Bartimaeus

Shane continued to enjoy feeding the moorhen that came so bravely to the boat repeatedly. I am guessing that feeding their young makes them bolder. I would never have expected to hand feed them. It was back again the next morning.

We had to move on, though at a gentle pace. Shane called out to me and at first I didn't recognise what he was saying. "Foal suckling" isn't his usual cry! It was clear that the whole herd liked a drink but only the foal was drinking just now.

As we passed it briefly stopped to eyeball us, with an alert gaze. Seeing none of the horses were bothered by a passing boat, it got back to the important business of feeding, like the rest of the herd. 

At the next stop Shane was entertained by the swan treading water so eagerly to be fed.  When we turned up the Ashby, I was trying to remember what it had been like before. I remember there being lots of bramble bushes, though they were all on the side we couldn't reach. It reminded me that we had been recently moored by some ripe ones and I had picked a handful for myself, to give me the energy to make the dinner. I had got quite out of the way of cooking with all the food available at Electrika and eating with Paul and Richard. Richard had been remarking on the host of blackberries that would soon be ripe.

The Ashby was looking good in the sunshine, with swathes of purple and rushes alongside, not just brambles.

When we moored up Shane proposed a walk to a cafe. It wasn't far away across the canal but getting there was indirect. It was in a working farm which also made a living by offering fishing. We were seated opposite a pond and could see large fish swimming there. Ducks and coots were in the water or lying on the bank. There was a children's play area but the only kid at it was a goat.

When our food came, the ducks came closer. Shane had accidentally dropped a bit of chip and one found it. They came round behind us and one brushed Shane gently with its beak. They didn't peck us but kept coming near waiting for dropped crumbs, under the table and also getting some shade from the sun. The goat didn't show any interest in our food, or shade, at all.

On the way back we went into a churchyard. The church wasn't open but the trees offered a bit of shade. We saw a wartime gravestone with a goat on it. It was the first I remember seeing of someone in the home guard. Unlike many Dad's Army, which made the home guard famous, he wasn't at all elderly and he did die during the war. Strangely he shared a name with the actor who played Captain Mainwaring in the fictional Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard.

Back at the boat, after our dinner, Shane was surprised to have a swan appear again, on this different waterway. He believes it might still be the same one as before and that it had travelled a few miles. It had some pale brown feathers near its tail, as before and behaved the same unusual way paddling hard and stretching to take dry bread directly from his hand.

The bread was quite hard but it worked at softening it. It wasn't getting very much for its efforts really, and there was no other competition or babies to feed.

The next day we moved on towards Hinckley. Over drinks in the evening at Electrika, Shane and Nigel had discussed whether this was a good place to get a train. Shane had concluded they weren't too infrequent to be a problem and would be an easy place to get to for getting back in time for his dental appointment.

We were being caught up by another boat. Shane pulled in to fill up with water, thinking it would let them pass. In fact they too wanted water and pulled in behind us. Just in front was the boat of YouTubers, Paul and Anthony. They were at Electrika and had opened the event with a short speech and the cutting of a green ribbon. They have an electric boat with some sparkle, like Sue and Nigel's Tethys, built by the same boatbuilders. I was now receiving notification of their recent release and also found out that Sue and Nigel had been on a channel 4 programme when they featured in an Electrika podcast. Paul and Anthony have been on the same programme. We are a bit camera shy for that. 

We have passed them a few times in their boat but with the tinted windows it is hard to know if they are in or not. We had to move off sharply and let the boat behind get their tank filled. 

We arrived in Hinckley and got moored near opposite a marina and a pub. Two  families came with a loaf of bread to feed the ducks outside the pub which caused some excitement, especially as a swan came along too. They were all too well fed to need to come begging to us.

Today we went into town to look for lunch and explore what there was in Hinckley. We found three clustered cafés and picked one with an extensive menu and a cheery waiter. We were both impressed with the size of our servings. I thought a croque monsieur wouldn't be very large but it had crossed with a pizza with lots more cheese and tomato than expected. It was very tasty anyway. Shane was very happy with his rectangular pizza - it is larger than it looks!

I had grapefruit juice and hoped the wasp that was buzzing wouldn't take an interest in my glass. It must not be sweet enough as it wandered off to another table. Sated we explored the town. It had a couple of parks and a museum. One was particularly pretty and in full bloom.

The museum looks an interesting building but is only open on Saturdays and Mondays, but not Sunday. We must revisit when that is open.

No other houses seemed to be preserved from this era but a sign suggested others were here and this wasn't a lone Tudor pub. I was intrigued it mentioned a stocking machine. I have been catching up on knitting and cast off a cardigan last night. It turned out to be a more complicated knit than the pattern looked and has a daunting way of adding buttons I could do without. I take my hat off to those who can invent machines to do tricky handiwork, or design and create, although this plaque only suggested he brought such a machine, rather than designed it.

It had been drizzly and cool but was warming up as we walked back. Some butterflies and a dragonfly came out with the sun. I had downloaded a butterfly chart for the Big Butterfly Count. There are separate charts for England and Scotland. Some fluttered so much it was hard to see them properly but one did settle briefly. I have looked at the chart and my insect book and it falls between the large white and small white, and I don't know if the shape or shade of  dark markings are the key distinguishing features. Shane had suggested it is a medium white but that's not in my chart or book. I think it is a faded large white. This one looked like it was feeding though it didn't seem to be getting anything tasty. Does it eat stings?