The Montgomery Canal

Wed 8th Aug  Tetchill to Maesbury

We had a very peaceful night on our rural mooring near Tetchill. For breakfast we enjoyed the bacon we had bought at Vermeulens – very tasty and not expensive.

We had a leisurely journey to Frankton Junction, sometimes grounding just before the bridges, where silt had built up.

Beautiful loosestrife

Orange flowers near Frankton Junction

At Frankton we joined a queue waiting for the locks to be opened at 1200.  First in line was Inevitable, followed by Duke, then Gabriel. Slipstream arrived soon after, and then Sola Gratia.

Frankton Locks Queue

 Our confirmation from Canal and River Trust had our boat down as 58ft and 12 inches.  Our boat is 59ft, and we always put that on any forms.

Boat length

The lockkeeper arrived 30 minutes early, and started the first boats going down almost immediately. It was about 1200 when it was our turn, and we went into the two staircase locks. These are followed at once by two single locks.

Down the staircase

Into the single locks

After the initial four locks, we turned right at the junction with the Weston Branch, and soon came to Graham Palmer Lock. We were surprised to find it full, as two boats had gone down before us and we expected to have to fill it.  The lock has a fall of only a few inches, and we found the bottom gates very difficult to open. This was because the tope gates were leaking a lot, filling the lock almost at the same rate as it was emptying.

Graham Palmer Lock

The lock is named after the founder of the Waterways Recovery Group, a team of volunteers who restore locks and clear vegetation to reclaim derelict canals.  Soon after his stone memorial was installed a few years ago, some bored idiots decided to vandalise it, and it has remained in its defaced condition ever since.

Graham Palmer memorial

Before the defacing

Wide views to Shropshire hills

Perry Aqueduct

Heath Houses

The old warehouse

We found the bridge on the Montgomery Canal were very narrow, and for some reason the gap between the stone edges had been narrowed by wooden battens to accommodate slots for stop planks. Why the slots could not have been set into the stonework we could not understand. We asked some CRT staff later, and they didn’t know either.

Bridge narrowing at Corbett’s Bridge

The canal is very shallow and it is hard to get up any sort of speed. If you increase the revs, the stern digs down deeper and the boat grounds, so it was amusing to see a 3mph sign at the side. The chance of reaching that speed was very slim.

3mph

There are only two pubs on the navigable length, and the first is the Queens Head. We didn’t want to stop there as there is a busy road running alongside the moorings, and we would like to keep our cat a little longer. (Especially after spending lots of money at the vets earlier this year!)

There are three more locks soon after the Queens Head, and there is wildlife area alongside where they are extending the ponds. There are rare floating plants in the canal, and putting alternative habitats alongside the canal is a good way of keeping the flora while still allowing boats through. (Basingstoke Canal please note!)

Aston Locks

We met Tony and Sheila on Alice Mary who were finding it very shallow.  We seem to have been travelling with them ever since Market Drayton. They have been in the same pubs as us, and the same restaurants, and they spent some time in Ellesmere when our mission was happening.

We stopped opposite the Navigation Inn at Maesbury Marsh, where we planned to go later. James did a few jobs including fitting Hugo’s new cat flap.

Moored by the Navigation Inn

Hugo’s new front door

Tim and Tracey came past on Sola Gratia, saying they were going to turn round at the end and come back. They said they would join us in the pub.  We booked a table, but didn’t really need to.  We had a very enjoyable meal.

In the Navigation Inn (Tim’s photo)

Emerging from the pub

Sunset at Maesbury (Tim has a better one)

8 locks, 8 miles

Thu 9th Aug  Maesbury to Weston Branch

With Sola Gratia at Maesbury

We had seen on the weather forecast that Saturday was due to be wet, whereas Friday was shown as fine. We had booked our return journey up the locks for Saturday, but decided to change the booking to Friday as we didn’t fancy doing the locks in the rain.

We continued our journey to the end of the navigation.  Our previous boat was built by Barry Tuffin at Maesbury Marine in 2004, so we were very familiar with all the landmarks in this area.

This horse drawn boat was also built by Barry

Crofts Mill Lift Bridge (quite hard work)

Just after this lift bridge is the Mill Arm that originally led to Maesbury Hall Mill, where boats unloaded farm produce at the flour mill. This arm was extensively restored and cleared for navigation by Barry in order to launch his boats and provide some moorings, when Maesbury Marine was in operation.

The Mill Arm

Barry’s basin

Where our boat was launched

We continued on the main line and turned at the end by Barry’s cottage at Gronwen, and cruised back again. We moored just up from the lift bridge, and walked back to see how the restoration of the canal was getting on. We had a chat with Barry as we passed. The canal has been restored as far as bridge 84, Pryles Bridge, and beyond that a new lining is being laid, with stone blocks to keep it in place.  We were surprised by the shallow sloping profile, which means that mooring will be impossible except at designated places. There was a dam in place halfway to the next bridge at Crickheath. Beyond the dam the canal bed was full of bushes and other vegetation.

Restoration in progress

The dam

Overgrown canal

Liftbridge on restored section

White flowers

As we returned along the towpath we met Tim and Tracey coming the other way. They were exploring with Oakley. 

Back on board, we set off again, heading back towards the Llangollen Canal.

Wharf crane at Maesbury

Meadow flowers gone to seed

Aston Locks

The A5 at Queen’s Head

Aston Locks were all in our favour, and we stopped for the day when we arrived at the Weston Branch. This is just before the Frankton Locks, and the first part is used for mooring, and the remainder as a nature reserve.  We reversed in as far as we could, where Hugo could get off and explore. Sola Gratia arrived a few hours later, and moored across the arm, nearer to the car park.

The Weston Branch

4 locks, 8 miles, 2 lift bridges

Fri 10th Aug  Weston Branch to Ellesmere

Well, the weather forecast had changed, and now rain was forecast for today, but tomorrow, our original booking date, was now forecast fine. A complete reversal of the previous prediction. Sure enough, the rain arrived.

Rain!

Moored in the Weston Arm

Thankfully the rain stopped as the time for our locks booking approached. We discovered that our side doors would not open as the level had dropped overnight. In fact we were on the bottom and James had to haul the boat clear using the centre line.  We crossed over to the sanitary station to empty cassettes, before setting off for the locks. The canal was very shallow and we struggled to make any progress. Thankfully we made it to the lock bollards where we tied up to wait for the Man from CRT.

A hire boat came up behind us and wanted to go into the lock in front of us as it was empty. What they hadn’t seen was that the pound above was very low, and if they had taken another lockful, there would not have been enough water to float a boat.  We said we had to wait for the lockkeeper to sort out the levels.

When the lockkeeper arrived, he let some water down the locks to fill that pound, but when he signalled for us to go in, we discovered that we could not get over the cill, as the bottom pound was so shallow. He ran some more water down, and meanwhile we let the hire boat go in front as their draft was less than ours. When they managed to get up through the lock, they had taken a lockful from that pound, and so they were stuck on the bottom!

Low pound

Hire boat on the bottom

When boats started coming down the staircase, bringing water with them, it became a bit easier. Sola Gratia went in next, and we followed in third place.

Sola Gratia on the staircase

Gabriel’s turn

Leakage on the staircase

We finally reached the top and turned to the right to head for Ellesmere. The sky was looking very ominous, and we decided to moor up at the first set of rings we came to, and wait for the rain to pass.

Threatening sky

We were too late. The rain started in earnest just as the mooring place came in sight. We both got wet as we moored the boat, and put up the hood. We put the kettle on and watched as we had a heavy downpour.

Proper rain

We were there for just over half an hour, when the rain stopped, and we set off again. As we approached Ellesmere we noticed that most of the moorings were all taken, and the Ellesmere Arm was reserved for trading boats for the Ellesmere Festival. We continued past the junction, where we spotted Sola Gratia. Then we saw Kairos moored up, and we stopped about six boat lengths after the marina entrance.  The mooring had a pleasant view, but the farmer had chosen today to apply slurry to his field, and there was a persistent rural odour all around the area.

Moored opposite the slurry field

We went to explore the arm and see which boats were trading. We saw a pizza boat and thought of Phil, our vicar in Aylesbury, who has overseen the church narrowboat project, and who also has a pizza oven in his garden.

The Pizza Boat

We went to the Indian restaurant with Roger and Mirjana, and who should be at the next table but Tony and Sheila (Alice Mary). After the meal we went to the White Hart and met more friends of Roger and Mirjana. Tony and Sheila were also there!

We walked back to the boat in the dark, using our phones as torches.

4 locks, 4 miles

Next: the Ellesmere Festival over the weekend, and then the cruise back to the Shroppie, aiming for Nantwich on Sunday.