Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;
Lengthen night and shorten day;
Every leaf speakes bliss to me
Fluttering from the autumn tree.
I shall smile when wreaths of snow
Blossoms where the rose should grow;
I shall sing when night's decay
Ushers in a drearier day.
Emily Bronte
Tuesday, 23rd, Wednesday, 24th October
Last night we moored between Bridges 4 & 5 on the Llangollen Canal on a Shropshire Union Canal Society mooring. The Canal Society moorings are places along the Shropshire Union and its two branches, The Middlewich and The Llangollen, where the canal has been dredged to ensure it is deep enough to get a boat close to the bank. There are also lots of mooring rings, so the whole process of mooring up is made easy. The Shropshire Union Canal Society 'was formed in 1966 to promote interest in the past, present and future of the 158 miles of the Shropshire Union canal'.
You can read about the Society here:
Shropshire Union Canal Society
It's so good to be back on the Golly again, we know it so well. I suppose we know quite a lot of the system well by now, though there are still some parts we haven't done at all: The eastern half of the Trenat and Mersey from Fradley Junction to Shardlow, The Leicester section of the Grand Union, The River Trent, The Chesterfield Canal, etc. So there are still waters new for us to explore, though I'm not too sure about the River Trent, it sounds a bit hairy to me!
Trev was at one of the Swanley locks when a man on a boat said to him "You're off Liberty Belle, aren't you?" Trev was rather surprised but agreed. "I follow your website," he said, "and recognised you from the pictures!" So Trev is a legend in his own lunchtime!!! One thing's for certain, no one will recognise me, as Trev never takes any photos!
We didn't have far to travel today. We did the two Swanley and the three Baddiley locks and about five miles, to moor up at Wrenbury, to............meet the rellies! This time Ann & Graham had arrived in their motorhome to spend two nights at the caravan site attached to the Cotton Arms, which is right by the canal. They pulled into the caravan site as we arrived on the canal, what timing! They're just over the hedge, so it's all very convenient. In the evening we went for a meal at The Cotton Arms, but we shan't be going back in a hurry. The food was excellent, and large portions too. But the service was disappointing.
Thursday, 25th October
We all stayed for two nights, and left this morning, Ann & Graham for home, us for Marbury, just three miles and one lock away, another favourite mooring. Last year, Trev sawed up a lot of wood here, but we haven't been so lucky this year with our wood collecting. Last year as we travelled along, we picked up loads of wood which Trev sawed into the right size for our stove. But we've not found much as yet. Maybe we weren't the only ones on the lookout!
There are plenty of boats around at the moment as it's half term week. Fortunately there aren't so many as to spoil the crusing, but it must be awful up here in the summer, when there are loads of holiday hire boats as well as private boaters.
Friday, 26th October
We left Marbury and continued along the canal through three locks, Quoisey, Willeymoor and Povey's and eventually arrived at the Grindley Brook locks. The first three are separate, the next three are a staircase, but there was a summer lock keeper still on duty. He told us he will finish on Nov. 4th. We thought that there might be a 'traffic jam' at the staircase locks, but we were lucky again and there was no one there. After we'd filled up with water and offloaded the rubbish we moored up for the night. There were quite a few other boats moored here too, though mostly facing the other way, ready to move on down the canal before the closures begin. Grindley Brook locks close on 26th November until Christmas, but one of the Baddiley locks and the Hurleston flight close on the 4th of November for winter maintenance.
Saturday, 27th, Sunday, 28th October
We moved on all of one mile today, and moored up at Whitchurch. We needed to collect the post and do some shopping. There have been very few shops since Middlewich, and we need provisions! We walked into Whitchurch, about a mile away, and got lots of shopping, almost too much to carry. Trev, as always, carried the lion's share. We'd wanted to buy a new pedal bin, and had seen just the one we wanted in town, but had no more carrying capacity!
The post hadn't arrived and so we had to stay an extra night, hoping that it would arrive by Monday.
Monday, 29th October
Yes, the post arrived and now we could get going again. We went through the first three lift bridges out of Whitchurch, entertained by a hire boat whose steerers had no idea how to make their boat go where they wanted it to! They were quite philisophical about it all, as the boat crashed into the raised lift bridge and bent its two chimneys! I suppose it's a lot easier not to get het up about that sort of thing when it's not your own boat
We did a detour down the Prees branch to Whixall Marina, where diesel was 51p per litre, the cheapest we've seen for some time. The Prees Branch is about a mile long, and has two lift bridges, though we were in luck as one of the lift bridges was being repaired and was removed. Whixall Marina has been bought by British Waterways Marinas Ltd., who seem to have a new poiicy of buying up marinas as they come on the market. We've left the boat here on several occasions when it was under previous ownership. It's a nice old fashioned place and a long way from anywhere. I wonder what BW will do with it. It took about an hour altogether to go down and back again and then we continued along the canal, and moored up at Ellesmere tonight.
The canal gets prettier as we go along and now we can see the hills in the distance. I am SO enjoying it all!
Tuesday, 30th October
The weather has been wonderful almost every day, brilliant sunshine, clear blue skies and fantastic views. The air is so clear we can see for miles. Tonight we're going to meet friends Judy and Eric, whom we met last year when we were up in Llangollen. They're coming to meet us at 'The Poacher's Pocket', a pub not far from Chirk. We've got quite a journey to do today; we shall pass Frankton Junction, where the Montgomery Canal leaves the Llangollen Canal and goes through some wonderful scenery for eight miles, before it stops abruptly. Work is being done to restore it all the way to Newtown, that will be a lovely trip one day--but not in our boating lifetime I fear!
After four more miles we came to the last two locks on the Llangollen Canal, at New Marton. Then we went on to moor up to meet our friends. We spent a very pleasant evening and look forward to seeing them again whilst we're moored in Llangollen.
Wednesday, 31st October
Today we have to get to Bryn Howel by 3.00 p.m. as our friends Sheridan and Ron are coming to stay for three nights. The plan is that they will leave their car at Bryn Howel Hotel and travel with us tomorrow on the last three miles of the journey to Llangollen. So we got going; over the Chirk aqueduct and through Chirk Tunnel (459 yards). Then through Whitehouse Tunnel (191 yards) and then over the magnificent Pontcyssylte Aqueduct, which spans the Dee Valley, 126 feet in the air. It never ceases to amaze us that it was built two hundred years ago and is still in use today. The channel is so narrow and there is a current, because the Llangollen canal is fed by the River Dee. It takes forever to get across, doing about one mile an hour.
It is slow all the way from here to Llangollen, because the canal is shallow and there is a strong current. We did about a mile and a half in forty minutes and moored up at Bryn Howel. We cleaned the boat inside and out, ready for our guests and looked very smart. Liberty Belle's paintwork is not as shiny as it was when it was first painted five years ago, but she 'scrubs up pretty good' as my brother would say.
Sheridan and Ron arrived around 4.00 p.m. and we all had a drink together in the hotel, then came back to the boat to put their things awat. Then it was back to the hotel for a bar snack and a good evening together.
Thursday, 1st November
Today we reached our winter mooring. We set off at the same snail's pace and I got off the boat after ashort while to cycle ahead and make sure no one was coming. There are two sections of the canal along here where it is so narrow two boats cannot pass. It was clear and eventually Liberty Belle hoved into view, travelling so slowy! We moored up exactly where we wanted to be, in the same place as last year, and connected up to electricity. Ian and Penny were moored in front of us, on 'Spadger'. They are the only ones here from last year. Altogether there are six boats up here for the winter.
We walked into town and as we walked up the main street, the butcher came out and hailed us from across the street: "Welcome Home!" he said. That made us feel really good!!! We walked around the town to see what changes had been made; mercifully very few. We did some shopping and then returned to the boat, ready to go to 'The Corn Mill' for supper. That was a very pleasant experience too.
Friday, 2nd November -- Trev's Birthday
Yes today is a special day, it's Trev's birthday. We were having breakfast, rather late as usual, when there was a knock on the boat and there was another Trevor, the one who had been moored here on 'Sol y Sombra' last year. We hadn't seen him since March. He and his wife Beryl sold their boat and moved onto dry land, and now they live in Dolgellau. They were in Llangollen because Beryl needed the dentist, so Trevor came to find us whilst she was there. He had a coffee, and then kindly took Ron back to Bryn Howel to fetch his car. We just had time to see Beryl too, and to make arrangements to see them next week, before Sheridan, Ron, Trev and I set off for 'A Day Out'.
We had a superb trip through Snowdonia, and out to the Menai Bridge which crosses the Menai Straits to Anglesey. We drove along the coast in Anglesey to Beaumaris, where we had coffee and cakes in a lovely old fashioned hotel, the Bulkeley Hotel. We sat in a lounge with deep comfy armchairs and felt very relaxed about it all. We came home a different route and really enjoyed the scenery. All in all, a very special day and a very nice one for Trev's birthday!
In the evening we went to Gale's Restaurant in Llangollen, for a meal. So as you can see, we have had a pretty good time these last few days!
Saturday, 3rd November
All good things come to an end, and today Sheridan and Ron went home. Now we are in Llangollen for the winter. There is lots to do--concerts to enjoy, walks to be done, books to read--a whole libraryful in town--friends to come and visit, patchwork and quilting to be finished and a new project to start, and a book which needs a final bit of tweaking before it is submitted to the editor! We're also really lucky to have the loan of a friend's car for a month, whilst she is on holiday! Lucky or what?
I shan't write regular updates now. But come back from time to time to see if I have written about something special. I shall probably post some photographs, at least. We shall set off from here on April 1st. Friend Cherry is going to join us, because she has always wanted to travel over the Pontycysslte Aqueduct. We hope to go down the Montgomery Canal before we leave the Llangollen Canal, too.
Thank you for sticking with me over what has been a rather bitty summer! I'll let you know when my book is published then you can all dash out and buy one immediately! What do you mean--a book of walks in Warwickshire is about as much use to you as a chocolate teapot!!!
(Pass your cursor over the pictures to see the titles)