hello and welcome to another edition of not through the hedge
or as we could alternatively call it through the hedge but along the towpath
and sometimes along the road not along no not through the hedge but along the
towpath we are at the end of the Ashby canal We are at the Ashby terminus the Ashby
canal is really interesting it used to connect all the way to Moira
The boaters used to call it the Moira cut that's where it would go to it never
actually went to Ashby-de-la-zouis the place that the canal is named after the
moira cut that we want to go see today is some of it exists and some of it
doesn't we're gonna walk along the towpath that doesn't exist and take you
to the bit that does let me explain so there's a section from this bridge
behind us here is a new swing bridge that the Ashby Canal Association
installed in the last couple of years because they've restored an extra
section of canal along the side of us this goes down to a winding hole that
apparently will take a boat of up to about 50 foot 55 foot beyond that then
there's a new bridge that you go under and then it becomes just ground and you
can see where they're working at the moment to continue their restoration
work they've also been able to restore a section of the canal which has got water
in it near moira and there's a lock that the only lock on the Ashby canal
obviously they want to get the whole section restored it's about eight miles
in total we're not going to take you I don't think to the original Ashby
terminus because it's 8 miles away but we'll see when we get there how fresh
we are yeah we started this walk yesterday and we were awesome we had a map it was
so much more organized than we used to be we had water we had a map and it was
daylight it was the middle of the day and we were literally just gonna do the
first part of the walk because it's 12 mile round trip and we thought we got
lost but actually we didn't we just really smashed it yeah so we walked from
here along the restored section over the bit where you can
tell that it was canal and basically followed the proposed route that they
want the canal to follow yes when it gets restored which is different from
the public footpath in a way it the public footpath would have been easier
to follow and just when we thought we should give up and follow the public
footpath and we did it turned out to be the old canal route we've got the purple
path that is the proposed canal route and now we're at Measham Lodge and all
we've really done is go around a circle of Measham Lodge because it's private
property do we turn left at the green football football foot what's it called
public footpath and hope that it's a bit more marked because people walk their
dogs and whatnot yeah or do we still try to follow this purple route along the
canal this part of the walk should have taken us about 20 minutes we think we're
supposed to take us about 40 minutes if we're an hour and a half in we are an
hour and a half in so it's a lovely walk no I cannot fault the walk it's
beautiful but we have a deadline to keep because we have a date so we're gonna
we're gonna veer off the canal path and go public footpath yeah so yes the thing
that we're going to avoid today is that part of the trek because we have some
friends to meet in moira and we have six miles to trek so we're going to do the
first couple of miles via the B Road yeah so we've got some footage that we
took yesterday then you'll follow us from the place called Measham and from
there we will go walk to Moira along the proposed route of the canal so this is
us walking in the middle of the canal yeah we're in the bed of the canal yeah
and it actually still quite mushy
we are approaching the brook and if you want to take the traditional route you
would head left and if you went to go on the B road you would head right - you
are 40 minutes away from town on the B Road and it's quite a pleasant B Road as
long as you walk safely the brook is a special conservation site because of the
flora and the fauna
so once you get to Measham the map gives you two different
routes one of them is from the top of the town where you can follow the
original path of the canal and the other one is to go down towards the library
and cut through the carpark on to a public walking trail which takes you a
slightly different route you join up with the route of the canal along the
walk I hope one of the reasons we love doing through the hedge so much and
we're so happy that you enjoy it as well is that it's so nice to get off the boat
and walk and just see what is literally this is 40 minutes away from where we're
moored and it's just a really nice path that's really nice about through the
head isn't it yeah you get to see more than just the canal because it'd be
really easy for us just to stay kind of in the vicinity of the boat and only get
off and we needed to go to the shop so it's really nice to explore other areas
so we're walking along the proposed route of the canal that
because they need to reroute it for various reasons
I think
that the original canal kind of ran along here and then whooshed up that way
yes and it loops around a farm and there's a bit couple of ponds and stuff
and I think it's along here somewhere that it goes off this is the proposed
line of canal the filled in line of canal kind of goes through a cornfield
I just Anna-splained yep I Anna-splained and it was awesome
actually Kath-splaining slash Anna-splaining is a lot of fun I can see why
men do it over ha ha ha
the site was originally the Duninsthorpe colliery
which operated between 1871 and 1990 producing up to 300,000 tons of coal
each year at its peak Leicestershire county council acquired the site from
British coal in 1995 and the reclamation work began to improve the landscape
before the railway was constructed the Ashby Canal carried coal to the south
after it was completed in 1804 but because the mining finished the canal
closed in the 1940s
between 1999 and 2005 partnership projects between the
Moira furnace museum and the LCC saw the canal reopened from the bath yard basin to
- I think it's called Dunisthorpe
it's hoped that the section of watered canal around the Moira area will be
reconnected to the main system in the future water from the canal is extracted
from a borehole within the park and is then passed through gravel and natural
reed bed filtration system to maintain the water level this gorgeous Woodland
Park is over 36 hectares and includes a variety of different habitats with 20
hectares of planted woodland managed with nature conservation in mind
if you happen to find yourself on the Ashby canal with a few days to spare
this walk is well worth it
we will put links to the walk in Kaths excellent blog
post in the description below
so we've walked about eight kilometers which is about 13,000 steps to get here
from our boat so it's not a short walk don't take the cats You have to commit a couple of hours
yeah but it's really enjoyable the scenery is great it's really nice to see
the bit of filled in canal
thanks for watching today's episode don't forget to
check out the blog for additional information and probably I'll put some
maps in there yeah and links to the Ashby Canal
Association etc we hope you've enjoyed this through the hedge and come back
again soon don't forget to subscribe so you're notified when we post more videos
thanks