Wood and Mud.

This morning Meg and I had a walk along the towpath towards Chirk Tunnel. Contractors are repairing and resurfacing the towpath along here, and they’ve had to widen an existing path to get the plant to the site.
The path ran through trees and they’ve had to remove branches and even cut down some smaller trees to get through. I spotted a suitable length, and so when we got going I made a point of shouting across to a couple of the guys. “Take as much as you want” was the reply. We pulled in to the muddy bank and I set off, trusty bushman saw in hand.

Muddy towpath where the contractors are moving machinery.

Over an hour later, with an aching back and sore shoulders, I’d a roof full of logs of varying sizes. There was a lot more about than I‘d first thought!

A good roof full

We got going again with difficulty, the extra weight had sat us more firmly on the bottom, but with a bit of judicious tiller wiggling and gentle throttle we pulled away.

Another 10 minutes and we were approaching Chirk Tunnel. Just as Mags decided to build the fire up……

Smokey chimneys and tunnels are not a good combination!
We got through without too many bumps, not bad considering I couldn’t see where we were going, had frequent coughing fits and watering eyes. I felt (and smelt) like a kipper when we got out the other end!

Back out into fresh air, onto Chirk Aqueduct

At the far end of the aqueduct our sojourn into the Land of the Leek comes to an end…

Border crossing (again)

A little less than a mile and we were pulling in behind Moore2Life just after Gledrid Bridge. I was glad to get tied up, after getting hot and sweaty cutting and hauling the wood, I’d got cold on the counter. Still, a hot cuppa and a warm in front of that blazing log fire put things to rights.

After thawing I was back out again, cutting up some of the smaller bits and rearranging the rest into neat-ish piles on the roof. We’d travelled for the last 45 minutes with a bit of a list to the left…

We’ve not seen much of George and Carol today, they’d collected guests for a trip across Pontcysyllte, and didn’t get to join us till nearly 18:00. I don’t think they enjoyed the last half-hour in the dark. Tunnel lights are OK in tunnels, but are woefully inadequate for night-time cruising.

Locks 0, miles 2½

Leaving Llangollen….

We’ve had an enjoyable few days in Llangollen. It’s a pleasant town, with a good range of shops and some interesting buildings. But we didn’t spend all our time there; not when there’re are equally interesting but more remote places to see….

On Wednesday, under cold grey skies we heading off on foot up the last 1½ miles of the canal to Horseshoe Falls. Very shallow in places, this is not navigable by private boats, but, during the season, a pair of horse drawn passenger boats go from Llangollen Wharf to Chain Bridge Hotel, just a few hundred yards from the source of the water that runs the 46 miles to Hurleston Junction.

The first sight of the start of the canal is a bit underwhelming, a flow of water bubbling up below a building which houses the metering and valve systems, controlling the volume of water extracted from the River Dee.

Start of the canal.

Just step around the other side though, and you’ll come to the weir which holds back the water to provide a head for the canal. This is Telford’s Horseshoe Falls.

Horseshoe Falls. Beauty and functionality combined…

Meg just HAS to sample the water….

The water for the canal is diverted off to the left, and disappears under this disreputable looking bunch….

We didn’t hang around for too long before setting off back, it was pretty cold!

There were some who were prepared to endure the cold water, quite a few hardy souls were in canoes on the river and on the canal.

Canadian canoes on the Dee.

Yesterday was a bit more exerting, we decided to go up the hill to Castell Dinas Bran.
It’s not far from the canal, but it’s almost the same distance vertically!

From near the canal basin


Maybe halfway up, the steepest bit is to come…

That’s it, the view from the top, looking up the Dee valley.

And down the valley towards Trevor
In the middle of the picture is Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, 3 miles away. Another 2 miles and there’s the A5 crossing the Dee.

As you can see, it was a far better day than the previous one!

Panorama over the valley to Llangollen

Apart from the magnificent views, it’s worth the climb to see the ruins of this 13C fortress.

George in pensive mood…

Meg looking for rabbits…

It must have been tough living up here….

Very atmospheric.
What a very good couple of hours!

In between walks and visits to the town I managed to install the components of Project Cosy Toes…

Micro-heater fitted next to the calorifier.
Run from from the heater pipes on the engine, these are designed for kit-cars or classics where a heater was an optional extra. I’ve tee’d off the flow and return lines to the calorifier, with valves so the unit can be isolated. The large air hose leading off at the top of the picture leads to a vent….

……on the steerer’s step.
Cracking! Warm feet!

After another very cold night which left a thin skin of ice on the surface of the basin, the day warmed up and turned to rain. Typical Welsh rain. Persistent, insidious, penetrating. Though, having spent a fair proportion of my youth up in the Welsh mountains, not unfamiliar.
Not a good day to cruise, but we did anyway.

We had to make a stop at Llangollen Wharf to meet a delivery of 10 bags of solid fuel from the local hardware store. It’s a private wharf, used by the trip boats, but the horse drawn ones are laid up at Froncysyllte, and the Thomas Telford had left for a trip across Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and back. I’d already checked that it’d be OK, as well.

Approaching Llangollen Wharf

Fuel loaded, we moved on a short distance to the service wharf to empty a poo tank, then set off in pursuit of the rest of the convoy.

It is recommended that a crew member be sent ahead on the single-file sections leading out of town to warn of approaching boats. But, to save Mags having to be out in such damp weather, George had agreed to let me know if there was anyone coming the other way. As it turned out we didn’t see another boat till Trevor.

We’d expected to meet Thomas Telford heading back to Llangollen somewhere just this side of the aqueduct, but a phone call from Ann, then another from Carol, warned us of a potentially “interesting” encounter. Yes, she (he?) was heading back, but was towing the two horse boats back as well. That must have been a sight to see, coming over the aqueduct!

I took it very slowly over the last few hundred yards, expecting to see this “train” appearing round a bend, but didn’t see them till we came under Rhos-y-Coed Bridge, at the end of Trevor Basin.

James Brindley was being poled into the dry dock…

….William Jessop was (almost) tied up out of the way.
Thomas Telford had slotted in between the hire boats.
The horse boats are double-ended, the rudder can be hung either end. They can’t be turned around on the feeder, so they just hook the horse up to t‘other end and tow it back again.

With these obstacles out of the way, we had a clear run across the aqueduct.

Not that we could see the far end anyway….

Certainly murky in the hills.
Two miles further on and we caught up with Rock’n’Roll and Moore2Life moored near Chirk Marina.
The Rockers are facing the other way as they’ve guests tomorrow and they’re going back over the Ponty. I hope the weather is a little better than today’s.

It’s been a pretty dismal sort of trip, but I’ve had lovely warm feet!

Hi John and Liana. Thanks for the comment. Weather looks a bit grim for the next couple of days, improving early next week. There's no ice on the main line, but there might be a thin layer in the off-line marinas and basins. We'll keep an eye out for you as we head back. Enjoy your trip.
 
Locks 0, miles 6½

Young Scroats and Welsh Weather

Got a phone call from George and Carol last night soon after eight o’clock. They’d just pulled the boat back across to their mooring after having the bow rope cut, allowing it to swing across the channel. The call was to alert us to potential trouble.
We stayed up till midnight, just reading so we could hear any activity outside, but were undisturbed. This morning though we were greeted by the sight of several of the hire boats adrift, ropes cut or untied.

Boats adrift, luckily they can’t go very far…

 Apart from those obviously cast adrift, there were a few more that had been released but had stayed put. These included the charity trip boat for the disabled, moored in front of us, and a private boat, NB Bunbury Castle, moored behind. I sorted these out while the yard dealt with their own. The Police were called, statements taken and CCTV at the shop checked. They seemed to have an idea who it might have been…..

Anyway, that sorted we made our way out from the basin, between the lines of re-moored boats, at around 11:00.

Back through the “chicane”.
From here there’s a sharp right turn into the last section of the canal.

Heading towards Llangollen

This last 4½ miles of the navigable canal hangs on the side of the Dee valley, and has been breached several times. £5m has been spent on making it secure, but it also makes it rather spartan, with hard concrete edges along most of the route. Quite narrow and twisty, you get tantalising glimpses of the Welsh hills ahead and the River Dee down in the valley to the left.

Tail end Charlie again….

Looking across the valley

The day started grey and got progressively greyer, till we finished our trip, of course. A steady drizzle accompanied most of the journey, with odd outbreaks of heavier rain.

Between Bridges 41 and 42, the first of the one boat-width sections. Castell Dinas Bran is almost visible through the low cloud on the hill dead ahead.
This is a 13C fortress built by Eliseg, Prince of Powys. Built on the commanding site of an Iron Age fort, it had a short history, being burnt by the retreating Welsh army  in 1277 during fighting between Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales, and Edward I. It was this war that finally defeated the independent Wales, leading to it being annexed to the English Crown.

Just before the second and final (and longer) narrow section there are good views down to the river.

Down to the river

It’s slow going through the shallow narrow bits, with the flow from Horseshoe Falls trying to push you backwards. The section from the Falls to Trevor was never really meant to be navigable, it was intended as a feeder for the rest of the canal and Hurleston Reservoir.

Following R’n’R through the narrows near Llangollen The hillside here is very steep, dropping sharply to the valley floor.

There are two sets of moorings at Llangollen, those on the line, given over to winter moorings, and those in the relatively new mooring basin a little further on. We watered and emptied loo tanks at the services, then pushed on, above the town, to the basin.

Looking down on Llangollen from the canal.

Moored in the basin
We’re the only ones here, although there are maybe ten boats on the winter moorings. The basin has been iced over but the milder weather over the last couple of days has thawed it out. We’ll be away again before the next cold snap later in the week.

If you've ever wondered how the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct was built, you've got to watch this animation. Thanks, Graham, for the comment and the link.

Locks 0, miles 4½

Toddling around Trevor

We’ve stayed here in Trevor Basin for the weekend. Unlike a lot of other boaters we can’t post any pictures of snowy scenes, we’ve not had any! Just some sleety stuff yesterday afternoon.

It has been cold, though, up until yesterday. When I walked back across the aqueduct to meet  Chas and Ann on Thursday afternoon, I crossed under the Froncysyllte end of the span and spotted this.

Impressive icicles!
And on the other side too…
I had a chat with the BW area engineer on Friday in the basin. Apparently this happens during cold spells. The iron trough contracts enough to pull away from the clay seal in which the ends are bedded. The gaps seal up again in warmer weather.
The trough is just over 1000 feet long, so, taking linear thermal expansion of iron as 1.2 x 0.0001 /°C that’s a change in length of around 2 inches from around 0°C in a cold period (like now) to a summer water temperature of maybe 15°. No wonder it dribbles a bit!

We’ve had a few good walks, most taking in some part of the aqueduct, either above or below.

Looking along from the Trevor end

And from the bank of the River Dee below.
You can tell why the design was met with scepticism when it was presented. Compared to contemporary structures it looks impossibly light and flimsy.

Big boots planted firmly in the river bed. 



The nineteen support pillars are mainly hollow and carry the trough 127 feet above the river. At the top of each, webs of cast iron arc out to support the span.


The structure took around ten years from conception to completion, and opened in 1805. A foundry was specially built at Plas Kynaston to cast the ironwork. Cost then was about £47,000. Adjusted for inflation, maybe £3bn in today’s money. A few banker’s bonuses, then.

Thomas Telford has been credited for much of the design work, but there was also considerable input from another very able engineer, William Jessop.

Jessop was actually Consulting Engineer for the Ellesmere Canal Company, and supported Telford’s appointment as Resident Engineer. Jessop had cut his canal building teeth in Ireland, supervising the completion of the stalled Grand Canal from Shannon to Dublin. He re-surveyed the route, proposed changes and ensured that the canal could be finished. During the construction of the Ellesmere Canal (now the Llangollen) he was Chief Engineer to the Grand Junction Canal, now the Grand Union Main Line, from Braunston to Brentford. This was probably his most successful canal project, ninety miles long with two tunnels.
After this he moved on to design and construct the West India Dock in London, and then shifted his talents to railways. He is credited with the building The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the first passenger railway, in 1802. Although horse-drawn, it predated the Stockton and Darlington by 23 years.

We are moored in what is know as Trevor Basin, but it was intended to be the main line of the canal to Chester.

Trevor Basin, with Seyella and M2L moored middle right. The canal ends just a few yards behind the last boat….

Yesterday we had visitors, Val and John and their daughter Carol, very good friends. They brought our mail and my parts for Project Cosy Toes, so that can go ahead now. They also brought the two Dachshunds, Harry on the right, and Jeffrey Raymond Kenneth (don’t ask… ) on the left.

Carol, JRK, John and Harry.

John, Val and Carol
No, it wasn’t cold in the boat (as if!). They were just about to head home. Good to see you all.
Incidentally, Carol is the “Pizza Lady”. She makes and sells chocolate pizzas as boxchoc.co.uk. Excellent they are too. I can now recommend from first hand experience. The orange and chilli flavour is AWESOME! Go on, give it a try. You know you want to….

This morning I gave George a hand to straighten the frame on their pram hood. Why, you ask, did it need straightening? See here.

Moving on tomorrow, four miles or so to Llangollen and the end of the line.

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Two Tunnels, Two Aqueducts and One Lift Bridge

What a busy day, and all crammed into less than 4½ miles!

Another cold night, down to below -6°. My 5 mile run this morning was, I reckon, the coldest I’ve ever done in 10 years of training. Breathing hard makes the throat raw in these low temperatures, so I’ve got a persistent tickly cough. Roll on Spring!

The Rockers and I took Little Molly and Meg down to the pasture below Chirk Aqueduct this morning. We met Ann and Big Molly coming back, she’d had the same idea…

As impressive as the canal aqueduct and railway viaduct are from above, they are awesome from below on a bright morning.

Chirk Aqueduct and Viaduct.
We’re on the Welsh bank of the River Ceiriog here. So I should say Afon Ceirog, shouldn’t I?

The viaduct is the higher by 30 feet
Spectacular, aren’t they.

George and Carol suitably impressed, Molly obviously isn’t!

We pulled pins at around 10:45, for a change with us at the front and Rock’n’Roll at the rear. George was aboard alone, Carol had returned to the meadow below the aqueduct to get a picture of us all crossing into Wales. You'll have to go to their blog to see it.

Into Wales



There’s Carol!

Chirk Tunnel comes immediately after the aqueduct, 460 yards long pushing against the flow coming down from Llangollen.

Moore2Life emerges into daylight at the north portal of Chirk Tunnel

George waited for Carol to catch up at the other end, then came through to find somewhere to moor for a visit to Chirk. We and M2L pushed on till Chirk Marina, where Chas and Ann peeled off to top up the diesel tank.

Chirk Marina.

The main line of the canal is still ice-free but any backwaters or basins are frozen, about ½ an inch of ice on the water. The staff here had broken the ice up so Chas could manoeuvre to the pump. This off-line freezing gave us a little trouble later on…..

The second tunnel today was Whitehouse, only 190 yards long.

Whitehouse Tunnel
Both of the tunnels and both aqueducts are narrow, allowing only one-way traffic at a time. All tend to be bottlenecks during the busy Summer months. Not so today though, only a couple of other boats moving.

After the tunnel the canal bends to the northwest, following the Dee valley, cut into it’s southerly slope.

Over the Dee.
You can just catch a glimpse of the railway viaduct through the trees.

The concrete-edged canal is fairly straight to Fron Lift Bridge, below the village of Froncysllte rising up the valley side.

Through Fron Lift Bridge.

There’s a right hand bend, a short straight (past a water point not mentioned in Nicholson’s Guide), then the vista opens up as the canal moves onto Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, Telford’s “Stream in the Sky”.

Onto the aqueduct


The water is carried in a cast iron trough, sat on top of stone pillars. This revolutionary concept was met with doubt, but after 10 years of construction and over 200 years of use the design has been thoroughly vindicated.

Looking down on the Dee.

There’s a railed towpath on one (the eastern) side, but the other is completely unprotected.

Just the original cast iron trough to keep you on the straight and narrow….

Gulp! Don’t look down!

Looking east towards England
The aqueduct doesn’t really sag as you go over, the bend in the towpath rail is an unfortunate effect of my photo splicing software….

Off the aqueduct the route to Llangollen takes a hard left under Rhos-y-Coed Bridge, but we carried straight on, through the narrow gap between the laid-up Anglo Welsh hire boats, to find a mooring in Trevor Basin.

Looking back on the “chicane”
You can see ice on the water here, this had been broken up by the boatyard’s staff moving boats about, but no-one had moved in the upper basin for a couple of days.

It took a lot of to-ing and fro-ing to break up the surface enough to allow us to wind and moor up.

Moored in Trevor basin.

Moore2Life arrived an hour later, and with the shortage of space here, have breasted up alongside.

We’ll be here for the weekend, now. Visitors on Saturday.

Locks 0, Miles 4½