Two more days in Ellesmere

Sun 8th July   Blake Mere to the Ellesmere Arm

There was bright sunshine this morning as we left our shady peaceful mooring at Blake Mere, and headed through the tunnel for Ellesmere. We were hoping some boats would have left the Arm, and as we came to the junction, we spotted a space on the left just after the footbridge. There was a bit of shade there as well, so we were happy.

Morning sun at Blake Mere

Heading for Ellesmere Tunnel

Moored in the Ellesmere Arm

We walked to the Town Hall where the Cellar Church was meeting.  We had a good welcome once again, and Margaret and Rex joined us. The team from the USA were reaching the end of their time, and they were lined up at the front for a few stories.  Some were involved in the worship.

Cellar Church

USA team

The worship team

We made contact with Phil, and he gave us some of the mission literature that he had in the boot of his car.  We didn’t have long to spend with him, as there was a church outing to Llandudno, and the coach left at 1200.

Mission coaters

Margaret and Rex joined us in our search for a Sunday lunch.  We first tried the White Hart, and we arrived at 1155, thinking we would only have five minutes before they opened. The landlady came out and said they don’t open until 1pm.

White Hart

We then walked to M & R’s car to go elsewhere, and as we did so, Roger and Mirjana came past in the motor home. They told us that the music session in the White Hart was on the first Sunday of the month, i.e. last week. We were very pleased we found that out before we turned up with our instruments.

We drove round to the Red Lion, where we had a very pleasant meal. Afterwards, Margaret and Rex dropped us off at a canal bridge near our mooring.

Later Hazel went to Tesco for some bits.  We took Hugo’s collar off, and he was much happier. We need to check that he doesn’t scratch his ear with his hind feet, otherwise the collar will have to go on again.

We noticed many hire boats moored at the junction later. The building on the corner apparently used to be Telford’s office.

Hire boats by Telford’s Office

0 locks, 1 mile, 1 tunnel

Mon 9th Jul  Ellesmere Arm to Coachman’s Bridge

We weren’t in a hurry this morning, so we waited until we saw that the facilities wharf was vacant.  We reversed out of the arm, and headed there to fill up with water, empty rubbish and cassettes.

Reversing out of the Ellesmere Arm

The sanitary station

We moved on to find somewhere to moor for four or five nights. Margaret and Rex had got the OK for us to moor on their mooring length at Onston Farm, near Tetchill, so we headed there first.

Hugo helping us find a mooring

When we arrived at Onston Farm we met Peter, the unofficial moorings warden. We tried to go in bows first, but couldn’t get the back in due to silt.  We then tried going in stern first, and we were more successful, but having got the stern in, we couldn’t pull the bows in enough.  In the end we gave up.

Silted up moorings

We moved on through Coachman’s Bridge to a deeper mooring past the white cottage, where there were rings and some shade.  We used two rings, and tied to piling at the stern, so that only a small portion of the boat was on the 48 hour section. There were no other boats there.

Moored near Tetchill

Rex and Margaret came to see us later, with their dog Cassie.  They were off to Kent, and came to say goodbye.

Rex, Cassie, Margaret

We listened to the latest sermon from Broughton Church – an excellent talk from Phil White concerning the future possibilities for the church in Aylesbury.  Later, Paul and Polly on Polly B 2 came past and stopped for cuppa, and they produced ice creams.  They moved on later, when we were due to be collected by Enterprise.

Paul and Polly on Polly B 2

We stood by the bridge, as we had given the postcode for Onston Farm as our pick up location to Enterprise.  The car turned up, and we were taken to their depot in Oswestry, where we sorted the minimal paperwork, and we drove back. Thankfully there is a small area for parking cars, right by the bridge.

Our Enterprise hire car

0 locks, 2 miles

Next: a few days in Anglesey with Andy and Vicki Harvey