Welsh waters: Day 24

A bit cloudy and dull this morning to start and Adrian had a call to do before we set off, so we didn’t get going until about 9.30.  As we approached Chirk Tunnel I could see there was no-one coming so we could head straight in.  After I while, I realised the headlight didn’t seem to be working (although the nav lights were).  Adrian went to fiddle with the wiring but that didn’t fix it, so he shone the torch out the front.  It was enough for an arriving boat to see us and wait, although not without ramming the bank first.  The tunnel took just 6 minutes to come through, compared with the 17 minutes going the other way.  Once out of the tunnel we headed across the aqueduct which was also clear, and which was also much quicker.

Back in England, we got through Chirk Bank without meeting boats on the narrow bits.  Out the other side, I always quite like this house by Bridge 16.

Before the New Marton Locks, there’s an area of marsh land, which always looks quite desolate.

Having hardly seen any boats all morning, we found them all waiting at the locks.  We were told we were sixth in the queue to go down, and everyone also seemed to want the water point.  Eventually we moved onto the water point while we waited, and I calculated we probably had enough time to get the wash part of the washing machine cycle done — so on it went.  The whole water point queue was somewhat disrupted by boats coming up also waiting for the taps (and usually getting one pretty quickly).  After some time we were able to move to the actual lock landing, through the bridge, and still had enough time to make and eat some sandwiches for lunch.  There were also lots of boats waiting to come up, so the lock side was crowded with helpers and gongoozlers.

That photo of the boat coming up was taken a full hour and half after the one of the marsh land.  It appeared that one of the top paddles wasn’t working properly, so each uphill boat took an age.  The crew of this one were American, and were keen to stress they were from Massachusetts, ‘a blue state’!  Then it was our turn to go down.

The lock emptied really quickly, and we were soon on our way to the second lock — Adrian bringing the boat and me walking.  A boat was coming up so we could go straight in, and there was a queue of five or so boats below.  We carried on past Whittington Wharf where all their hire boats were out, and past Frankton Junction where the locks had closed for the day.  We moored at the Val Hill moorings we like.  We then investigated the tunnel light, which is an old car headlamp.  By swapping some wires around, I manned to get one bulb working, but it’s pretty dim.  Fortunately it’s only Ellesmere Tunnel that’s on the horizon in the near future.

9 miles, 2 locks.  (84 miles, 39 locks)

Welsh waters: Day 11

Ir wasn’t supposed to rain until about 11 today, but when we woke up it was already coming down — although with bright sunshine at the same time.  We walked up to Tesco, as we’d found we had more room in the fridge than we’d thought.  Then we set off at 9, first going to the end of the arm to turn around.  Once back at the junction we turned right, and pulled over onto the service point.  There were already two boats there, but there was room for us at the far end, and there are four taps.

The water took a long time (it always seems to in places where there are multiple taps) but we also got rid of a mountain of recycling, and I stuck my head round into the dry dock to see what was going on.  There was a boat in there being blacked.

It was pretty much 10am when we set off again, heading into a mixture of sunshine and showers.  At times there was completely different weather on one side of the boat from the other.

We moored up after another hour or so, at Val Hill.  The spot we’ve used before at the far end of the moorings had a boat on it, so we stopped at the other end.  But then they moved off (which was a surprise, because it was the boat that had been in front of us on the arm last night), so we pulled our boat along to that space, where the view is a bit more open and the towpath is much wider.  It also turns out the mobile signal is better, even though we’ve only moved three or four boat lengths.

After lunch we went for a walk along to the junction and back.  The hawthorn bushes are absolutely laden with berries.

We got caught in  shower on the way back and sheltered under a bridge — you can see how heavy the rain was by the disturbance in the water, although the sky looks fine!

Showers have come and gone all afternoon.  We can sometimes see that it’s raining across the valley, and then we’ll get a sudden downpour.  Numerous boats have gone past, some of them at high speed.  This afternoon, inspired by Bake Off, I made a batch of hobnobs, just to see what they were like.

As I haven’t got silicone moulds on board, or cream for that matter, I didn’t do the caramel or the chocolate.  But they are really nice, and absolutely do taste like hobnobs.  I’m still surprised Bake Off was allowed to use the name, because it must be a trademark.

Tomorrow, we’re off down the Monty for a few days.

3 miles, 0 locks.  (36 miles, 19 locks)

Shropshire (wind)lass: Day 3

There was very heavy rain at 5.30 this morning, which woke us up with the noise on the roof.  It continued raining on and off, but by the time we’d had breakfast and were ready to set off at just before 9, the sun was actually out.  A couple of bridges ahead of us was a lift bridge, the one where the deck is almost in the water.  Then we reached Prees Junction, where we bore right to stay on the main line.

Shortly after this, which looking at the sky might not come as a surprise, it began to rain.  Then we crossed into Wales, marked by a tiny flag on a towpath post.

We were back into England after about a mile and a half.  After Hampton Bank there were pipes in the canal on both sides.  I wasn’t sure whether a farmer was extracting water from both, or whether there’s a pipe that crosses the canal bed.

A boat that had come up Grindley Brook in front of us yesterday was now ahead — I think they’d come off the Hampton Bank moorings.  It was quite useful, because their reactions gave me an indication of what was ahead.  So I was expecting that a boat might be coming the other way at one bridge, which meant I had to go backwards to get out of their way, but I was less prepared for another one close behind.  It was two hire boats of Norwegians.  At Cole Mere, you only get glimpses through the trees, although I could see that people were windsurfing.  There are much better views of Blake Mere.

Ellesmere Tunnel is only 87 yards long, but going this way you can’t see if anything is coming until you’re right up to it.  Fortunately I could let the boat ahead worry about that, while I just followed them through.

At Ellesmere Junction, they turned into the arm, but we turned left staying on the main line.  There’s a big CRT yard there.

We had lunch on the move, as we went through some pretty countryside.  A farm has some black sheep which have white fluffy ends to their tails.

We carried on to moor at Val Hill, a spot we liked last time we were up this way between Bridges 66 and 67.  This afternoon, we worked out a circular walk, starting by going along the towpath to Frankton Junction  where the Montgomery Canal goes off, and then heading up a narrow road and onto a footpath which was part of the Shropshire Way.  We had to go along a very narrow path in the corn, but there were nice views of the Welsh mountains in the distance.

The next field was maize, as we skirted round Val Hill itself.

We got back to the canal at Bridge 63, and walked back.  Numerous boats have been past, many of them hire boats.  This evening, we have a chicken to roast in the oven.

10 miles, 0 locks.  (27 miles, 15 locks)

Wending to Wales: Day 13

It was the most Septemberish morning so far, with mist first thing and mellow colours.  We set off just after 8, along with almost everyone else.  I let two hire boats go by as I held onto the bow rope, and then another one followed us.

At the lift bridge before the Whitchurch Arm, one of the guys on the lead boat wound the bridge up and then got back on board.  One of the boats on the moorings there was also trying to set off to turn around, so the lady from that one walked up to put the bridge down again.

One of the hire boats in front and the one behind both stopped at Whitchurch Marina, their things all packed up for home.  The other boat was from Wrenbury, and carried on.  They were pretty slow, seemingly repeatedly forgetting to get back off tickover once they’d passed moored boats.  Eventually they pulled over and let us pass.  On the long straight before Prees Junction, we were slowly catching up a line of boats.  The lift bridge had been raised by someone, and the guy on the boat just in front of us got off to close it, apparently without realising we were there.  When he did, he waved us through.  We stayed on the main line at the junction; we’ve never been up the Prees Arm, so we may have to make time for that on the return.

Just beyond, we overtook a group of paddleboarders.

We were now in another slow procession for a couple of miles.  The hirers immediately front of us eventually got so frustrated they called out to the boat in front to see if we would let us pass.  He agree, and then kept going at the same speed, which didn’t make things easy.  It turned out to be the guy who’d had a mare at the staircase locks yesterday.  After a bit, the hirers and us caught up with a day boat going so slowly that even our tickover was too fast.  Several miles later, he also pulled over, claiming he was going as fast as he could.  Eventually we got to the meres.  You only get glimpses of Cole Mere through the trees, but Blake Mere is much more visible and it’s beautiful.  Quite a few boats had moored up to enjoy the views and the shade as it was now really hot again.

Next was Ellesmere Tunnel, just a short one but hard work this way because of the flow on the canal.  The hire boaters had already gone in, so I knew it was clear.

We carried on to Ellesmere Junction, where we turned into the arm.  We’d been able to hear music, and from the arm we could see that a sausage and cider festival was in full swing, next to a cricket match — although somewhat meagrely attended.

To our surprise, there were several moorings available on the arm, so we went towards the far end because the main purpose of the visit was to restock at the handy Tesco by the basin.  The fridge had become decidedly bare; it’s not now, in fact Adrian struggled to get everything in.  We also went into Ellesmere town centre, which looks surprisingly healthy, to see if anywhere sold directors chairs, as one of our pair has suffered a catastrophic collapse!  Unfortunately nowhere did.

We hadn’t planned to stay in Ellesmere, and even if we had the music would have driven us out.  It wasn’t bad, we just didn’t want to hear it.  So we turned in the basin and headed back out to the junction.

We turned right towards Llangollen and have continued for a few miles, meeting lots of boats.  We’ve moored on the SUCS moorings between bridges 66 and 67, with the shade increasing as the sun moves round, and a towpath wide enough for the Cobb barbecue to make another appearance.  We’d been hoping for a picnic table or a bench, but you can’t have everything.

16 miles, 0 locks.  (173 miles, 114 locks)