Llangollen Canal 2017

The Llangollen Canal was all we expected and more. Things went exactly as planned, no hitches or problems.

Links to other sub-pages:

This week was part of a bigger trip: UK Trip 2017
Planning for this trip is HERE.
Maps for this trip are HERE.

Summary

Perfect weather
Great group of people
Boat was exactly what we expected (Thank you, ABC Boat Hire)
Driving a narrowboat is easy and relaxing
Montgomery Canal was a must-do and an excellent intro to locks, as well as being more remote, private and calm
Views are spectacular and varied
Lots of other places to explore on foot. We visited:
- Bettisfield Peat Bog
- Pryce Bridge Canal Restoration
- Llangollen Falls
- Castell Dinas Bran
- Chirk Castle
Everyone we met was pleasant and happy to be there

boat walk through and time lapse (2 min.)

Longer video from hand held camera

Our boat

Our boat was called “Cedric” and there is a reason it is called a “narrowboat”. 68 feet long and only 6′ 8″ wide. (ABC Viking Wye Class). Photos fail to capture this fact: to help put it in perspective, that is much skinnier and twice as long as a big 5th wheel. Photos which capture this are few and far between. 98% of the photos you will see are from one end or the other. Otherwise, you simply can’t get far enough away to get the whole boat in the frame. The boat is also MUCH longer than the canal is wide, so you can only turn around in special sections called “winding holes”, which appear every couple miles. These are clearly marked on all maps as it is crucial information.

New photo by Warren Long / Google Photos

We had selected a boat set up with all single berths. The double bed size is only 4 feet wide, and we all thought we would sleep better solo on the 2 foot wide singles. Bunk assignments were as follows: Warren & Sandy in the rear cabin, Chris and Darren in the middle cabin, and Bill and Joan in the front cabin. We threw Keiran into the kitchen, which has room for two more beds. This was good and bad. He can sleep anywhere at will, but also likes to sleep in, which put a damper on our morning coffee.

Our boat had a cruiser stern. This is the most open and exposed version and it worked well for us. Next time I will try for a boat with a stern galley, so that the group gathering spot is all in one place. We were constantly scampering from one end to the other.

Schedule

The simplest Whitchurch to Llangollen and back trip only requires 4 hours of cruising per day. This is pretty easy, even more so when you realize that you don’t have to gather everyone together, or wait for people to wake up, or bathroom runs or meals to complete. Just start the engine and go. People can stick to their own schedule regardless of whether or not the boat is moving. Even when the boat is moving, people can get off and walk along side. The boat only moves at a brisk walking pace.

Our daily average was expected to be more because of the addition of another 13 miles and 14 locks. Taking us from about 28 to 36 hours of total motoring time. Supposedly, the current makes the return journey a bit faster. We didn’t find this to be true.

Daylight hours were long. Llangollen is actually pretty far north, similar to Saskatoon. Sunrise was before 5:00 am and sunset after 9:30 pm. This meant that we could start early and/or go late. We never did. We pretty much held off on starting the engine until 8 a.m., and were usually done by late afternoon.

Pubs to eat dinner in are relatively rare on the Llangollen. Or maybe it was just that things were not spaced to match our schedule. We cooked (or more accurately, heated meals) about half the time. If there was a pub around, then we ate at it.

Friday June 30 – Day 1 – The Beginning

Goal: Get on to the boat and motor 3 hours to Bettisfield.

Everyone had an adventure getting to the boat:

Sandy and I forgot what day it was, spent an extra day in Wiltshire, didn’t learn of their mistake until the morning of, and had to drive like a bat out of hell to make it to Whitchurch on time. Made it. Barely.
Bill & Joan arrived in Whitchurch by train, only to discover that taxis were essentially unavailable. Somehow, they stumbled onto a waiter, who was also a taxi driver, but not working that day, who volunteered to take them out to the marina. This comes back into play 5 days later. But since they had left themselves lots of time, they were there ahead of time.
Chris and Darren arrived in Whitchurch, and also discovered that taxis were not an option. Warren’s rental car came to the rescue and drove into town to pick them up. This happened in the middle of our training session, so we made them wait a bit.

Bill and I watched the training video, and we were then taken on an intro tour of the boat, learning about the nooks and crannies, and do’s and don’ts. Excellent, helpful, (reasonable) and we felt prepared and ready. Sandy and Joan were already in the saloon, drinking wine.

It started raining as I went and picked up Chris and Darren. Then we had to figure out what we were going to do for dinner. Pubs were not in the foreseeable future as we were starting late in the afternoon, and would be mooring up in the Bettisfield wilderness. Starbucks, just across the street gave us a chance to discuss. It seemed to early for dinner, so we decided to do another drive back into town to pick up groceries. The magic discovery was a “tandoori meal in a box” for 4 or 5 pounds. We bought 4. And wine. And breakfast stuff.

We cast off at 4:30 in the warm drizzle. We soon ran up against our first swing bridge. We cautiously sent Keiran ashore with the center line, then opened the bridge, went through, closed it etc.

That was the last time we did anything so cautiously. We were all pretty adept (and overconfident?) about jumping on and off the boat while on the move, and this became our standard procedure. Boat would slow down a bit and get close to the shore, crew would leap in to action and the bridge would be open by the time we got there. And then crew would sprint to catch up again. To our credit, no-one slipped or ever came close to falling in. The whole week.

Drizzle turned in to rain, but we had the right gear, and it was warm and comfortable in the boat.

We forced everyone to try driving at least once. The rest of the crew paid extra attention when Sandy was at the helm.

Navigation is not much of an issue. You pretty much can’t even turn around, never mind get lost. Even the bridges are numbered, so it is easy to re-find yourself on the map. This is one of the few places where we had a choice.

After our predicted three hours of motoring, we slowed down, and moored up in the middle of nowhere. And took pictures.

A marvelous dinner was served, some of us went for a short stroll, and then we shut down for the night.

Saturday, July 1 – Day 2

Goal: Groceries at Ellesmere, through the Frankton locks between 12 and 2, moor up at the south end of Montgomery Canal. Ellesmere was only about an hour away, so we didn’t really have to rush. But it was critical for us to pass through the Frankton locks before 2.

I woke up early and went out into the Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve (wikipedia). It turns out we were moored at one of the entrances down into one of the few remaining peat bogs in the UK. Most have been drained. It was wonderful. And wet. That big trench ends up draining into a tunnel which goes under the canal. Came back, had coffee with Bill and we were off at 7:30. The rest of the boat was still asleep.

There isn’t much room underneath most of the bridges. They look wide enough until you get close and discover that the tow path makes it much smaller than expected. If everything is in a straight line, then things aren’t too tough, but you still want to go slow. Bridges with a tight corner before and/or after were much more interesting. It seems that a narrowboat can take 10-ish seconds to start responding to the tiller. And once it starts spinning, it is equally hard to get it to stop. Timing it so that the bow, 68 feet ahead, rotates into the correct gap is challenging. Things aren’t much better on the way out because you can’t really turn until the stern has cleared the bridge, which was frequently too late. This one was easy.

Some twit had decided to moor overnight at the water point. Not cool. We wedged in and filled up anyways.

Past several meres (old English for “lake”) and then our first tunnel, Ellesmere Tunnel. And yes, there was a sharp turn on the way in. Bill ran through first to make sure there was no oncoming traffic. Honk, turn the headlight on, and into the dark.

We pulled into the Elsemere branch and I spun the boat clumsily in the little winding hole at the end. As we walked in to Tesco, we got to observe a more experienced boater doing his U-turn. Easier with a boat 15 feet shorter than mine! 🙂 Tesco caters to the boating crowd, and told us we were welcome to use the trolley all the way to the boat. 🙂

The lockkeeper at Frankton locks phoned me to confirm that we were actually going to make it to the locks on time. I guess lots of people fail to show, and the poor guy wastes a lot of time waiting around. I didn’t expect my phone to actually work with the SIM card and temporary phone number. Good thing it did. Maybe this shouldn’t have surprised me as much as it did. We received comprehensive instructions from the lockkeeper (Sandy was taken with his dog) and breezed down through the locks.

We quickly ran into 3 more locks to do all by ourselves. We whistled through them easily and confidently then started along the Montgomery Canal itself. Narrow and overgrown in a really good way. We walked many portions of it.

We slowly worked our way down this beautiful, remote canal. Pulled our U-Turn at Gronwyn Bridge and hiked down to see the ongoing restoration (and newt rescue) a couple of kilometers south. Darren learned about stinging nettles when we were forced to moor up in the bush.

It was fun to see the ongoing canal restoration (Here is an updated progress report by Crusing The Cut from June, 2023: The Full Monty). I am amused by the fact that the restoration was delayed for years while they negotiated and built a compensatory newt habitat. Yes, that word was newt. For those of you not in the know, a newt is a type of salamander. Also called an eft for you Scrabble people.

We still had lots of daylight, and so decided we might as well meander back towards the Frankton Locks, and make the next morning even lazier. Back up the 3 self-serve locks.

We developed also fine-tuned our driver communication scheme. It turns out that it is very hard to know where the bow is when it is 68 feet away. And many situations require this knowledge. Yelling doesn’t really work as the engine is too loud. Locks are a good example. We held up a number of fingers to indicate “meters to go”. You should be able to see a photo where I am standing on the side of the lock, holding up 3 fingers = 3 meters.

We tied up for a pasta dinner by Joan. Keiran and Darren got to use the mooring pins this time: no Armco barrier. And no stinging nettles. 🙂

Sunday, July 2 – Day 3

Goal: Get out through the Frankton Locks, eat at the Jack Mytton Inn, moor up somewhere past the Marton Locks.

Since we had tied up quite close to the Frankton Locks, we started up them as soon as they opened. Different lockkeeper, different dog. Both very pleasant. I had a chance to talk to a couple who were weeding their garden alongside the lock. Mostly talked about the increased traffic through the locks (a good thing which they liked) and the great crested newts. The protection of which I now feel has been a little bit overblown. Apparently they regularly have them breeding in their plastic wading pool. Doing fine. That’s their cottage, with me (in red) talking to them (in blue). Nice location if you can get it! 🙂

We zipped up through the locks and turned back on to the Llangollen. Bridge numbers here restarted, and we went under “1W”. Bacon was provided to the crew enroute. We stopped for water at a deserted, locked and now permanently closed structure.

The canal became smaller and we passed lots of full-timers, recognizable by the solar panels, wind turbines and frequently, potted plants. Chris and Sandy went for a walk as Keiran collapsed on the roof and in no time at all, Bill pulled us up to the mooring rings at the Jack Mytton Inn. Nice place and really caters to the canalboat crowd. We ordered inside, and ate outside the the perfect weather.

Back on the canal, and eager to go up the only set of locks on the Llangollen on our trip, we hit the traffic jam. We were 9th in the queue. And things were going slowly. I wandered around and talked to other boaters and took photos. A varied group.

A busted paddle gate meant that the lock was only filling at half-speed. And a lot of people were slow to react, taking their time to get in/out of the boat and actually operate the lock. We had nothing else to do and decided we could really increase the throughput, and became lockkeepers. I feel we halved the time per boat. And got lots of exercise. The second lock was much quicker because the first one slowed everyone down so much. So, two hours spent getting through the first lock. By 5:30, we were through the second one as well.

We still had 4+ hours of daylight. And, contrary to our schedule, we had eaten “dinner” way too early for it to count as our evening meal. So we decided to carry on to Chirk. This would be our first big aqueduct, our first big tunnel, and a chance to find a good place to eat in Chirk.

First the canal got smaller and quainter. We passed a small, very popular pub where every boat seemed to have stopped. No room for us so we continued.

We turned a corner, and Chirk Aqueduct was right there. Amazing. The adjacent arches from the train bridge give you a sensation of what you are currently doing. The tunnel follows immediately. We honked and sent crew through ahead. Then into the blackness. Narrow, so slow was order of the day. Ten minutes later, immediately upon exiting the tunnel, we moored up at the bottom of a deep gorge. Home sweet home. In Chirk.

The ducks were now at eye level and very cute. We then wandered the km or so into Chirk for dinner. Found a wonderful pub (Castle Bistro Tea Room) and really enjoyed our dinner. The special for the evening was to pick one of three different roasts, including Roast Lamb, Roast Beef or Roast Pork. Most of our group picked one of those options. I had espresso poured over ice cream for dessert. And we promised to return for a breakfast with real coffee the next morning.

Monday, July 3 – Day 4

Goal: Across the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and into Llangollen

I got up before 6 and decided to walk back along our route, and take a look at Chirk Aqueduct from underneath. Walked over the hill which contained the tunnel, through the town and down into the valley which the aqueduct crossed. Wandered among the sheep and took some photos. Then up the other side, viewed the pub that was too crowed the day before, across the aqueduct and through the dark tunnel.

We decided not to wait for the espresso place to open, deciding instead to start motoring at 8. Whitehouse Tunnel, narrow canal with traffic, and then in the distance, the justifiably famous Pontcysyllte. It is stunning to be in this little bathtub of water, 125 feet in the air, in a boat. The edge is right there, at the same level as the deck of the boat. No railing, no nothing.

Originally, I had planned for us to moor up in the Trevor spur and eat lunch, after crossing the Pontcysyllte. But it was packed solid with boats, many moored up two or three abreast. Some big event, I assume. So, we made the sharp turn under the tight bridge and carried on. Llangollen itself was only 3 1/2 miles away. The canal got much smaller, and portions were shallow with lots of current. Out of politeness, we paused to let a bunch of canoes go past. No-one wanted to be the boat which crushed a canoe against the edge of the canal.

A bunch of the canal was only one boat wide, with a small slot for a boat to pause in to let on coming boats go by. One of the photos shows us about to pull in to the slot. We worked our way past the rocky cliffs, slipped through passages with inches on each side, idled past a mile of moored boats and then tied up in the marina. This cost us 8 pounds. I have no idea why people thought it was worth tying up a mile away. Marina was close to full, and lots of people got to watch me make a rather poor U-Turn. My prop wash swept over the dock and soaked my crew’s feet. Oops.

We had arrived much earlier than originally planned. Lots of time to do stuff. The steam locomotive was just leaving as we passed by. Bill and Joan chatted up the owners of a pair of Spunoni’s. We ate lunch in town and then walked up to Horseshoe Falls.

Llangollen was extra busy because the Fringe was in town. FYI, the Fringe in Llangollen is more of an old folks event. We even passed people in tuxedos as we returned from the long walk up to Horseshoe Falls. And then had a nice calm dinner in the boat. Odds and ends of food we still had, and some new bits that we just acquired. I enjoyed a Welsh pastie.

Bill continued his race training by run up to, and around Castell Dinas Bran.

Tuesday, July 4 – Day 5

Goal: Back to Chirk

As usual, I left the boat early to avoid waking others. This time, I headed up to Castell Dinas Bran. Calm and quiet, lots of sheep, and a pleasant climb. Impressed at this medieval castle, I decided to encourage the rest of the gang to also do the climb.

Back at the boat, we had coffee and read the newspaper. A lost art.

Chatting to other boaters, we discovered that the canal had been closed from yesterday afternoon until this morning. A short while after we had crossed, someone had decided to jump. Lots of police and ambulances and helicopters. There was going to big a bunch of boats trying to get across today, trying to make up for lost time.

Our group went up the mountain. We passed the schoolyard, watched the kids playing soccer and spotted the “tough” girls avoiding P.E., hidden behind a hedge, smoking. Sandy wore the latest in plastic hiking sandals. Look closely at the ferns in the last photo. Chris is in there somewhere.

Through the arch, you can just make out the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in the distance.

Back at the marina, I pulled out and executed a perfect 180, and pulled back in so that we could fill up our water tank. The 50-ish foot hose couldn’t reach to the other end of the boat. A quick scamper into town for some last minute munchies and we were off. Past the moored boats, into the narrow canal, and once again, ducked into the slot to let another boat past. By this time, we felt like pros.

The turn on to the aqueduct at Trevor was once again a gong show. This time, we had a tour boat operator actually ASK us to bang into him and push our way past. So, we did. Gently. And then proceeded across the Pontcysyllte one more time. Apparently, I looked extra ridiculous in my inflatable blue hat. And then we were back to the land of swing bridges again.

Through the Whitehouse tunnel and on to Chirk. Looking forward to a great dinner. Most of us had been craving Indian food, and Chirk Tandoori was excellent. Afterwards, we wandered town and explored Chirk Church (portions of which date from the 1500’s). We retraced my route from a few days before, going down the hill, across the valley, back into England, up the other side, and then walking back across the aqueduct, through the tunnel and to our boat.

Wednesday, July 5 – Day 6

Goal: Hike to Chirk Castle and make it to Ellesmere in time for dinner with Carol-Angela and Eddie.

This morning, some of us had great coffee. And a very English breakfast: Clotted cream on a scone. Again at Castle Bistro Tea Room. I think the place was bought out by a Romanian couple, and they do coffee right.

We spent a few hours walking up to, and around the outside of Chirk Castle (TripAdvisor). Nice walk up through the farmlands and farm animals and BIG trees to the castle. We were too cheap and not terribly interested in the gardens or the interior of the castle, so circled the building and headed back down to the canal. Still worth doing.

On the canal again, we went through the Chirk Tunnel and Aqueduct, through Marton Locks, still with a broken paddle. As we should have predicted, the big queue was to be found at the broken lock. Darren can be seen beside the broken paddle mechanism, which is wrapped in a garbage bag. We made it in to Ellesmere exactly on time to meet up with Carol-Anne and Eddie. This time, the spur into Ellesmere was fully occupied, so we had to park 200 yards away, at the junction. No problem.

[cws_gpp_images_by_albumid id=”6495353948511463297″ theme=projig show_details=0 row_height=200 num_results=0 album_title=1]

Linked up with Carol-Angela and Eddie, we then searched Ellesmere for a restaurant to accommodate our large group, and were reduced to a single choice, the Black Lion Hotel (TripAdvisor). Good pub food and they had a nice big room and table for us.

Thursday, July 6 – Day 7

Goal: Moor up somewhere close to the Whitchurch Marina (ABC Boat Hire).

We had lots of free time. Only 12-ish miles to do, about 4 hours of motoring. So we wandered the streets of Ellesmere, both for coffee and other random shopping.

Enroute again. We had decided to go past the marina, and pull into the Whitchurch spur for dinner and the night. We went through Ellesmere Tunnel and past the meres. Chris was at the helm, and I occupied myself with Sudoku and photos. We filled up with water and got sprayed by the leaky hose again, which wasn’t unpleasant given the remarkable weather. Keiran took over the helm and cranked his tunes, while the front of the boat switched to Scrabble. Past our starting point and into the Whitchurch spur.

We essentially walked across Whitchurch. Somehow, it seemed different from when I had driven around it a week before. Also, remember when I mentioned Bill and Joan’s taxi driver? We decided to visit the taxi driver’s restaurant, “The Railway Spice” (on TripAdvisor). Food was marvelous, naan were HUGE.

Friday, July 7 – Day 8 – The End

Goal: Return the boat before 9:30 a.m.

Last morning. Crank in some grease to the prop shaft, pack up our bags and motor for 15 minutes to the marina. Multiple car shuttles got Bill and Joan, and then Chris and Darren to the train station. The Long’s then started driving north to Hadrian’s Wall and Edinburgh.

Other Random Information:

Distances from Llangollen:

Trevor = 4.3 miles
Chirk Tunnel = 7.6 miles
Marton Locks = 12 miles
Ellesmere = 19 miles
Wixall Moss = 25.5 miles
Whitchurch = 30 miles