From perusing our our trusty Pearson's Canal Companion it looked like more peaceful Shropshire countryside was in store east from Ellesmere, with the next major town, Whitchurch, at least a day away. Last winter a canal embankment gave way just east of Whitchurch, so that's as far as we can go. Normally the Llangollen Canal is connected to the Shropshire Union Canal and on to the rest of the UK, but for maybe another six months or so the boats on the Llangollen Canal are trapped in Wales and Shropshire.
Behind us, west of Chirk was the mighty Pontcysyllte aqueduct and Llangollen. We decided to change plans, head west, and spend an extra day moored at the city marina in Llangollen.
First though I had to turn Celeste around. At the end of the canal arm into Ellesmere was a "winding hole", "wind" pronounced with a short i, like a breeze, not what you do to a clock spring. Supposedly in the horse drawn days you would use the wind to help you turn the boat. So here was my first winding hole, fairly spacious as they go.
It took me a couple of back and forth-s, but I managed to do it without bumping anything. Another narrow boater watched from her rear deck with a cup of tea in her hand, and said something nice afterwards.
The Llangollen Canal doubles as a water source and has a noticeable flow to it. It is fed by River Dee above Llangollen and supplies water to some of the towns along the way. We had been going downstream but now we were headed against the current. I bumped up the motor speed a bit.
We fell in with another narrowboat with three men from Sweden, so of course they were the Swedes. I think they knew each other from working together at Saab.
The day started a little damp but brightened up pretty quickly. The way marks along the canal are stone bridges, all numbered. Ellesmere was at bridge 59, and as we went back towards Wales the numbers increased, topping out at 69 at Frankton Junction, where the Montgomery Canal splits off. Bridge numbers reset there to 1W, 2W and so on. The last bridge at Llangollen is 45W.
The bridges are all just wide enough for a narrowboat to pass, along with the towpath. So as skipper I'm frequently threading the needle, guiding the boat with maybe a foot on each side. Often there are turns just before or after a bridge, in which case you give a little honk with your horn in case someone is coming the other way. It keeps you on your toes. Here we are approaching bridge 5W.
And then squeezing through.
We tied up on the right side here, just past the turn, because this was where the Narrowboat Inn was, and we had had a nice lunch the day before. The Swedes also stopped. Alas the kitchen was closed, so we moved on. The bar was open though, and the Swedes stopped for a pint.
We all met up again at New Marton locks. Here is Michele working the gates and doors.
We tied up for the evening just before the Chirk aqueduct.
The canal here is up on the hillside as it approached the aqueduct. Our plan was to walk down to the Bridge Inn for dinner, which has a nice view of the aqueduct and railroad bridge from below. Alas the kitchen at the Bridge Inn was also closed! Mondays are tough. But no worries, we had provisions on board.
Maybe it doesn't sound that strange but to me it felt very strange to walk downhill from your boat to the pub, and uphill to get back to your boat.