The Corn Mill in Llangollen did us a really good dinner last night, and it was an opportunity for John and Mark to see the town. The River Dee was a raging torrent.
This morning we woke to another stunning day. After breakfast, I popped out to do a quick recording for a future podcast, and then we all walked into town again to see it in the light. We’d also got another load of washing in while we were plugged in to electric, as yesterday’s had all dried thanks to combination of sunshine and the fire being alight. Our route into town took us down the towpath opposite the basin.
It was nearly 10am when we slipped away from our pontoon, not far behind another boat. The first narrow section happens almost immediately, and is overlooked by a castellated house.
We followed the other boat through the next narrow section, then at the next one a boat coming the other way was in the passing place. It’s much quicker going this way as you’re not fighting against the flow. There were a few boats heading the other way, one of which was met at a bridge hole. The steerer of that boat mentioned how busy the canal was — and when we got to Trevor we could see what he meant. We had to pause under the bridge before the basin, as the boat ahead was reversing to get alongside the bank.
It turned out he was the fourth boat waiting to get across the aqueduct, with three coming the other way. We pulled alongside him, and the day boat behind us also found a spot to wait. The first boat that arrived from the other end surprised everyone by going into the arm rather than turning towards Llangollen.
The third boat to arrive was the Anglo Welsh trip boat who wanted to turn, so wanted us out of the way. It meant we were part of a long convoy going over the Ponty.
We moored up on the offside and made bacon sandwiches for lunch before returning John and Mark to their car in the little car park by Fron basin. They (and Bowie) had been perfect boat guests and it was so lovely to see them; they appeared to enjoy themselves too, and the scenery and weather could not have been better.
We set off again, with Adrian walking round to the lift bridge. The disabled trip boat was just coming through, so he only had to close it.
A little further on, some guys were taking down a diseased tree. We were asked to wait while a huge branch was cut off and crashed into the water. It was only when we were allowed past that we could see the guy way up on an elaborate cherry picker.
By Bridge 27 there’s a parking area, and a woman was sat there on a deck chair reading a magazine. She was on the corner and could see both ways, and indicated to me that there was a boat coming. As I went past, I said that if she could do the same at every blind bridge, it would be very useful! At Whitehouses Tunnel, a boat was coming the other way and we had to wait a little while.
The tunnel took only 3 minutes going in this direction, as opposed to 10 when we went through the other day. We stopped on the visitor moorings just past the entrance to Chirk Marina. The spots that are not under oak trees were already taken, so we may get the odd acorn pinging off the roof. The important thing is that the signal is reasonable, as Adrian has a few calls to make.
7 miles, 0 locks. (75 miles, 37 locks)
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