We’ve never seen it so busy…

If this is what it’s like on here in April and May, I’d hate to be heading up to Llangollen in the summer!

It’s been about a week again since I last posted. To be frank there’s nothing much to say, the number of times we’ve come this way I’ve pretty well said it all!

We headed to Ellesmere last Wednesday, passing the base of the Lyneal Trust where the charity’s boats are based.

Huddled together to keep warm…


After a few miles of beautiful open countryside, the canal now enters the wooded area surrounding The Meres, like the Mosses further downstream an ancient landscape dating back to the last Ice Age.

As the ice melted it left a network of shallow lakes or meres filled by meltwater. Some of the smaller ones filled with vegetation over time, which decayed and formed peat in the mosses around Whixall. But these have remained open, the largest, Ellesmere, sitting to the west of the town of the same name.

The wooded section ends at the ridge that is pierced by 87 yard Ellesmere Tunnel, then there’s about ¾ of a mile to the junction with the short Ellesmere Arm.



We pulled into the arm to moor for a couple of days.

So on Saturday we were on the move again, pausing to fill the water tank and dispose of rubbish and recycling at the old wharf.

Ellesmere Wharf was the canal company’s main maintenance depot, with workshops to cater for the needs of the boats. Alongside is Beech House, once the company offices and residence of Thomas Telford, now apartments.

The lambs are getting fat now…


Beautiful countryside.
It was bright and sunny but that wind from the northeast kept the temperature down to around 10°.

We found a pleasant spot to moor past Coachman’s Bridge, open to the sun but sheltered by a hedge to windward. A field of rape wafted it’s perfume across to us.

Come Monday we were on the way again, joining the procession of boats heading west. Ahead of us the canal twists through a series of bends and blind bridges as it winds around Val Hill, not a place to meet oncoming boats.


Of course it was inevitable that we would…
But only the one, luckily.

The last time we came this way this field was full of sheep - eating turnips, or should that be sheep, eating turnips?


Clear…


…and clear again!

Looking west across Shropshire to the hills on the Welsh Border beyond Oswestry.

Frankton Junction was a little frantic as we came past, with one boat winding and another trying to turn in towards the locks.

Both trying to avoid a couple of grumpy anglers.



The bridges from here to Llangollen are now numbered starting from one again, with a suffix”W” to avoid confusion. This is because the original line should have followed what we now call the Montgomery Canal.






The awkward Maestermyn Bridge, with The Narrowboat Inn just beyond.

The fine curved brickwork of Bridge 6W carries the towpath over to the left side.

We pulled in yesterday lunchtime below New Marton Locks, and spent the afternoon watching boat after boat passing in both directions.

The early rush of a half-dozen boats passed us this morning before we were ready to move on. We just hit it right, one boat was just going up New Marton Bottom Lock as we arrived.

It’s only 5 minutes between the two locks, and we caught up again at the top lock. There was a hirer waiting to come down, and judging by the lady steerer’s stress levels she’s not going to forget this holiday in a hurry! I gave them a run-down on locking principals and practice and helped them down. I hope they managed ok on the next one…

Mags finally coming up New Marton Top Lock

We topped up the water tank above the lock then toddled on, across St. Martin’s Moor. The open flat land to the southwest can make it challenging on a windy day, but today the wind was light.


An hour’s gentle cruising and we arrived at our destination, the moorings near the Poacher’s Pocket.
 
We arrived at the right time, there were a couple of spaces to choose from, but now it’s full.

We’ll be here for a day or two now.

Locks 2, miles 14 (since last post)

Just ambling along.

What has it been, a week since the last post? Well, nearly, anyway. Not much has been happening, we’ve just slowly chugged along, short days finishing around lunchtime.

We moved away from the moorings above Grindley Brook Locks on Friday, heading up a mile to pull in just past the Whitchurch Arm to wait out the wet and windy weekend.

New Mills Lift Bridge and the entrance to the Whitchurch Arm

Breakfast for Mum, Dad and the sprogs.

Come Monday the weather had improved again, a fine dry day for a bit of cruising. Not a lot, three lift bridges and about 4½ miles took us to the edge of Whixall Moss.

A beautiful wooded section, full of birdsong, after we’d passed the two Hassels lift bridges.

The canal is a bit winding along here, leaving some blind corners and bridges. Of course, if you can’t see through a bridge there’s bound to be a boat coming…

There was quite a bit of traffic about, probably boats that had stayed put over the weekend like us.

Mags posing after negotiating Tilstock Park Lift Bridge

Moored for the night before Bridge 44, Roundthorn Bridge.
There are more moorings just this side of the bridge, with parking alongside they could be handy for a grocery delivery…

After a quiet and very dark night we woke up to another fine morning, and were on the way soon after 10:00. 

The canal here crosses the ancient peat bogs of Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses. It must have been difficult to seal the navigation on this unstable and soggy terrain. Over the years the edges of the mosses have been drained for agriculture…

…but are still prone to getting waterlogged.

A little further west a large area is still as nature intended, especially now that peat-cutting is banned. It’s an area in which wildlife thrives.

The drying out has resulted in subsidence as the peat shrinks, and the canal is contained within piled sides on the long straight west of Press Junction.

Prees Junction, with the main line on the left, toll-house in the middle and the Prees Branch to the right.

Begun in the early 1800s, the branch was intended to go to Prees, a distance of about 5 miles. But like many of the later construction schemes it ran out of steam before reaching it’s destination. Now it’s only about ¾ of a mile to Whixall Marina, followed by an un-navigable 2 mile long pond which is now a nature reserve. A group of us had a walk up the remains of the branch some time ago…

The long straight west of Prees.


Somewhere along here the canal makes a brief visit into Wales, and the ducks are shy!

The border dips southwest here, down to the village of Northwood before heading back northwest to cross the canal again just west of Bettisfield.

We topped up the the water tank at Bettisfield Bridge, then carried on around a couple of bends onto Hampton Bank where we moored looking out over the flat plain of Shropshire.

A field of rape coming into flower.


Looking south and east from Hampton Bank.

These early finishes on fine days have given me a chance to remove and service the Webasto water heater. While it was out I redesigned the mounting system and de-rusted and painted the swim on that side.


Tomorrow we’ll head into Ellesmere. The weather’s due to turn again so it might be a little damp, unfortunately.

Locks 0, miles 9 since the last post.

Up onto the long pound.

Over the last two days we’ve come up the last of the locks onto the Ellesmere pound, the level stretch of canal that reaches from above Grindley Brook to New Marton, a distance of just under 20 miles. At New Marton the final two locks take the navigation up onto the summit level to Llangollen.

On Sunday night the clear skies and dust in the air gave us one of those red/orange moons as it rose above the horizon.




On Tuesday with the Easter traffic easing a little, we set off, with Quoisley Lock just a mile on. Even though there were fewer boats about, we still had two boats in front of us at the lock.

With crews helping one another we were soon on the way, fifteen minutes to Willeymoor Lock, alongside the pub of the same name.

We were too early for it to be open, but I reckon those tables and chairs would have been full later…

Povey’s Lock was next, not far up the canal, and then we pulled in a bit further on, before Jackson’s Bridge.
There are good moorings below Grindley Brook Locks, but the towpath is wider here and the water flow when the bottom lock is emptied is less noticeable.

After an afternoon spent cramped up in the engine ‘ole re-piping and re-installing the water heater after servicing the beast, I was glad to face the prospect of Grindley Brook Locks this morning.
We timed it well, arriving at the bottom of the three singles soon after a boat had come down.

Grindley Brook Bottom Lock


The by-washes on this flight are notoriously fierce.

With no boats ahead of us we had the single locks set for us, but I thought our luck couldn’t hold at the staircase triple. But it did…! A boat was just leaving the bottom lock as we arrived, and the two volunteer lock-keepers invited us to go straight in.   

Going up the staircase locks.

With such a good run we were up, bottom to top, in less than 45 minutes. You can wait that long to even start the flight sometimes!

Dropping the rubbish and recycling, then topping up the water tank took us another half-hour, and then we were tied up before noon. I had to toddle off back down to the small shop at the garage before we had lunch; we’d run out bread. On the way I stopped for a chat with the couple who now own Yarwood, I’m embarrassed to say I’ve forgotten their names. If you read this, I’m so sorry, and the boat we were trying to remember from the Wash trip in 2015 is Panacea.

The weather has now turned back to what you’d expect for late April, with thundery showers moving in this afternoon and more forecast over the next few days. If you’re not actually caught out in them though, these April showers smell wonderful, earthy and sooty, the scent known as Petrichor.

We’re going to play it by ear for a bit, although it smells beautiful we’d rather not get too wet!

Graham from Ingleton got in touch, the glitch on the sat-nav as we headed north last week may have been due to WNRO – Week Number Roll Over, which affects GPS satellites. Something to do with date storage, a proper explanation here. Thanks Graham.

Locks 9, miles 3½

A short marina stay, then out into the country to watch the boats go by…

On Monday we went into Swanley Bridge Marina, just for three nights so we could head up to Yorkshire. Mags was due a blood test to check that everything was still ok following her bile duct procedure last year, and Meg was visiting the vet at Skipton for an ultrasound scan to make sure there are no issues with her liver or bladder. It was also an opportunity to pick up the mail and see Mags’ son, Howard.

It was a fine but blowy morning as we headed towards the marina. These CRT workboats could have been moored in a more considerate spot…


The fine house with the curly-whirly chimney near Wrexham Road Bridge.

It was a bit interesting try to slot Seyella into our allotted berth, with a cross-wind pushing us all over, but we got in there without touching the adjacent boats.

We went north on Tuesday, an uneventful trip up there and back, apart from the sat-nav having a nervous breakdown on the way. As we passed Preston on the M6 it blinked then shifted our location 16 miles to the west, into Blackpool. Then, as the motorway turned gently to the left, our position crossed the coast and we spent the next half hour in the Irish Sea before landing again in Fleetwood. It lost the plot so much that by the time we’d reached our destination at Bentham it thought we were in Cleveleys… It’s a good job we know the way! It had recovered it’s aplomb by the time we headed home.
We won’t know the results of Mags’ blood test until next week. Meg’s scan showed no abnormalities but there was a trace of blood in her wee again, so that bladder infection she suffered from last year might have returned. Waiting on test results there too. But they’re both in good form, so I don’t think there’s much wrong.

We left the marina on Thursday, turning right and heading towards Wrenbury.

Swanley Bridge Marina, home of the Shiney Boat!


There is a higher proportion of posh boats in here than in any other marina we’ve visited. Not sure how many venture out though…

It’s suddenly got busy out on the water, when we got to Swanley Bottom Lock there was a boat in front of us, and by the time we were in the lock there were another four waiting below!
Chatting to the crews I realised why. With Hurleston Bottom Lock in a somewhat precarious condition, CRT aren’t opening the flight until eight o’clock, and are shepherding boats up. So this was the queue of boats waiting at the bottom first thing this morning.

The convoy broke up somewhat as each boat took a turn up the two Swanley Locks, then reconvened below Baddiley Locks. The bottom lock here has only one top paddle working and is consequently slow to fill, hence the queue.

Once up the bottom lock it was plain sailing, with boats dropping down out of Wrenbury we had empty locks to work with.



Into Wrenbury we thought about stopping before Church Lift Bridge, but it was still early so we pushed on, through this, the first of the Llangollen lift bridges, then past the mechanised one at Wrenbury Mill, and the other manual one at Wrenbury Frith.

Church Lift Bridge, the first of many…


Meg keeps an eye on me as Mags goes through Wrenbury Lift Bridge.

We tied up just past the last.

After a quiet night we headed on again, just a short run to a sunny rural spot between Marbury and Quoisley Locks.

One Man Went to Mow… with his mates!

Good timing at Marbury, our only lock on Friday

Good moorings near Steer Bridge…


…but it’s sunnier around the corner.

That’ll do us till after the weekend.

There’s been quite a few boats buzzing about, a mix of hirers and private, taking advantage of the fine weather. We’ll not be moving till Tuesday, though, to the bottom of Grindley Brook Locks ready to go up on Wednesday.

Locks 6, miles 7¼ since last post.