Friday, 11th March
A very cold and windy day. We decided to wait and see if the weather would improve and by early afternoon it did, so we set off. Trev steered and I stayed in the warm. We moored near the Fron Lift Bridge, just before the rain came down.
Saturday, 12th March
The Big Push for Golly today. We went over the the Froncyssylte Aqueduct and the Pontcyssylte Aqueduct--that's the famous one, built by Thomas Telford. It truly is magnificent, no matter how many times we go over it, it's always breath taking. To think that someone believed that he could build "a river in the sky" and cross a gorge 112' at its highest point, without electricity or any mechanical power, is incredible.
There's a very sharp left turn at the far end of the Aqueduct, on to the last four miles to Llangollen.
TURNING ON TO THE LAST FOUR MILES OF THE LLANGOLLEN CANAL
Then we were on to arguably the finest stretch of canal in the country. The views are magnificent, the beautiful green hills of Wales, rolling valleys and pretty farms dotted about.
APPROACHING LLANGOLLEN
We saw lots of lambs, including one which had just been born. Its mother was licking it to get it to stand, which it did as we passed, and it soon found its way to the milk bar!
Then we arrived in Llangollen and, amazingly, we were the only boat there. We had expected it to be busy. We went down to the new basin, turned and went back to moor up. The great thing is that the new moorings here have electricity and water, and the electricity is free in the winter. So we had a big wash--clothes I mean, not us! Well, we do wash, too, but...... oh never mind!
Sunday, 13th March
We went for lunch to the Corn Mill, overlooking the River Dee. As we walked there, we went right by the Llangollen Station, a private steam railway, and the sound, sight and smell were so romantic! We had a good lunch at The Corn Mill, a really nice pub. We had a walk around the town. Llangollen is a favourite place for a day out with coach companies, and so the shops were open, and there was a lot of visitors about.
For months now, we've more or less had the canal to ourselves, and have become rather used to it. However, today, all that changed and suddenly lots of boats have appeared. Obviously they've heard that the breach is open, and they've all come out! The moorings are all taken along the canal here at Llangollen now.
Monday, 14th March
We went in to Llangollen for some last minute shopping and then set off on our journey to Hurleston Junction, where the Llangollen Canal joins the Shropshire Union, just north of Nantwich. The Llangollen is 44.5 miles long, and has 21 locks. We think it will take us about four days to reach the junction. We were sorry to leave Llangollen, it's a pretty town and we love this canal. But there's lots more to do and see, and we've got to get on and do it! We re-covered those four beautiful miles to the aqueduct, and saw the first primroses of the year.
We went over the two aqueducts--I can't keep writing all those long names, it wears me out!--through the two short tunnels and moored up at St. Martin's where we'd stayed on the way up. The weather closed in over the last few miles, and I stayed below decks.
Tuesday, 15th March
When we moored up yesterday, Trev said he thought there was something in the weedhatch. But it was too miserable to check and so we left it until this morning in the hope of better weather. Well, the only improvement was that it wasn't raining. But the job had to be done, and Trev disentngled loads of nylon binder twine from the propellor. The water was so cold, he was in pain with it.
We set off and did the first two locks on the canal. At Ellesmere, Trev filled up with water and got rid of the rubbish, whilst I walked in to town to retrieve my flat iron! When we came through Ellesmere earlier on, I bought a flat iron from an antique shop, to actually use for ironing. The electric iron uses a lot of power, and I thought a flat iron might be the answer. However, I hadn't allowed for the fact that it was rusty and rough, and so it won't run smoothly over the clothes. I went back to the shop for advice, and they offered to smooth it down for me. So I left it there whilst we went up to Llangollen. It's a lot better, but it's still not really smooth, and it's heavy! Those housewives of old must have had muscles like boxers to have wielded an iron like mine. However, it will serve a purpose, as I do patchwork, and need an iron which is always ready just to press small pieces of material. I keep it on the solid fuel stove, and it's just right!
Wednesday, 16th March
We had a long cruise today, and covered twelve miles. There were no locks, but instead we had five lift bridges to wind up and down. The weather was awful to begin with, rain and wind, but it improved in the afternoon. Trev rode the bike into Whitchurch, and picked up the post from the Post Office and fetched some shopping.
Thursday, 17th March
Off we set again, stopping at Grindley Brook to take on water and offload rubbish. There was a treat in store for us here; the lock keeper was on duty. BW provide a lock keeper here in the season, as staircase locks are rather complicated. But we hadn't expected that he would have started yet.
Click here for a go at doing a lock for yourself!
With the help of the lockie, we were soon through the Grindley Brook staircase locks. Then we had another three to do on our own. Trev went on ahead to set the locks so that they would be ready for me to steer in to as I arrived. There was a lot of locks to do today--Povey's, Willeymoor, Quoisey and Marbury. Then we had three locks at Baddiley and finally two at Swanley. We were pleased with our progress. Thanks to the beautiful weather, we kept going and did twelve miles and fifteen locks, eventually mooring up just before the last four locks of the Llangollen Canal. Tomorrow we shall drop down through them--the Hurleston Flight--and turn left on to the Shropshire Union. Then we shall go up to Chester and Ellesmere Port, which is the northern end of the Shropshire Union Canal.
NEARING THE END OF THE LLANGOLLEN CANAL
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