Welsh waters: Day 22

Another beautiful sunny morning, although the chill in the air really made it feel like autumn.  The fire had stayed in though, and came back to life surprisingly easily.  We were all up fairly early, and got under way a bit before 9, straight round the corner and onto the aqueduct.  We could hardly have had a better day for it, and it was the perfect introduction to boating for John and Mark.

We turned under the bridge at Trevor, onto the slow few miles to Llangollen.  The scenery is fantastic, even if the canal is shallow in places.  We followed a boat through the first narrow section, and met boats coming the other way in generally reasonably convenient places.  The second narrow section has rocky cliffs rising up one side.

The arrival into Llangollen is always a bit special.  We waited for the boat ahead to reverse into a space, then turned and reversed into one ourselves.  Once tied up, we plugged in the electricity, got the washing machine going, and ran the hosepipe over the roof to fill up the rather empty tank.

After lunch, we walked up the feeder canal to horseshoe falls, where water from the River Dee is taken into the canal (and ends up at Hurleston Reservoir).

As we got back, we paid for our mooring for the night at the shop at the wharf.  The horse drawn boat was just arriving back.

This evening, we’re going for dinner at The Cornmill.

5 miles, 0 locks.  (68 miles, 37 locks)

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)

Welsh waters: Day 18

Adrian had picked up a car from Chester yesterday afternoon as he came back from Manchester, because we were visiting Braidbar today. There’s a post on the Kingley Vale blog.

We drove back to Chester, and are currently on a train back to Chirk. 

0 miles, 0 locks.  (59 miles, 37 locks)

Welsh waters: day 17

There was a lot of rain in the night, hammering on the roof.  Adrian was up early this morning, as he was catching a train from Chirk station first to Chester, and then on to Manchester for a conference.  As I did not need to be out the door by 6.15 I stayed in bed!  The rain carried on for much of the morning, so I did a bit of baking.  Then it cleared and the sun came out, so I went for a walk down to the aqueduct.

I then walked through the tunnel rather than over it as there’s a towpath through, and up the canal the other side a bit.  Then I walked into Chirk, had lunch, and came back over the aqueduct again.  I still needed steps, so went up the canal the other way, past the Poacher’s Pocket pub.  It got so warm I ended up having to take off not just my jacket but my jumper as well.

The internet signal remains dire — it occasionally makes an appearance and a load of messages come through, and then completely disappears again.  It’s a shame because Chirk is really nice.

0 miles, 0 locks.  (59 miles, 37 locks)

Welsh waters: Day 16

It was bright but still a bit breezy when we set off at about 8.30, with me walking up to the lock while Adrian brought the boat.  The lock was about half full, so didn’t take long to get ready.

Once we were up the lock, I walked on to the next one which was similarly half full.  A boat was also arriving at the top, and the crew came to watch us come up as they’d only collected the boat from Chirk yesterday and this was their first lock.  We then stopped on the water point and got the washing machine going.  Once under way again we met a few boats coming the other way.  At the Lion Keys hotel and bar, their basin with pontoons actually had a few visiting boats in it.

A bit further on, there’s a big new housing estate, with some of the houses facing the canal.

We pulled in at Chirk Bank, and Adrian walked ahead a little way to see what the mooring situation was.  We ended up on a bit of a bend before Bridge 21, with the bow on a ring but stakes at the stern.  We walked into town via the railway station to see how long it took, and then got a chicken and leek pie from the butcher’s for dinner.  We had lunch at Caffi Wylfa, which is in a sort of community hub.  It’s a good looking town.

Our route back took us via the tunnel portal, where we could look down on the pool between the tunnel, and the aqueduct.  A day boat had just come through, and reported there were six or seven more following — but he couldn’t get onto the aqueduct because of a boat coming the other way (slowly), so goodness knows where everyone was going to go.

Back at the boat, we waited for all the boats to come past, and then reversed beyond the boat behind us, where there was a straighter edge and we thought we might be a bit safer away from the bridge.  However, the mobile signal is just as bad, as we’ve resorted to a visit to The Bridge Inn just down the hill for WiFi.  They have a great view of the aqueduct and the railway viaduct beyond from their patio.

4 miles, 2 locks.  (59 miles, 37 locks)

Welsh waters: Day 15

The strong winds arrived right on cue at about 8 o’clock last night, but seemed to calm down a bit overnight.  We’d feared having trouble sleeping (recalling the terrible night we had in the storm at Salford Quays a few years ago) but it was fine.  However the winds picked up again as the sun came up, and at one point we’d decided we’d be staying put.  But after breakfast things seemed to calm down a bit, and a couple of boats came down the locks.  It also wasn’t raining, so we decided to go for it.  We quickly got ready, I went along to the Elsan, and on the way back there was a rainbow over the boat.

Have to say the facilities in the Weston Arm are great.  There’s a full range of rubbish and recycling bins in the car park, and there’s a little building with Elsan and loos.  Having decided to go, it was a bit gusty when we set off, in fact as soon as the ropes were untied the boat was off the side and I had to use a bit of power to get round the corner rather than being blown onto the offside.  But once we were behind the hedge on the approach to the locks things were better.  Adrian had walked round, and got the bottom lock open ready.

We did the two single locks, both of which were empty, and then the lock keepers spotted us and got the staircase ready.

It meant we were up the locks in quick time.  We moored at the top briefly, so I could interview one of the lock keepers for a future podcast, as he’s been involved in the restoration of the Monty since the late 1960s.  We decided to set off again as the winds weren’t too bad, and turned left at the junction.

Going this way, the bridge numbers reset to 1 again, with a W to show they’re the western sequence.

Loads of boats had crossed the junction just in the time we’d been there, and we were behind two ABC boats going very slowly for quite a while.  I was able to check on whether the towpath was still closed between bridges 3 and 5, after a request from Paul from Waterway Routes, to help his maps stay up to date.  It rained a bit on and off, and was a bit blowy at times, but nothing too bad.  We pulled over and moored up just before 12, below the New Marton Locks, where there was a queue of boats waiting to go up.

After lunch we went for a walk up the locks, and found plenty of boats in queues for both of them, and that the crews were struggling in the wind.  It’s blowing directly across the canal here, away from the towpath, and people are having to cling on to ropes to avoid their boat ending up on the other side.  The wind seems far stronger now that it was overnight or this morning, so we appear to have got our timing right again — although we are being rocked around on our mooring more than we’d like!

3 miles, 4 locks.  (55 miles, 35 locks)

Welsh waters: Day 14

With a forecast that said rain from late morning and strong winds from this evening, we thought we’d be best to get going sharpish today — so we were pulling away from our mooring at 8.30 in dry conditions without a breath of wind.  In the field behind the canal is a big solar farm; in fact rhere’s one on the other side too.

Between the lift bridge which is left up and the next bridge, there were two kingfishers.  At the lift bridge that needs lifting, Adrian did the honours.  When we got to Maesbury Marsh, we pulled onto the water point and got the washing machine going.  We then had a real struggle to get the brass cap on the water tank to unscrew.  As it’s brass, and so is the tool used to undo it, both have become worn over the years so neither the slot not the tool have any crisp edges on them any more.  After a good long while, it came loose and we could top up the tank, although it meant our stop was a bit longer than anticipated.

Before the locks, we met a boat in a fairly awkward place, although I could pull in between two moored boats to let them pass.  To be honest, there were worse places we could have met.  But at least it meant the locks were in our favour.  The house just blow the top lock has a false window in the end wall, and there’s another round the back.

The paddlesports club at Queen’s head were out in force, and the CRT work boat that’s moored there has a new crew member.

The next stretch is straight and alongside a road, and there are more long straight sections ahead.  This canal is definitely more appealing below the locks.  We met a couple more boats heading the other way.  There had been a couple of rather feeble showers, but as we approached Graham Palmer Lock it started to try harder to rain.  We did the lock, and were then hoping there would be a mooring in the Weston Arm, which used to be the start of the now-abandoned canal to Weston.  There was space, so we spun around and reversed in, so that if it’s as windy as forecast tomorrow we can just go straight out forwards — as we’re booked in to go back up the locks.

Since we’ve been here the rain has really come on, so we managed the timings pretty well again.  We’ve also lit the fire for the first time this season, which should also help get the washing dry.

7 miles, 4 locks.  (52 miles, 31 locks)

Welsh waters: Day 13

There was a lot of rain overnight, but it was pretty bright this morning when we set off at about 9 — past The Navigation, where we had an excellent dinner last night.  Adrian had the lamb shank and I had the duck, and both were very good.

A couple of bridges further on is a lift bridge.  It’s in a rather nice setting.

The first time we came down here, on Debdale in 2010, the end of the navigation was a couple of hundred metres further on.  When we were here two years ago, another couple of miles had been opened earlier that year.  Then we did the new bit and turned around and retraced our steps.  Today we were taking more time over it.  The canal is pretty narrow, but there’s some nice scenery.

When we got to the end, at Crickheath, we turned in the huge winding hole and reversed onto a mooring.  The edge here has been provided with huge yellow mooring rings.

Not long after we arrived, the rain started, and at times it was heavy.  So we decided we’d have lunch and head out after that.  It got to the stage where we just accepted we might get a bit wet, but had to go for it anyway.  The reason was that we wanted to walk the next section, which is being worked on by volunteers.  There are two miles between here and the next part that’s properly in water.  It goes from lined, to cleared, to full of trees; but Schoolhouse Bridge has been rebuilt and opened last year.

The part where there’s water, actually hasn’t got any at the moment because of the drought and some problem with a weir.

There’s a trip boat at Llanymynech Wharf which is currently sitting on the bottom.  The bridge there is the border with Wales.

We went into the canal centre, surprising the volunteers there, and had cups of tea.  They then suggested we take a look at the heritage area just behind, where there are some really well preserved lime kilns.  The chimney was the flue for a Hoffman kiln, used for the continuous burning of limestone

There used to be inclined plane railways up the hill to bring the limestone down using counterbalances.  We had a good wander round, then returned to the canal, crossed the dry bed, and walked back.  By now the sun had come out and it was warming up.  We’d walked about 2.5 miles each way, so we’ve done far more on foot than we have by boat today.

2 miles, 0 locks.  (45 miles, 27 locks)