Llangollen to Ellesmere

Wed 14^th June  Llangollen to Offa’s Dyke

We had a leisurely morning. As we were about to go, we realised that Hawk, the hire boat nearby, was also ready to go, but a trip boat was turning in the basin entrance. When the trip boat had turned, another two boats came to turn. Then Hawk left, and so did we, but another boat left their mooring and nipped in front of us. The trip boat stopped to take on passengers, and the boat in front of us decided to wait for the trip boat to go again. It could have been another 30 minutes, so we persuaded him to go without waiting. Another boat had appeared behind us, so there were now six boats in a convoy, and we were number 5.

We paused to empty a cassette at the facilities, and the last boat went past, so we were now number 6.

Travelling in a convoy is quite useful on the Llangollen, because you don’t have to check what is coming on the narrow sections, as long as you follow another boat. However, the cautious boat had not cottoned on to this, so he stopped before Bridge 42, and started banging in mooring spikes. The boat in front of us went past, and we followed, and discovered that Hawk had moored up opposite the Sun Trevor pub for lunch. There were still three boats in front of us, and we were now number 4.

On arrival at Trevor, we wanted to stop for lunch, and discovered that almost all the moorings were taken by Anglo-Welsh. They allowed us to pause for an hour, as long as we left room for the trip boat. James went to investigate the moorings at the end of the arm, where we had stayed for four days with Gospel Belle and Trinity five years ago. The end is two-pronged like a tuning fork, and both prongs were now drained and being re-furbished, with wall repairs and new mooring rings. Who will be allowed to moor there? We are not sure. We hope there will be enough visitor spaces.

We found Colin and Shirley’s boat Brace Yourself moored by the footbridge, but no-one was aboard.

A boat came from the aqueduct and went past us, until we pointed out that it was a dead end, and they needed to turn left. There must be many more boaters who do this, as the entrance to the Llangollen Arm is narrow and insignificant. When they had gone back and turned left as instructed, we reversed to the junction and turned, and set off across the aqueduct. It was even better in this direction, and the flow was in our favour as we took our boat above the trees. We saw a raven fly under our boat! Exhilarating!

At the other end there was a flotilla of canoes waiting to cross, plus three narrow boats. We were ushered through the lift bridge by a hire boat, who agreed to lower the bridge afterwards.

We stopped on rings close to the limekilns, but moved on later to a quieter spot beyond the aqueduct. There were rings, and a wide grassy area where we set up a table and chairs in the shade. A lovely mooring. There was a view across to the railway viaduct that crosses the Dee valley.

Llangollen Basin with a trip boat turning

The Narrows

Castell Dinas Bran

Convoy hold up

One gives up

Pause for lunch in Trevor Arm

The end of the arm

Repairing the arm at Trevor

Telford's masterpiece

Crossing again

Boating above the trees

Canoes waiting

Froncysyllte Life Bridge

Dining out

Railway viaduct

0 locks, 6 miles, 1 aqueduct, 1 lift bridge. Dep 1050, arr 1255 Trevor. Dep 1350, arr 1430 Froncysyllte. Dep 1540, arr 1550 Offa’s Dyke.

Thu 15^th June  Offa’s Dyke to Paddock Bridge 8

We left our very pleasant mooring, and followed a hire boat. We were soon negotiating Whitehouse Tunnel, and then we met Toasty coming the other way. We had had chats with him at Ellesmere, and he had provided toasties for the team on Saturday.

We went through Chirk Tunnel, using torches once more. We had no waiting to do, and were straight through across the aqueduct, back into England. The aqueduct itself appears to be in no-mans land, as the Welcome to England sign, and the Welcome to Wales sign are at opposite ends of the aqueduct.

Just after this, there were moored boats on the left. A boat was coming through the narrow channel on the right, so the hire boat in front of us pulled in to the left behind the moored boats, to let the oncoming boat through on the right. The oncoming boat, instead of continuing, pulled over in front of the hire boat, and the guy got off and told off the hire boat crew, and pushed them out into the channel, so that they could keep to the right, the usual passing position for boats. Then we discovered that the oncoming boat was Esio Trot. They had had similar argumentative encounters with some of our team before the mission. It seems that the guy likes to assert authority.

The hire boat in front of us were first timers, and quite slow. They wanted to moor at the Poachers Pocket, but found it difficult to steer in to the side. Two crew got off without ropes – not helpful. The guy on the helm then took the boat to the winding hole, where he turned with his stern into the turning area (not generally a clever idea as you might pick up things on the prop). When he returned to the mooring spot his crew had gone to the pub, leaving him to moor the boat on his own.

We continued past and stopped briefly for lunch at Bridge 14/13. We found that the café that had once been in a cottage by bridge 13 had gone – now just a private dwelling. Moving on once more, we arrived at New Marton Locks and found a lock queue. It was a bit confusing, as there is only space for three boats on the bollards south of the bridge and before the lock, and queuing boats have to go onto the water point bollards north of the bridge. It took an hour in the queue before we reached the lock. One of the top paddles was not connecting properly.

We picked up a pipe fender on the prop, and James went down the weed hatch to disentangle the fender rope, which needed some action from our bread knife. The fender was OK, and James gave it to a guy from Eastern Europe who came from a boat called Kirianna nearby. We moved on a little way and moored before bridge 8, where we had shade. There were noisy sheep in the field opposite, several of whom had injured legs or feet. A dog was howling in a cottage nearby. A family of Mandarin Ducks came to visit.

Later there was an animal splashing in the water, but we couldn’t see what it was in the gloom. It disappeared under the water so it must have been a mink or an otter.

Leaving Whitehouse Tunnel

Chirk Tunnel

Out of the tunnel towards the aqueduct

Chirk Aqueduct

Back into England

New Marton Locks

Moored opposite the sheep

Mandarin duck family

2 locks, 7 miles, 2 tunnels, 1 aqueduct. 1045 Dep, arr 1300 Br 14. Dep 1335, arr 1620, Br 8.

Fri 16^th June  Paddock Bridge 8 to Tetchill Br 63/64.

James had a go at cleaning the starboard side of the boat this morning, as we have not moored on this side for a few days.

We estimate that 8 out of 10 boats are hire boats at the moment, and at Whittington Wharf several were having a changeover. This used to be called Maestermyn Marine, but it now Bettisfield Boats. At least it is easier to pronounce!

We passed Frankton Junction, where boats were in a queue for the locks. A hire boat ahead of us had got stuck on a bend, and there was considerable revving and reversing before they were free. They stopped where we had planned to, after bridge 67, so we continued through Bridge 64, and found rings with shade. We hung out the washing which dried very quickly. There was some sloping ground where we put chairs and a table out. They had to be levelled by sinking the back legs in and raising the front legs. We also had to rake up the loose grass left by the mowers, to save bringing it into the boat. There was a lovely cool breeze, and a buzzard circling.

Early morning light

Turnover Bridge

Moored at Tetchill

Levelling up

Buzzard

0 locks, 3 miles. Dep 0940, arr 1050.

Sat 17^th June  Tetchill to Ellesmere

We had a little rain this morning, so we waited for it to pass. That was our undoing, because several boats passed us, and by the time we reached the Ellesmere Arm there were no spaces left. On the way we paused at the facilities for water, elsan and rubbish, and noticed Kirianna opposite, trading as a tea and coffee boat.  We moored on the two bollards by the old Shropshire Union warehouse, and waited for a boat to leave. Hazel went to meet Rachel in the church café, called “More Than a Sundae”.

In the end, no boats left, so we stayed there. We went for an Indian meal in Asian Spices, which was excellent. We have never before seen so many different variations of Chicken Tikka on a menu! Sadly, no dessert menu, as we fancied a kulfi.

The water point at Ellesmere

Moored by the warehouse

0 locks, 2 miles. Dep 1145, arr 1325.

Sun 18^th Jun Ellesmere

The hire boat opposite departed, and we moved Gabriel across to their space. As we were tying up, the rings we needed were missing, so James used the centre line to stop us moving forward. As he flicked it up onto the roof, it caught the bathroom porthole, and the glass fell onto the loo and smashed. What a mess!

We visited the Cellar Church for their 10am Father’s Day service. Phil was preaching, and talked about Mordecai, and how he acted as a good father to Esther. On the way back to the boat we tried to find somewhere for lunch, and ended up having fish and chips in the chippy.

We cleared up the glass from the porthole, which had shattered into hundreds of bits. Rachel came aboard for a chat with Hazel. Later it rained heavily. We had a Zoom call with Jack and Sandra. During the call a guy knocked on the boat and said he wanted to talk at some stage. He is moored at Blake Mere, where we have other team members. He had been drinking, and he said he had lots to talk about, and he was probably going to prison soon. Better to talk when he is sober.

No meaningful boating today.

Broken glass

What it should look like

Thunderstorm in Ellesmere

Next: Trying to sort out some replacement glass in the morning, and then heading back down the Llangollen in the direction of Wrenbury, Middlewich and Manchester.