WE LEAVE LLANGOLLEN

Friday, 2nd March
Well, all good things come to an end and, on a glorious Spring morning, we upped sticks and left Llangollen. Before we left we had some last minute shopping to do, and Trev returned the hire car to Wrexham; we hired it so that we go to see the Fron Male Voice Choir at Rhyl last night.

(Have you ever been to Rhyl? Don't bother..... Trev told me a story about someone from his childhood when he was living near Wolverhampton. A neighbour was talking about aeroplanes: "Yow wo ketch me in one o them things, I'll a me a wick in Rhyl." Loosely translated it says: You won't catch me in one of those things, I'll have me a week on Rhyl!) But it was worth going to Rhyl to hear the Fron Choir. It was a great evening.

So, around noon, after yet another round of goodbyes, (to all the people we had already said goodbye to!) we set off. I walked the first two miles, as the canal is only wide enough for one boat in several places, and I was on lookout. No boats have come up the canal for ages, but as soon as I'd phoned Trev to say "OK it's all clear, you can start", John on Joanna came round the bend, so I had to 'phone and cancel the all clear. I walked on to the next narrow part, and the views were so beautiful, I sat and looked and looked, and didn't notice two boats creeping up on me. I was supposed to be the scout. Well, we sorted it out, and then I got back on board and off we went again.

We went down to Trevor Basin and turned on to the aqueduct. As we crossed we talked to some people who were walking across the aqueduct, and discovered yet again what a small world it really is. In the early eighties, these people had wanted to buy the house which we eventually bought as a guest house in Kenilworth in 1991! They were gazumped and eventually bought another house in Kenilworth--which they later sold to a friend of ours!

We continued along the canal, through Whitehouse Tunnel, 191 yards long, and Chirk Tunnel, 459 yards long. Then over the Chirk aqueduct and in to England. Goodbye Wales, we'll see you in November when we come back to moor for the winter. At Gledrid, the route was barred by a dredger. There was some pretty heavy dredging going on and we were asked to wait, as they had 'a crisis'. It certainly looked that way, barges, tugs and dredgers all over the place. Eventually they managed to get their act together and moved all the items to one side so we could get through. "Watch out for that barge over there," we were told. "It's loose!" And so it was, floating all over the place. We managed to get past, but friends Beryl and Trevor on the boat behind couldn't get past it, it swung out at right angles to the bank, right across the canal, and the woman driving the tug had to go and nudge it out of the way.

It grew cold as the afternoon wore on and we were glad to moor up at St. Martin's for the night. Beryl and Trevor (yes, another Trevor) are travelling with us to Swanley Bridge marina, near the junction of the Llangollen with the Shroppie, as they're putting their boat in to the marina to sell it and are going back to live on dry land. So this is quite a nostalgic trip for them, their last on the boat. We were all glad to stop and get indoors to warm up.

Saturday, 3rd Sunday 4th March
We stayed at St. Martin's for three nights. On Saturday, at lunchtime, Pauline and Hugh came by on Blue Bird. They had left Llangollen at 8.00 a.m.this morning, and so had really got a move on to get here by lunchtime. They continued on to Ellesmere to moor. We shall see them somewhere further on, no one can get through Willeymoor lock until March 9th. It is being repaired.Willeymoor is quite a way down the Llangollen Canal and is the only obstacle in the way of leaving the canal and rejoining the Shropshire Union Canal. There was a wonderful eclipse of the moon tonight. We had clear skies, reasonably unpolluted by street lights, and it was spectacular. Sunday was an awful day, strong winds and non-stop rain. We battened down the hatches, stoked up the fire and did very little.

Monday, 5th March
Before we left, Trev walked to the village of St. Martin's and fetched a paper and some milk. Then we moved on about half a mile to the top of the two Marton locks and filled up with water, and then went on down through the locks. There was a fair wind blowing and I opted to do the locks rather than steer, as I don't like steering in the wind, in case I get blown against the side and can't get off.

We've had the canal more or less to ourselves for weeks. When we were moored at Llangollen, the arrival of a boat was a major event, it was so quiet. Now there are more boats about, hire boats, shared ownership boats and private boats. We passed Frankton Junction, where the Montgomery Canal leaves the Llangollen Canal, and continued on to Ellesmere, where we offloaded rubbish. Then we continued to Hampton Bank Bridge where we moored up for two nights. Trev cleaned up the engine room and I spent time on the computer, sorting out my photographs. I've bought a new clipart programme called 'Art Explosion' which has three hundred thousand images! So I had fun trying to get it to work and see what images are on it.

Wednesday, 7th March


We eventually got going around 11.00. The weather was wonderful again today, a real Spring day, and we really enjoyed our cruise, even though it was only four miles. We moored up at Platt Lane Bridge, as we wanted to eat at The Waggoners. We've eaten there before and enjoyed it. On the way, I hoovered and did a load of washing and some ironing, so I felt I'd made good use of the engine power as we travelled along.

Beryl and Trevor are still travelling with us, and we all walked up to the pub at 7.00, along with four people from another boat. But what a disapppointment--they weren't serving food, despite signs outside to the contrary. We explained to the girl behind the bar that we were on boats and didn't have the option to go elsewhere, and she said she would go and talk to the chef who was upstairs. But when she came down, she said that he wasn't cooking tonight. To add insult to injury, he came down and sat in the bar and had a drink!!! So we went back to the boat and had eggs, beans and mashed potato, and in fact we enjoyed it very much and had a good evening.

Thursday, 8th March
We went on to Whitchurch today, and moored up as I had an appointment with the optician. It's a year since I had the problem with my eye and I wanted to go back to the same optician as they had photographs of my eye. All was well, and that was a relief. We did some shopping in Whitchurch and then moved on to moor at Grindley Brook, ready to go down the six locks there tomorrow. The weather today was wonderful again, it really feels like Spring. This is when I miss my garden, and more partcularly my allotment. That's one thing I shall look forward to when I eventually move back on to dry land.

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