Movement is not encouraged on the canal networks at this moment.
Only ‘essential’ travel is permitted. This basically means when your toilet needs emptying, or your water-tank needs filling.
Traffic is down to 0.
Very few boats moving around. 0 this week so far.
Empty water-tank
This is how my water-tank looked at the end of last week.
That’s about a day’s worth of water in the bottom.
I couldn’t really move because the canal was iced over.
Moving whilst there’s ice isn’t really advisable. Some ppl get shirty when you move past their boats when there’s thick ice. Some ppl get angry even when it’s thin ice. ‘It might damage my boat’.
It’s better to let it thaw out. Plus, thick ice makes it difficult to navigate.
Luckily, when I moved down to get water, a boat had gone on before me and it was just a case of following his trail of broken ice!
I’ve been here a while now. In Ashby terms, I’ve just got here.
Boaters don’t tend to move a whole lot on the Ashby.
Remember this picture I took on moving from my first stop.
Stoke Golding Oct
Not one boat has moved since I left one month ago. It looks exactly the same.
Since I got here in early October, 80% of the boats I come across haven’t moved at all. Been in the same place. Completely.
Feel a bit alienated by moving around. Everybody else just stays in one place.
Still there we are. They are probably good people and have special privileges.
Lockdown
We are, however, on lockdown still. Which means that I’ve stuck to my position here in the wilds with nothing but rolling fields, birds and cow noises to keep me company.
Luckily, nowadays, I don’t have to put on any work gear, as there is no longer any work…. otherwise I would be moaning more vehemently about these long skidmarks of mud along my journey toward where the car is parked.
A couple of days I’ve had to don wellies to get through, but generally I can just skirt around the edges.
