Dock, Richard commented on how he always took me to the best places! A little further up is the junction with the Ashby Canal – at present it doesn’t go anywhere and apparently is a bit shallow in places. This afternoon Millie made her own way up on deck to have a look around - it didn't last long but its a step in the right direction. I can't think of a nice word to say about Nuneaton :-( It seems a very sorry place. I guess there is probably a nice part to it but its certainly not along the canal. We decided to stop for the night in Atherstone, not a particularly pretty overnight stop but we need shopping tomorrow so it will do nicely. We went for a walk and found a Chinese take-away - dinner sorted!