Welsh waters: Day 21

After yesterday’s deluge (some of the rain gauge readings I saw said there had been as much as two inches of rain in places), the morning was bright and sunny.  We were expecting guests, so pottered around this morning getting things ready.  I also walked over the aqueduct again and did some more recordings.  There’s a path on the Trevor side that goes down to the River Dee, and you can walk right underneath the aqueduct.

Our friends, John and Mark, had left home a bit later than expected, and it’s a long drive, so their arrival was also a bit later than anticipated.  It meant we decided not to go anywhere by boat today, but instead we took them for a walk over the aqueduct, and showed them the sights of the area.  Bowie the dog didn’t seem overly impressed with the aqueduct.

We’ll head off to Llangollen in the morning.

0 miles, 0 locks.  (63 miles, 37 locks)

Welsh waters: Day 20

There was rain early this morning, but after breakfast there seemed to be a bit of a break in the weather so we went out for a walk.  We headed down the canal and over the aqueduct, and walked up the arm past Anglo Welsh to the end.

The Anglo Welsh base at Trevor was where we hired our first narrowboat, having previously had a plastic boat on the Thames.  We couldn’t afford a whole week, and the first thing we did after setting off was go over the aqueduct.

We got back just as the rain returned.  I spent the morning cooking various things, then this afternoon we had a visit from a BBC colleague, James, who grew up in this area and was back home for the weekend.  We’ll go past his parents’ house tomorrow.  We’d never actually met in person before, so it was really nice to meet him properly rather than just down a line from Salford.  

The rain was heavy at times, but we wanted to move a little as we have a Tesco delivery coming this evening, but quite late as slots were scarce.  We spotted a lull in the weather and went for it, heading down towards the lift bridge.  When we got there, Adrian had an easy time as a boat was coming the other way and had already raised it.

Adrian was all set to lower it, when a group of canoeists said they wanted to come through, and would do it.  We were aiming for a mooring on the offside just past the basin.  These obviously used to be permanent moorings, but there are plenty of spaces here and all sorts of boats have used them over the past couple of days — and there are no signs at all.  As we arrived, the heavens opened and we were glad we’d put on our full wet weather gear, just in case.  The rings are also better spaced here, so we’re not being bashed about by every passing boat.  I think 1 mile overestimates the distance we travelled, but I’m not getting in to halves!

1 mile, 0 locks.  (63 miles, 37 locks)

Welsh waters: Day 19

After a couple of days doing other things, we were quite eager to get moving again.  There had been more rain in the night, and it was still a bit dull when we set off at about 8.30.  A short while later we arrived at Chirk Aqueduct, and as there was no-one else about we could go straight over.  A couple of trains went over the viaduct alongside.

The entrance to the tunnel is at an angle, so you can’t see if anyone is coming the other way until the last minute.  A walker helpfully called out that it was clear.

Against the flow of the water, it took around 17 minutes to get through.  Progress is painfully slow.  But the Whitehouses Tunnel seems even worse.  It’s less than 200 yards long, but took 10 minutes.

Adrian had some important IT stuff to do and needed a decent signal, so when it looked good at the moorings before Bridge 26 we pulled in and moored up.  However the A5 is one side and the railway is the other, so it’s not quiet.  So we walked down towards Froncysyllte to remind ourselves what the next moorings were like.  The first set in Fron is quite open and had an even better signal, so we walked back and moved the boat.  On the way, you get a nice view of the railway viaduct.

After lunch, while Adrian did his IT things, I walked down to the aqueduct.  You get a great view of it as you approach.

At the aqueduct itself, there were plenty of boats and dozens of people doing canoe and kayak tours.

I did some recordings for a future podcast, and then walked back to the boat.  The best news of the day came from Braidbar, showing us that Kingley Vale has gone into the paint dock.

3 miles, 0 locks.  (62 miles, 37 locks)

Wending to Wales: Day 15

It was another very quiet mooring, just across from The Navigation.  We were awake fairly early this morning, and set off at 7.30.  The Monty is a slow canal anyway, and we wanted to make sure we were at Frankton Locks in good time.  It was only a mile to the bottom of the Aston Locks, but took half an hour.  There’s a speed limit of 2mph below Queen’s Head, but there don’t seem to be the big signs and posts to measure your speed against, that I remember from last time.  At the locks, the bottom one was empty, but the two two were full.

Lots of the Monty is reedy, narrow, and straight.

The views of the Breidden Hills were gradually disappearing in cloud, so I was pretty certain rain was on its way.  It did have a go for maybe twenty minutes or so, but while we put our coats on it never came to much.  As we went into Graham Palmer Lock a boat arrived, and said they had been the only one down this morning.  As we approached Frankton Locks, the lockie was walking along with a lost collie dog, trying to find the owner.  We went up the two individual locks, and then into the staircase, which was ready for us, with a volunteer to help.

The lockie returned with the dog, and was trying to figure out what to do with it.  We came up the locks and turned left towards Llangollen.  The bridge numbers start from 1 again, but with a W to show they’re west.  We had good luck at the New Marton Locks, with a boat coming out of each so we could go straight in.  In between, we passed a boat that had been featured in a boat test, and I had a quick chat with the owners.  The boat coming down the top lock said they’d passed at least thirty boats heading for Llangollen this morning.  At the top, we went through the bridge onto the water point.

We filled the tank, got some washing on, and had lunch.  It was a very fast tap, so didn’t take long.  We were under way again at about 1pm; we’d been thinking of stopping at Chirk Bank, but by the time we got there it was only just after 2, so we decided to carry on.  We had to wait for a boat coming across the aqueduct, but then it was our turn.

It was pretty breezy as we crossed into Wales.  While we’d been waiting  we’d seen a boat go into the tunnel, which is immediately after the aqueduct.  Looking through, we could see they were still inside, so we followed.  It was a real struggle to get through against the flow of water.  It took 13 minutes, and I’ll be interested to see how long it takes on the way back.  At the other end there were three boats already waiting — but way back beyond the visitor moorings, not on the waiting bollards — and more heading their way.  Whitehouses Tunnel seemed even slower; we actually came to a halt near the end.  We moored up on the first SUCS moorings at Froncysyllte, where it’s a little more open.  Adrian had run out of milk, but a phone call established that the Froncysyllte post office had some, so we walked down the canal and up the hill to the shop.  There was a lovely view of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct on the way.

Down towards the lift bridge there were boats everywhere — three going towards Llangollen and four the opposite way.  By the time we came back from the shop, the Llangollen-bound boats were almost at the aqueduct, which we walked along to see.  Hopefully when we go across first thing tomorrow morning we there will be slightly less chaos.

16 miles, 10 locks.  (200 miles, 132 locks)