There and back again

Amazingly just over two weeks since my last blog so I need to bring you up to date with our journey. We spent two nights down on the Montgomery canal, there is only 7 miles of this open at the moment although they are working on a further quarter of a mile stretch (see below) all with weekend volunteer labour but hope to have it open by next year. Then on towards Llangollen. We moored up at Chirk which is right on the border between England and Wales (I did say in my last post that we had crossed the border and according to my map we had so I assume we ducked back again at some point) to await son Ben and his wife Jenny who were coming for a few days to experience the Pontcysyllte aqueduct crossing. Chirk itself has an aqueduct and that is quite impressive (see below) with a railway crossing as well but it is only about half the height of the famous one.

Chirk also has a very well preserved castle and I cycled up to it and took a few photos. It made me realise they do have proper hills in this part of the world!

Typically of course although we have had super weather most of the time this year the day we set off with Ben and Jenny was miserable being cold and raining hard but that did not dampen the thrill of crossing the aqueduct with a narrow towpath on one side and nothing but a thin sheet of steel the other protecting us from a 126 feet drop. The character of the canal changes dramatically after the aqueduct, no longer going through rolling countryside but very much the hills of Wales. It is also very narrow with only one way working in a couple of spots and we had to send Ben and Sarah off ahead to make sure the way was clear for us to enter. I hate to think what this is like in the height of the summer as even now in mid September the canal was very busy with the majority being hire boats (in the basin at the end of the canal I counted only 5 private boats to 20+ hireboats) most of whom are OK but some who do not think of others, like the boat that was moored outside the Elsan point right next to a sign which said "Please move away from here when finished using the facilities". Sarah had asked them to move on but the request fell on deaf ears "We was told we could moor anywhere along here" and by the time the message that I would need to moor up early was relayed back to me I couldn't reverse back to an empty berth as I had someone behind me and I couldn't breast up as the channel was too narrow so I had to go on and moor down in the basin and then lug the full canister from the loo up hill and down then along the canal for over a quarter of a mile. They were very lucky I didn't empty the whole lot over their boat!

We stayed the permitted two nights in the basin and walked up to the very end of the canal and up to Castell Dinas Bran, the remains of a ruined castle giving fantastic views over the surrounding countryside. The day we had there was not too bad with the rain holding off and sunny intervals although the wind at the ruin was very strong.

So after six weeks of travelling we had reached journeys end and had to set about the return journey. One point of note in returning to Chirk to drop off Ben and Jenny was that as we were crossing the Chirk Aqueduct we were filmed by what was obviously a very professional film crew so I asked what they were filming for and apparently it was for Channel 4 who are making 4 hour long documentaries about the canals with Timothy West and Prunella Scales who are very big narrowboat fans. I did ask if I would get an appearance fee but they didn't seem very interested but it is something to watch out for and it should be on air in the new year.

Yesterday we moored near a village called Marbury which is very small but has an amazing church on the edge of a large mere which is certainly very picturesque and today sees us back at the start of the Llangollen with another visit to Snugberrys Ice cream planned for tomorrow and then we set off down the Shroppie.

Saturn, a Shroppie "fly"boat that would travel 24 hours a day with changes of crew and horses to deliver perishable goods

Renovation of another section of the Mongomery canal

Chick Aqueduct with ancient and modern transport running side by side

The ornamental gates to Chirk Castle

Chirk Castle

Saling or flying?

126' over the River Dee

The very end of the Llangollen Canal where water is extracted from the River Dee

Horseshoe Falls, Llangollen, the weir constructed to allow water extraction for the canal

View from Castell Dinas Bran

Ditto with the Pontcysyllte aqueduct in the distance

An amazing number of hedge sparrows in the area

Marbury Church

Crossing the border

Well, we are now in Wales (as of Saturday7 Sept) We arrived on the Llangollen canal last Sunday and have had a leisurely few days savouring its delights and meandering across almost to Ellesmere.

Sarah had her meal at the pub mentioned last week. It was about an half hour walk from where we were moored although we could have taken the boat closer but it wasn't a bad day to walk there and the only disappointment was that they don't allow dogs in. The landlord was very chatty and introduced us to his dog an Australian terrier which was a new one on us. It looks like a cross between a corgi and a Yorkshire terrier but very sweet.

Having arrived on the Llangollen everyone told us that we must visit Snugburys Icecream which is made on a farm about a mile from the canal so on Sunday afternoon we went to find them expecting a small operation in an outbuilding and having to ring the door bell to find someone to serve us. We were, to put it mildly, wrong. As we approached there were more and more people milling around and it was like Blackpool on a bank holiday. With the best part of 30 different flavours of ice cream to choose from we decided we had to revisit on the Monday for a second helping and also bought a tub to put in the fridge.

The other attraction on the farm apart from the ice cream was a giant statue of a Darlek made of straw bales (see below) There is something like 6 tones of straw and 5 tons of steel in it and it stands 35 feet high and has a movement activated voice which says - what else but - "Exterminate" In previous years they have made merecats, bears and trick cyclists amongst others and its obviously a great local attraction.

We meandered our way down to Wrenbury for a couple of nights there and had an unexpected visitor. Sarah was sitting at the table knitting with the duck hatch open to the towpath when the puppy from the neighbouring boat sticks its head in and then happily clambers onto the table wagging its tail saying how happy it was to be there. The girls were not so impressed but were relieved when we handed it back to its owner.

On then to Whitchurch, first having to negotiate Grindley Brook with its 6 locks with 3 being in a staircase. We had seen very few people in the morning but when we arrived at the locks there was a small delay in going up for us but by the time we were due to ascend the staircase the pound at the bottom had 5 boats in it with 3 going up and 2 down. I would hate to negotiate these locks during the height of summer it must be worse than the M25 on a Friday night.

Whitchurch is a delightful town, probably about the size of Bury St Edmund's and, with a short arm leading towards the town, mooring was easy. The walk into town took about 20 minutes but was almost all on a footpath through a nature reserve which has recently been created. The idea is to try and bring the canal nearer the centre of town on its old course and it would be terrific if it happens but I somehow think it unlikely. The town itself has a great mixture of local shops and we came back laden with supplies including 2 yummy cream cakes. e were even lucky with the rain holding off whilst we were in town, this (Friday) probably being the worst day of rain we have had.

After 2 nights there we stopped for a night at Hampton Bank and then this morning moored near Cole Mere and walked around that then moved on a mile or so to moor up for tonight overlooking Blake Mere.

Tomorrow we plan to visit Ellesmere and then on Tuesday go and spend a few days on the Montgomery canal.

Teazle helps herself to Blackberrys....

....to go with the icecream she is hoping for

Man of straw

Mooring at Whitchurch

Our first glimpse of the Welsh Hills

Early morning on the cut

View from the kitchen window - Blake Mere