Saturday, January 10, 2015

A blowy trip to Frankton Junction

With cupboards stocked we were ready to move out of the Ellesmere Arm today.

The canal company warehouse at the head of the armIMG_3171

Before we left I said our goodbyes to Peter and Steph on NB Maggie May. I got chatting to Peter yesterday, and we finished up taking a walk around to the castle mound later in the day. Unfortunately their dogs, Milly and Max, were unable to come. Max was a bit under the weather with a tummy bug, and Milly was at the hairdressers! We picked her up on the was back, and very smart she looked too!

I also met, unexpectedly, Jacquie off NB Ducks 2 Water, in Tesco’s. She’s local now, and we’ll try to meet up again as we return down the canal.

Heading off down the Ellesmere ArmIMG_3172 

We’d had rain earlier, but it had cleared by the time we got going. Still pretty windy, though.
We filled and emptied at the maintenance yard on the main line, then set off towards Frankton.

Ellesmere maintenance yard, still performing it’s original function.IMG_3174

It would have been a very pleasant cruise if it weren’t for the wind. It wasn’t too bad, though, the towpath hedge was doing what it was planted for, acting as a windbreak.IMG_3176

We had a bit more respite as we swung around the base of Val Hill, working our way through the awkwardly-placed bridges on the bends.

Around Val HillIMG_3179

A glimpse of the mountains in the far distanceIMG_3180

Arriving at the junction the wind was a help to turn and reverse into the head of the Montgomery Canal, above Frankton Locks, where we moored up.

Just on the Monty…IMG_3181

It’s a very pleasant spot here, even in summer it’s quiet. You can watch the throng toddle past on the Llangollen…

IMG_3183



We’ll stay here tomorrow, moving on to near Chirk on Monday. We’ve a delivery of solid fuel to meet at St. Martins, and some spare parts for the Ecofan to collect from Calfire at Gledrid.




I’ll probably not have been enthusiastic about moving anyway. I’ve the first of my proper long runs to do tomorrow, 14 miles, around 2 and a bit hours. Hope the wind drops a bit.

Locks 0, miles 3

3 comments:

Sue said...

Good luck with the run Geoff I will be thinking of you in my dreams as I know you will set off at the crack of dawn.

It will get no worse than tomorrow in all that wind so your next long runs will be easy after that!

Graham said...

If you do manage to see Jacquie on the way back could you ask her to consider doing a brief update on her blog.

I'm sure lots of people who followed her progress would love to hear that she is OK.

Anonymous said...

Or a 'guest' post on your blog, so we know she's OK?

Karl.