Out onto moving water…

We’ve had the weekend moored in Llangollen Basin, with very little in the way of company. A couple of boats came and went, one even stopping overnight, but it’s been quiet.
I made a trip or two down into the town for supplies, there were quite a few folk, many touristy types, clogging up the main street. It was a pleasant, sunny weekend.
The stream railway was running trips up the valley, and somewhat slower but considerably quieter, one of the horse boats was taking people to Chain Bridge and back.

The Dee and Llangollen Railway Station from Dee Bridge.




Hercules the horse wasn’t working very hard, I reckon there was only three people aboard!

All the media is talking about the bad weather on the way. Rather dramatically called “The Beast from the East” (don’t you just love the tabloids…) this cold front moving in from Russia is supposed to bring heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures. It’s already been into minus numbers overnight for the last couple of nights, but sunny days have made it quite pleasant. Starting tonight though we’re looking at -5° or lower, and barely above zero through the day. Ice will form on any still water, like the mooring basin here at Llangollen.
In fact, last night we had a taste of things to come. On Sunday morning there was a few bits of ice in sheltered corners, but this morning it had spread further, forming between the pontoons and reaching out from the far end of the basin.



Time to head out onto the flowing water of the main line.

We topped up the water tank, got rid of the rubbish and recycling, then reversed off our pontoon and out of the basin, past the wharf and through the narrows to the linear moorings above the town.
Being tied up for the weekend I’d not run the engine much, relying on the solar panels to put a few volts in the batteries. But they were well down this morning, so I decided, if there was room, we’d pull in on the moorings and plug in to power overnight to top them up. There was, so we did. In fact there’s room for four or five boats still, I think there’s only a handful of winter moorers here this year.

The forecast predicts snow for most of the day tomorrow, but a better day on Wednesday, so the one night here might stretch into two…

Hi Tom, Jan. Yes, I know that there’s power on up here, but I’m always reluctant to stay here. The basin is more open and there’s less footfall, and I feel a little uncomfortable taking advantage of the hook-up here for free, when the winter moorers are paying £270 a month for the privilege. Still, I’ll get over it… It’s only for two nights.

Locks 0, miles ½