I shouldn't have worried about our spot, everything was perfectly chill overnight. The canal police did not come by to kick us out. I'm pretty sure there are no canal police, I think a lot of canal life depends on good will, cooperation and a little flexibility.
We walked our boat forward 50 yards, tied off and filled our water tank. Then we joined a flotilla of three boats and it was off over River Dee on the Pontcysyllte aqueduct!
Kevin (back at Chirk base) advised me to stand on the towpath side of the cockpit, although I'm pretty sure I would have scooted over to that side anyway. The deck level of the boat is just above that iron edge, so it feels like your boat is floating 120 ft in the air with no railing, and really not much of a lip holding you in. The views were spectacular.
At the end of the aqueduct is Trevor Basin, which is a small marina and a place to turn your boat a very quick 90 degrees, because the canal heads directly off to the left, under a bridge and then hugging the hillside. It is a busy spot, with rafts of boats in the marina, tourists, boats waiting to cross the other way, and travelers like us trying to make the turn. I thought I had it but there were a couple of loud bumps getting through the bridge. No photos of Trevor Basin, we were both too frantic. It's like old game Operation, you try to be careful and then "bzzzzt!"
After Trevor Basin were several miles of some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve been along, as we made our way towards Llangollen.
The canal is up on the hillside, and when they first restored the Llangollen canal for recreation use sections kept giving way. In the 1980's the Canal and River Trust mostly rebuilt this section with concrete. The slope is steep enough that you pass rooftops of houses on the downhill side.
Some sections were neat enough to feel like a city park.
Near Llangollen is a half kilometer section of the canal that was hewn from the rock, and is understandably only wide enough for one boat. There is thankfully signage advising you to stop and send someone ahead to make sure the way is clear. Pearson’s guide says to send your most diplomatic crew member. So myself and another boat tied off and Michele and another fellow went ahead. I soon got the text message to forge ahead, and the gal on the other boat did the same. Meanwhile Michele and Peter got to know each other a little bit. Peter and his wife Margaret are from Ellesmere and have taken their narrowboat all over the UK, including a month-long post-retirement voyage to London.
We moored in the basin outside Llangollen, which is the end of the navigable canal. Here we met a couple from Lubbock Texas who were piloting "Champagne Charlie". They were wondering if we wanted to caravan with them the next day on the return. It was tempting to have "Don't Mess with Texas" in the lead going back through the narrows, but our plan was to stay an extra day in Llangollen. (I joke, they seemed like really nice people.)
We walked upstream to the source of the canal, Horseshoe Falls. This is another Thomas Telford marvel.
I mean, panache, am I right?
Afterwards we walked down into town and across River Dee, where we found some meat and veggie pies for dinner.
