Llangollen

We have plenty of time to explore Llangollen, staying in the basin for 48 hrs. Had a walk to the horse shoe falls, we were going to take the horse drawn boat trip but found out it didn’t go all the way to the falls, so decided to walk the 2 miles along the canal which is not navigable. When we got back the local school were just building rafts for a short race,  which kept us entertained for the afternoon, as you can imagine they all ended up wet.

Steam Railway, River Dee below

The end of the Llangollen canal

Horse shoe falls

The horse drawn trip boat

Local school raft race

Trevor to Llangollen

Fuelled at Anglo Welsh at Trevor and then continued on to Llangollen. This is now new waters for us as last time we had to wind at Trevor. The first thing we noticed was how narrow and twisty this section is, even getting as narrow as one boat width in three sections. It was breathtaking scenery across the Vale of Llangollen.

Windsong following in the narrow one way working section

Extensive work has been done on the towpaths

Serenity and Windsong moored in Llangollen basin. The sun is shining and we have a fantastic view.

Froncysyllte to Trevor

Not too far to cruise today before we arrived at the Poncysyllte aqueduct. A feat of canal engineering, it carries the canal across the waters of the River Dee. It is over 1,000 feet long, 127 feet tall at its deepest point, and consists of an iron trough supported by 18 stone piers. The aqueduct was completed in 1805, the year of Nelson’s death in Trafalgar and is ranked among Telford’s outstanding achievements. History lesson over, it was for me a white knuckle ride and still as scary as the last time we crossed in a hire boat. Ian was making me nervous darting on and off the boat taking pictures.

  Tow path one side, sheer drop the other

I can’t even look down the side I would normally, my knees have gone to jelly

The River Dee below

Hindford to Froncysyllte

Had a very eventful day today. Two locks, two tunnels and an aqueduct. The weather started off promising but after the second lock the wind decided to start gusting again, making the boat a handful on the open stretches. As we meandered our way to Chirk the views got more dramatic, even more so as we crossed the aqueduct with the railway viaduct running along side and the Ceirog valley below. It certainly felt like we could have been flying with the wind still blowing strong. Immediately after the aqueduct we entered Chirk tunnel, followed later by Whitehouses tunnel. Mooring just outside of Froncysyllte saving the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct for tomorrow.

New Marton locks

Chirk aqueduct just around the corner

Approaching Chirk aqueduct

Chirk Tunnel

Inside Chirk tunnel, 459 yards

 

Tonight’s moorings

The view of the Pontcysyllte aqueduct, tomorrow’s adventure

Ellesmere to Hindford

Left Ellesmere wharf with a short stop for water etc at the junction. We then carried on trying to out run the weather, still very blustery with rain forecast. Passing Frankton junction which leads onto the Montgomery canal, which we will be cruising on our way back, hopefully in better weather. As the weather was not improving we decided to moor up just before Hindford, luckily just before the rain came.

Val Hill

Something to look forward to on the way back

Miles of beautiful scenery

That’s where badgers live in Shropshire

Whitchurch to Ellesmere

A lock free day today. At times it felt like we were cruising in the middle of nowhere, just miles of countryside, not a road in sight and the birds singing were the only noises we heard. We later passed the Fenn’s, Whixall and Bettisfield peat mosses, which are now nature reserves. Heading towards Ellesmere we pass seven lakes, or meres, canal side are Cole Mere and Blake Mere. They were apparently formed at the end of the Ice Age, 10,000 years ago. Mooring in Ellesmere Wharf until Monday, taking advantage of the canal side Tesco.

Approaching Ellesmere Tunnel

Turning into Ellesmere Wharf

Ellesmere Wharf

Grindley Brook to Whitchurch

The day was immediately started with three locks, then the staircase of three at Grindley Brook. All went smoothly and we moored above the locks to take on water and empty loos etc. It was another blustery day, not quite as bad as yesterday, but having done three lift bridges we decided to moor for the night just outside Whitchurch. From bridge 35 Ian and I decided to take a walk to find Pan Castle (Motte & Bailey), the footpaths are part of the Shropshire Way, but not very well worn and the farmer had just ploughed a huge field which we had to walk around even though the sign pointed diagonally across. The views were worth it and we did find what we were looking for.

The hard work starts on the other side

The bottom chamber of the staircase

The middle chamber

Tonight’s mooring

Shropshire in the foreground and Wales in the background

The view of Serenity and Windsong from our walk