On the move again…sooner than planned.

Thursday morning at eight o’clock I was out with Meg watching a Land and Water dredger hauling it’s way through the shallow water under Scotch Hall Bridge. They had to resort to using the bucket to drag the hull through. I had a chat with the crew and it turned out that they’d been asked by C&RT at short notice to dredge the moorings and approach to the basin.
Luckily we were the only boat there, and we could have stayed, moving as required to keep out of the way. But we’ve been moored near dredging operations before and it’s a bumpy and often smelly experience. I made a quick trip up to the shops in Cefn Mawr, then as soon as they’d moved the dredger and a pan behind us we hightailed it out.

Dredger and pan at the end of the basin.
They’ll be well aground there! The chap on the right was checking the water oxygen level. Dredging often lowers the oxygen saturation to dangerous levels for fish, especially in enclosed areas like this. The debris and silt absorb the gas as it’s disturbed. This is also why they’re starting at the far end and working back rather than clearing the entrance first. It gives the fish somewhere to escape to.

After the dredger had bulled it’s way through there was plenty of depth for us to get back under the bridge, but then we were stuck in between the hire boats.
Rothen’s, the other contractor used by C&RT, had decided to drop their own work-boat and small barge in by crane, blocking the way past the wharf for us and the dredging team. A case of the left hand not knowing what the right is doing…
Rothen’s are doing the aqueduct inspection starting on Tuesday.

Another bit of excitement, a mobile facilities trailer arrived while all this was going on.
The JCB on the left belongs to the dredging team, to offload the pans into waiting trucks.

It all got sorted out in the end and we were able to make our way back across the long iron trough.


We moored at the far end, then on Friday filled the water tank and toddled on a bit, under the lift bridge at Fron and pulled in again looking out over the valley.

Saturday’s trip was longer, but not by much. We’d arranged to meet Richard the fuel man just before Irish bridge so drifted the 10 minutes there first, loading up with solid and liquid fuel before continuing on to moor in a regular spot just before Whitehouse Tunnel.

While we were waiting for Richard I took the opportunity to get a better picture of the impressive Cefn Mawr Railway Viaduct than you can get from the canal.
And I got talking to a pleasant chap out for a walk with his camera, and he took a couple of pictures of yours truly and Meg. It’s not very often that my mugshot appears here, so here’s a treat for you! Or perhaps not…



Thanks Tony!

We’re still mooching about, killing time. Mags continues to improve after her extended hospital stay and ERCP, but she’s still confined to quarters. No tiller work for a few weeks yet. Meg is getting more wobbly, we don’t think she’s in much pain but her arthritic hips are now very weak. I’m working with the vet at Chirk to try a different anti-inflammatory but first she has to be weaned off the steroids.

That’s it really. It’ll probably be a few days again before it’s worth putting pen to paper. Till then, toodle-pip!

Locks 0, miles 2