We have a week before our next planned use of the car, so will be exploring the English part of the Llangollen Canal, which means mostly Shropshire. A bright start to the day, and we got a wash load of towels on the go before setting off. With the wash part of the cycle done, we prepared to set off only to see a boat coming, then another. They were the two Chamberlain fuel boats, heading to be docked at Stretton.
It’s very pleasant Cheshire countryside round here. When we got to the Swanley Locks we found we were following a share boat. It was the same story at the three Baddiley Locks, although there were also so,e boats coming down. Because the Llangollen transports water from the River Dee down to Hurleston Reservoir, there are quite fierce bywashes, which often make steering into the locks a bit tricky. The water pushes the bow over, and when you’ve compensated for that, it pushes the stern over.
One of the boats coming down turned out to be Ivy, a boat built completely by the owner, which I wrote a feature on in 2012, and which gave me a Canal Boat front cover. After the locks, the obstacles become lift bridges. The first one, before Wrenbury, is a manual one so a windlass is needed.
Adrian walked on to the electric bridge by the wharf, and signalled to me that there was a boat to come through the other way. He used his key of power to lift the bridge and the other boat came through first.
Then it was my turn, and by the time I was going through the queue of traffic being held up went right round the corner. There was also a very large lorry waiting on the other side.
The next lift bridge leads to a garden centre which now has a smart cafe we don’t remember being there before, built from shipping containers. We might have to go there on the way back.
We had lunch on the move, then went up Marbury Lock, where the village pub has a good sign.
We continued to the moorings just before the next bridge, where there are rings to moor on, and there are plenty of them. We went for a walk to have a look at Marbury village. There are some nice old buildings — the one on the left is the pub’s outbuildings, while the house on the right looks very wonky.
We walked to the church, which sits on a bit of a hill overlooking a lake called Big Mere (there’s also a Little Mere in the village).
The village green has a bench encircling a tree trunk, and the Swan pub looks very nice.
We walked back via Marbury Lock, to make it a circular route. Since we got back it’s been trying to rain, to add to the gusty breeze we’ve been battling most of the day.
The latest episode of my podcast, The Water Road, was out this morning, and I’m delighted by how many more people are listening. Here are the links for the Foxton episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.
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