Nearly into Llangollen

Today's Canal - Llangollen

Christine set the alarm for this morning! After last night's investigations and re-planning we found that we could just make the 9:30 service in St Martin's and be back at the boat for the earliest arrival time of Joanna and the two girls.

We walked up the footpath through tree fields. Fortunately there has not been much rain for a few days so there was little mud and we were not too dishevelled when we arrived. We were made to feel welcome - there was a congregation of around 40 people. With one or two local tweaks it was a fairly standard Common Worship communion service. The main variation from anything we have experienced elsewhere was that the sharing of the peace came after the first hymn.

Things took a little longer than we had been promised - we were told that the vicar had to leave by 10:30 to get to his other parish but he seemed to show s ant inclination to achieve that goal! We warned the people who had spoken to us beforehand that we might need to slip away and we did indeed leave in the final verse of the final hymn. Unfortunately this did not give us a chance to talk with other folk or to take some internal pictures. This means that we do not have the evidence for two interesting features. At the back, stored unused, was a three-decker pulpit which must have made the preacher seem mist imposing, right at the top. Also there was a banner for Ifton Colliery. One person we did talk to came to the village from the north east having working in mining but arrived long after the local pit closed.

Having slunk out we made our way back down the same footpath. We reached the meeting point bridge around 10:50 so Christine stayed there whilst Mike brought the boat along, just in case the car came for the earlier time. As it happened, by the time we had moored, Mike had changed and walked up to the top of the bridge, there was the car looking for a place to park!

After a short break Joanna set off with her car to the hotel where she and Jess are staying the night, arranging for us to meet again close to Chirk Station.

The rest of us had about an hour's level cruise through very pleasant countryside and great sunshine. Time now for short sleeves (at least for a day!). Soon after setting off we passed a canalside cottage with this light pipe, an unusual way of adding light into difficult corners of rooms.

Another interesting shape of a tree trunk.

Around another leafy corner and we began to see the railway viaduct that runs alongside Chirk Aqueduct, the first of the famous features for today. Without exploring away from the boat we could not, of course, see much of the structure we were cruising over. Perhaps on the way back?

At the end of the crossing we were welcomed into Wales - the boundary follows the river below. Immediately after that we entered the gloom of Chirk Tunnel. The passage through was made all the more unusual by the noise coming from the boat ahead of us - the pirates we saw earlier in the trip. We s\aw them again a little further on having a picnic in a field and they passed us later in the evening after we had moored.

Just after the tunnel Joanna was ready and waiting - she had tried to send us a text but, of course, being in the tunnel we did not get it! She had managed to track down a local taxi rather quickly.

Joanna was by now re-establishing her boating skills and took us through the shorter Whitehouses Tunnel.

Shortly before the second aqueduct we had to pass through the only lift bridge for today. Jess managed to do some of the turns but there were a lot of them before the boat could pass underneath!

Christine and Jess opted to walk over Pontcysyllte Aqueduct whilst Mike and Alice enjoyed the view from the front of the boat, leaving Joanna in control at the stern. At first glance this does not seem to be very much at all, but there was a quite significant crowd of people just walking to and fro, along the towpath over one side of the iron trough that carries the canal over the deep valley. Originally this was an experience beyond the imagination of most people and it still holds much of that impact even today.

The landscape is now very much surrounded by much higher hills.

Just after the end of the aqueduct is the popular Trevor Junction where there is a busy hire base. We turned left under a bridge onto the final part of the canal. This was initially constructed really as a feeder channel from further up the River Dee and still is the sources of the flow right down to Hurleston Reservoir. As a result it is narrow in many places with limited places to moor.

There is little to spoil the picturesque scenery and progress is slow so plenty of time to take it all in. Joanna and Jess's hotel was a couple of miles before Llangollen terminus. The called briefly at the hotel which is right beside the canal, just to check in. Fortunately, however, we found a stretch where it was possible to moor for the night, just a bridge further on. There was then plenty of time to explore the woodlands before the roast dinner which was, by now, coming along nicely.

8.9 Miles - 0 Locks

St Martin

Today's Canal - Llangollen

Another reasonably warm day but thin cloud stayed with us most of the day so that the camera struggled to take decent photos.

The Lyneal Wharf is a holiday centre for disabled people and they have two or three boats with special adaptations.

The first part of our journey today passed beside two of the Meres. The first, Cole Mere, is the one Christine took a look at last night.

The second is Blake Mere. It seemed popular to walk along the towpath to look lover this mere but signs indicated that it is not open to the public for recreational use, unlike Cole Mere.

As we approached Ellesmere there were several sculptures beside the canal. Most were airy wire shapes and not easy to photo as we cruised along. This one worked OK as it is a bit more solid!

We have never before taken the arm into Ellesmere itself - this time we were looking to do some shopping. We knew that there is a Tesco alongside the arm but we also wanted to look at the town itself. Although it is a popular place there were several spaces and we managed to fit snugly in fourth from the end.

We first walked into town, only a short distance from the wharf. There are quite a few small shops including a good bakery shop where we bought a couple of loaves, some pastries and a hand raised pork pie. There was also a small butcher but we did not need that today - we are still stocked up from Duttons in Wadebridge! Mike took the first load back to the boat whilst Christine made a start on the supermarket list.

By the time we returned to the boat, heavily laden, it was time for lunch. However, Christine called Windsor to check on arrangements for Alice's visit starting tomorrow and discovered that there were a few more items needed. She later thought about pud for tomorrow and went back a third time!

As we left the mooring we could see a game of cricket about to begin as the teams gathered into position.

We joined the main line but only a few metres from the junction is the old maintenance yard where there is the full ranges of services which we needed use. Much of the base is still in use, including the dry dock which had a boat in it being worked on. (well, not actually today!)

The canal is rightly famed for the pleasant scenery.

This gnarled stump caught our attention.

Talking of swans - well, we were a couple of days ago - how did this one get there?

Two of the bridges are called Paddock No1 Bridge and No2. Perhaps this is the paddock as they are at either end of this field alongside a farm.

This, we think, is the same disused railway line that we passed under yesterday - still have to find out something about it!

On the run towards the two New Martin locks we were treated to an aerobatic display overhead. Loop-the-loop and barrel rolls. We tried to convince ourselves that it was a private display for us but perhaps it was just a practice. Taking photos is not easy, especially as we were still on the move, and only one of several actually caught the plane - at some distance. Use your imagination!

At the locks several boats were coming down. In some cases they were very new to locks - some of the short break hires only do these two as they go up to Llangollen and back.

We stopped close to the village of St Martin in case we could find an early service in the morning. Mike walked up the footpath - it took just over quarter of an hour but it is a good path through the fields. On arrival, the first noticeboard listed an 8 am service but Mike walked around to the other side, probably the more used entrance, only to discover that that timing had been taped over.

He took the opportunity to look at the village. There is a lot of new housing, much under construction, but it is a rather sprawled out sort of place with little apparent sense of centre. A fairly busy road runs through where there is a new-ish set of assorted shops including a Nisa-extra.

Alongside the main road is Ifton Miners Welfare. Outside is a bench in a design that recalls pithead winding gear.

According to click Ifton once had one of Shropshire's largest collieries. It closed in 1968.

A further call to Windsor re-arranged the meeting place so that the car will come to the next bridge from where we are - this means we can manage to go to the 9.30 service.

Now discovered that the railway line was the Oswestry, Ellesmere and Whitchurch, part of Cambrian Railways. It seems that one of the principal reasons for constructing this railway was the regeneration of Ellesmere. Not sure whether it ever achieved much of that goal but the town is certainly very quiet today.

10.6 Miles - 2 Locks

Lyneal

Today's Canals - Llangollen, Prees Branch

Another change in the weather! We awoke to a bright blue sky and, although it turned grey by the time we set off, it soon warmed up and was one of the better days so far. Layers of clothes had to be shed. On the other hand, mobile connections were few and far between, with rare internet capability.

We had noticed last evening that there is a shop at the service station close to the canal at Grindley Brook which sells newspapers. So Mike walked back about 10 minutes and noticed several other boaters coming from the shop with papers in hand. On the other hand he failed with milk and frozen fish.

The splendid lock keeper's cottage commands the top of Grindley Brook locks. Not sure whether the occupier is connected with the canal but they may be unaware of how much the canals benefit from EU grants.

Although there are no locks to negotiate today there are several lift bridges, each with an hydraulic mechanism. Each one is a little different and use very different numbers of turns. The hardest was one that took 75 turns whilst others just over 30. There were quite a few boats about this morning - it was very different after lunch - so lift bridges are quite a dance as the boater who raises a bridge, and is thus stuck on the offside, hopes for a break in the line of boats so that they can be allowed to lower the bridge and make their getaway - after all the others are now ahead. If lucky, you catch up with them after they have opened the next but it did not seem to work out that way very often today.

This is the first, not long after we set off and was about the easiest.

This is a little further with the boat ahead having had to wait for a couple of others boats just as we arrived on the scene. Still, we had let one through at an earlier bridge where we had opened it.

This was a former railway bridge but as we are internet-less we cannot find out what line it carried. Hopefully we will be able to look it up before we come back sometime next week.

Again, the wild flowers lining the edge of the towpath were impressive.

By now the skies were mainly blue and the fluffy clouds served only to make everything look even more attractive.

Just the day, in fact, for a gentle trot along the country lanes close to the canal.

We think that these are the first yellow irises that we have seen this year.

This lift bridge is unusual in that it leaves no gap between the water and the bridge deck. The crew on the boat ahead had lowered he bridge after they had passed through as there was a waiting walker - the bridge carries a public footpath - and was about to lift it again when he spotted us a short distance back. We managed, however, to signal to him to leave it and that we would manage it ourselves. Otherwise they would have had a long wait. We however, were just at the right time for a boat coming the other way that we could wave through.

Alongside the canal at this point there are information boards about walks around parts of the Whixall Mosses. At one point we saw a large group of mothers and children, all equipped with fishing nets but none had yet had chance to catch anything. Just after we passed them we saw that at this last lift bridge there is a car park for visitors to the walks. It looked popular. Christine took a close look at one board and stored away the suggestion that we might stop on the return journey of Alice is interested in an explore.

The short Prees Branch is now under a mile in length. At one time a clay pit produced puddle for mending canals which has now been converted into a BWML Marina at what is the end of the navigable part.

The first lift bridge is stated in Nicholsons has being very difficult to operate. It must have been improved as it was not the hardest today and we have encountered far worse.

The next lift bridge was even easier - sadly it looks as if the repair is taking some time. That's a rather badly cracked support beam.

This lamb seemed to have escaped from the adjoining field but was desperately trying to find a way back - with little success.

At the marina we enquired if there was an engineer who could advise us about our batteries which seem to have a rather low voltage first thing in the morning. This has only started to occur from the beginning of this trip. The advertised chandlery and other facilities have long since closed but an engineer from the hire fleet that operates from here kindly took a look and declared our batteries to be fine, or so his tester states. Another puzzle not yet solved. We turned around and set off back but tied up for lunch just after the broken bridge where we spotted proper visitor moorings as we came down.

After lunch, Mike took the opportunity to see whether the macro facility on his compact camera would help close up pictures of some of the wild flowers that we cannot easily capture as we cruise along.

We set off once more - just before the junction we spotted this postbox for the cottage at the junction, which also has a roving bridge, one that takes the towpath over the canal.

This is the main part of Whixall Moss, although it extends both sides of the canal. We understand that it is a peat bog, initially created at the end of the ice age.

It was a pleasant and leisurely cruise from here with only an occasional bridge. There were very few boats passing us. A little outside Ellesmere (where we plan to do a weekend shop tomorrow) we found a very quiet mooring, alas still no mobile signal so it is an open question when, dear reader, you will get to see this report!

Later, whilst Mike prepared a tuna, sweetcorn and mushroom pie for tonight's meal, Christine went for a walk along the towpath and took a look at Cole Mere, the first of several meres that adjoin the canal for the next two or three miles. Here are some of the pictures she captured along the way.

11.9 Miles - 0 Locks - 7 Lift Bridges