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