High Pressure

Well it's been five days since our last post,(sounds like confession), the longest we've gone so far this summer.

I use the term Summer lightly. However, what's this building over the UK? High pressure, yes I remember you!!
That's probably because Quidditch is heading back to our home-base for a week and not being the pessimistic type a definite coincidence that summer may have arrived at last. It appears that the jet-stream, which is the cause of our rotten summer and lying around 500 miles too far south, is making it's move northward at last.
On our previous post we'd visited the Battlefield Steam Railway and were heading back to Wigram's for a short break. Currently we're moored at Barby around 9 miles from home-base, it's 6am (yes I'm up Johhny!) and a cloudless yet chilly morning with an eerie mist rising off the cool water.
Over the past 5 days we've obviously moved off the Ashby Canal back onto the Coventry and making our turn at the stop-lock at Hawkwsbury Junction back onto the Oxford Canal. Andrew (Granny Buttons) we did see you moored at Hawkesbury but all was quiet so Granny must have been deserted.
It was the first time we'd completed the Ashby Canal having passed it on several occasions and I have to say that it was a pleasant surprise. As soon as it leaves Marston Juntion where you enter the canal it changes completely & dramatically. The industry and housing estates that accompany the Coventry Canal on this stretch suddenly vanish to be replaced by green fields, farms and trees. At the top end, only 21 miles from it's start, your in the National Forest and the scenery and wildlife is excellent, we saw several Stoat and a Peregrine Falcon during our week on the canal.
Nothing extraordinary has happened to us over the last 5 days although having once again avoided being hit this summer, thus far,the inevitable happened while moored and minding our own business at Grimes Bridge. Nothing too serious but once again the attitude of our assailant took the biscuit! "This IS our home you know" you ignorant git, enough said!! Coming thru' the 3 Hillmorton Locks is not a good idea on a Sunday and in the school holidays but a necessity due to our schedule! Pandemonium is an understatement with boats strewn in every orrafice of the canal. Fortunately we avoided any trouble through good humour and shear dumb luck. We've both finished Harry Potter and look forward to the film which we'll catch later in the week but it came as a shock when Dee reminded me last night that when we put back into Wigram's on Tuesday that's the first part of journey this summer complete. Bummer!!!!

Battlefields

Sunday July 22nd… Today the weather had returned to something resembling the summer. In fact we nearly made it through the whole day without rain.

Passing through Hinckley we had a brief stop at Trinity Marina for bread before mooring just short of Stoke Golding.
Looking at this canal on a map it appears to be very much out on a limb. In fact the Ashby was originally intended to be a through route from the River Trent at Burton to the Coventry Canal near Bedworth, but this plan was repeatedly shelved. In 1792 however the Ashby Canal Co. was formed and a bill promoted, mostly by the owners of the Leicestershire limeworks and a new coalfield between Ashby de la Zouch, who decided that an outlet southwards was required from their various works.
Monday July 23rd… Today we moved around 5 miles on to battlefield moorings. From here we visited the Battle of Bosworth visitors Centre, the site of Richard III last stand, where there’s an excellent walk around the battlefield culminating at the Shenton railway station, part of the Battlefield Line Steam Railway, which we hope to visit on Wednesday.

Tuesday July 24th... Completing the remaining 9 miles of the Ashby in beautiful rural countryside we emerged from the 250yd Snarestone Tunnel at what is the present canal terminus, another 8 miles remain of un-navigable canal to Moira. Turning about we moored for the day at the southern end of the tunnel and thankfully enjoyed a lovely cloudless evening.

Wednesday July 25th... Setting off in more rain we moved the 3 miles to Shackerstone moorings and then walked the half mile to the Battlefield Line Railway. Unfortunately today the only train running was the DMU, diesel-multi unit. The station at Shackerstone is small but original and contains a superb museum recognised as one of the most interesting and unique collections in the country. Many of the items date back to last century with special emphasis placed on the local history.

Thank you once again to everyone who's emailed and phoned regarding our status in view of the weather. As many of you will know canals are not renown for flooding, in fact most of the canal sluices empty into nearby rivers when the depth becomes too much, our current canal, the Ashby, is about 6 inches higher than normal! We can tell you that we remain in constant touch with British Waterways who are excellent at advance warnings of stoppages via email and have therefore managed to avoid any serious trouble. However, we've heard from friends who are unfortunately worse off than us and who are currently marooned on various rivers, fortunately still afloat! By a shear coincidence we'd decided at the beginning of our tour that we'd navigate any rivers late in the season. A damn good call if you ask me!! Our trip down to the Thames in August is obviously in doubt though at this time.

Harry & the Ashby

Thursday July 19th… Has summer arrived at last? We completed another long day but this time in glorious summer weather. Leaving our overnight mooring we continued our journey south stopping at Fazeley Junction where the Coventry Canal meets the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal and stopped for water, elsan and provisions once more.
After upping pins we continued through Tamworth completing the only 2 locks of the day at Glascote. Fortunately we’d had an email from BW informing us that these locks were closed yesterday for emergency repairs, causing very long tailbacks for the unwitting and subsequent delays. When we arrived the back-log had obviously gone but lock no.1, the repaired lock, was still extremely slow resulting a queue of 4 boats behind us by the time we cleared through.
We eventually moored at Meadow Lane Bridge just after Polesworth, by coincidence behind NB-Ethel Fidget and remarkably I noticed NB-Maria Jesse another Wigrams moorer pulling in a little while later. After a nice cool beer and chat with Ethel Fidget Dee and I barbecued for only the second time this summer, it was a lovely summer evening with a beautiful red sunset. Shortly after calling it a day the rain once moor returned!
Friday July 20th… Summer had vanished, was it only a dream? The rain had continued unabated for most of the night but to make it to the Ashby Canal by Saturday meant another day in the rain. Gearing up in our wets we duly set off around 11.30am for the Atherstone Flight, not my favourite locks as their renowned for being painstakingly slow. We eventually cleared through the 11 locks at around 2.30pm with very few locks in our favour and once again we were soaked to the bone as the rain had now become torrential. We knew we were mooring for the night in around another 2 miles so we battled on finally arriving at what was now a completely flooded towpath and in what had become a major thunderstorm. There’s one good thing about mooring in torrential rain and that’s jumping straight into the shower and settling down to some hot soup and in this case sausage baps, lovingly stored from yesterdays ‘summer’ BBQ! When we logged on later we’d received another stoppage email from BW informing us that the Oxford Canal was completed closed to navigation due to flooding, the brunt of which was around our home marina at Napton and the rain continues!
Saturday July 21st… Harry Potter day! We departed at around 11am and the sole aim was to grab 2 copies of the new Harry Potter books on our way to the Ashby Canal. The only possible solution was to moor at Nuneaton, not the most auspicious of locations. We moored just after bridge 20 and I duly unhooked my bike and while Dee remained on board boat sitting I cycled the couple of miles into the town centre. About an hour later I returned and haven't seen Dee since! I can't drag her away from the damn book, good job we got two copies!
Around 2.30pm I made the turn onto the Ashby Canal, new ground for Quidditch and we shortly moored for the night just after bridge 3. It's finally stopped raining too.

Seclusion Shattered.

Sunday July 15th.. The weather forecast for today was correct! As predicted the rain came & stayed for the whole day, as did Quidditch.

We just couldn't’t face another wet miserable drubbing. We’d found our quiet secluded mooring in the middle of nowhere and it was a good call to stay put for the day and in fact we didn't even venture out. It wasn’t until around 6pm when I stuck my head out of the hatch that we realised a boat had snuck in quietly behind about a boat lengths back.

However, the big shock came at around 9pm just as I was settling down to watch ‘Rome’ on BBC2. I could suddenly hear a loud blurring music and it was getting louder, and then suddenly appearing out of the window was not one but two ‘hire boats’. I seriously could not believe my eyes and ears as both boats slotted into the tiny gap left by the earlier arrival and buttied up, our seclusion destroyed. I won’t even describe the antics that occurred the following morning, just prior to our quick and hasty departure, as the immediate towpath was turned into something resembling a Butlins holiday camp!’.
Monday July 16th.. After our early departure today we planned to drop down onto the Staffs & Worcester Canal at Great Hayward Junction and moor overnight at Tixall Wide (pictured) where we’d moored for a couple of days on our way up north earlier this year. We stopped for water and elsan and were surprised to find the door locked and a charge of £1 for use of the elsan, which is also not available once the shop closes at 6pm. How can there be a charge and why is this locked beyond the BW key as this is clearly a BW elsan and has been for years? I'll let you know the response to my email.

We’ve come full circle and the summer, if you can call it that, is already half gone. After securing our mooring at Tixall we took a stroll back to the junction and visited the local farm shop for a few provisions and on our return spotted NB-Castle Howard who we’d met several times on the River Avon and Gloucester & Sharpness Canal in 2005. Dee and I spent the evening playing scrabble and amazingly at around 9.30pm the two hire boats that had given us so much grief the night before drifted past. Fortunately the whole mooring was full so we were all spared the grief!

Tuesday July 17th.. After chatting for a while with Castle Howard we turned and headed back onto the Trent & Mersey Canal turning south once again. Knowing this stretch reasonably well we planned to moor around 2 miles from Fradley Junction at bridge 55 where we’d make the turn back onto the Coventry Canal on Wednesday. Just prior to Rugeley we bumped into NB-Ethel Fidget one of our neighbours from Wigrams who were on their way back down from the Macclesfield Canal and slowed very briefly to say hello. The day was showery and we only got soaked twice but it was a nice little jaunt in some occasional sunshine and only 2 locks.

Wednesday July 18th.. The day began with a brief chat with NB-Moody Blues, who came along side, they were on their way up to Stone and are also from our home marina.

Today we completed our transition of the Trent & Mersey Canal turning back once again onto the Coventry Canal at what was a very busy and hectic Fradley Junction. The weather today after a brief morning shower was beautiful and we ate lunch and dinner in the front cratch for the first time this summer. Just prior to mooring at Bridge 81 we stopped briefly so that Dee could jump off and secure a hire boat that had obviously been poorly tied and who's bow was drifting across a narrow section of canal making navigation difficult. These things happen but the most disappointing aspect was the fact that just prior to coming around the bend we'd passed two privately owned boats who had neither warned us of the danger or indeed took the time to stop and secure the boat themselves! After what I've witnessed so far this summer I'm getting a distinct and sad feeling that courtesy on the canals like in the rest of society is becoming a rare commodity!!

Steady Progress to the Ashby

Thursday July 12th.. After our long day yesterday we completed the remaining 14 locks of ‘Heartbreak Hill’ mooring just short of the final one in a torrential downpour to visit the nearby Tesco supermarket.
At around 3.50pm we moved off, once again fully provisioned, completing the final lock on our approach to the Harecastle Tunnel. Our timing was excellent as we were waved thru’ the tunnel without any delay with 2 minutes to spare until the tunnel was turned. *(The tunnel operates a 1-way system allowing 8 boats access at a time. It takes around 50 minutes to complete the gruelling 2,926 yards).
This was the 4th consecutive year we’ve completed the Harecastle but this remarkable feat of engineering never fails to impress. There are altogether 3 parallel tunnels through Harecastle Hill. The first built by James Brindley, was completed in 1777, after 11 years work. As has become a tradition with us once we emerge at the southern exit we immediately moor for the day, this year mainly to dry out!
Friday July 13th.. Today we moved from the southern exit of the Harecastle Tunnel to Barlaston, 9 miles and 6 locks, taking a slight detour onto the Caldon Canal at Etruria for water & Elsan . It turned out to be a hard day in driving rain & for some reason the remaining 2 locks, in particular Stoke Bottom Lock, were painfully slow. We finally moored for the day absolutely soaked to the skin, even in full wet gear! However, it’s always a bonus to pass through Stoke city centre and out into the countryside once more with little effort and due to the appalling conditions not many other boats to hinder us.
Saturday July 14th.. As the weather for today was set fair, it was like the REAL summer out there, and we knew more heavy rain was coming tomorrow, we set off at a leisurely pace at around 11am progressing further down towards the Ashby Canal, which we hope to enter later in the week. The plan was to pass through Stone, which we have visited twice before and moor until Monday somewhere beyond & secluded, not being one’s to moor too close to town centre’s when where fully stocked. We sauntered through with the usual mass of onlookers at Star Lock, ‘for god’s sake get me out of here’ says I when Dee prepared the lock, it took an agonising 5 minutes to clear!
Immediately after clearing the lock to the designated moorings for Stone 3 boats pulled away simultaneously resulting in a slow transition to Aston Lock, our final lock of the day and inevitable queue. We finally cleared some 45 minutes later and found our secluded single mooring at Bridge 89.
In my earlier post 'Strim Your Own' I described how I’d prepared our own mooring using a strimmer which was picked up and posted by Andrew Denny on his site Granny Buttons. Well Andrew you mention in your piece that a strimmer would have come in handy on your visit to the Ashby where you say BW has ‘Vegged-out’ on it’s pledge to keep canalside vegetation under control. Well by an amazing coincidence Quidditch is on-route as we speak. So look out on the Ashby Canal cos Quidditch is on a mission!!!

Strim Your Own!

Well we didn't actually leave Cholmondeston until Tuesday having met up with NB-Nesta once again, this meant that by the time we left we'd spent 8 days in total at one location.

Another good thing about our extended stay was that we were moored right next to Ivor & Mel aboard their diesel boat and so filled up with diesel at a reasonable 48P.

Even when we did eventually leave we only moved around 4 miles because we discovered that NB-Tagine Queen who we'd completed The Montgomery Canal with last month were making their way toward us.

We'd decided to meet up at a lovely designated 48hr mooring Dee & I had moored at last year overlooking Winsford Flash just short of Bridge 22. You can imagine our frustration when we arrived only to discover that not for the first time this year a designated mooring was completely overgrown.

It was finally time to take matters into our own hands and extract the strimmer for the first time this year!! I'd completed our 60 foot mooring when I called John aboard Tagine and establishing his ETA told him I'd strim him a mooring when he arrived. Around 45 minutes later, having spotted John coming thru' bridge 22 I began to prepare his 60 foot. Ten minutes later a stunned John & Joan, ("I thought you were only joking when you phoned"), moored bow to bow where we had an evening on the towpath drinking a nice little vintage at our newly tended mooring. A nice gift to the next person who moors once we've left in the morning.

My message to British Waterways, who have disappointed me yet again, is to supply all boat owners with a free strimmer once we've handed over our hard earned licence fee money! At least that way we can help in some small way with the upkeep of our beloved towpath. Just prior to departing this morning (Wednesday July 11th) we got an email from NB-Best'O'Mates who'd read the blog and discovered that they were only 4 bridges away at Bridge 26. We then met & buttied for a short while to catch up with Jennifer & Graham who are on-route to the Lancaster Canal via The Ribble and then continued on our longest day for a while, completing 19 locks and mooring just short of Bridge 144 on the Trent & Mersey. It was great to catch up with Best'O'Mates who we last met when completing the River Avon last year.

The Harecastle Tunnel beckons tomorrow!

Short Break

After a 5 day lay-up we're now back on our travels again and heading across the Middlewich Branch for the Trent & Mersey Canal.
For the past 3 years we've moored at Cholmondeston for a short break from our travels to return to the normal world!
Cholmondeston is strategically placed with the Venetian Marina & Cafe serving a top breakfast and easy access to Crewe. From here we can hire a car from Enterprise who will pick you up & drop you off at the marina. Over the lay-up and having transport available we have the option do things like a major re-stock of food & wine and any other chores that require a visit to a large town, plus an opportunity to visit the cinema, this time to see Shrek 3.
I can also drive the 50 miles & pay a visit to my dear mum in Liverpool who doesn't get to see me as much in the summer.
Back on the tour again and the weather doesn't seem to have improved greatly. One example of not being prepared for the monsoon's this year is pictured above. We spotted this boat on the Shropshire Union Canal, one of several we've seen this year, which could be a casualty of the weather. The amount of rainfall we had in June has to filter somewhere and if your bilge is blocked and your boat lies unchecked for a while this could be the consequences. As your boat fills & fills with water it's eventually weighed down and then bingo!!
So that's it! Were back on the tour again and our thanks to Nick & Linda, you didn't name your boat, Andy from NZ and Carl & Cara who we met in Llangollen Basin on their hire boat, who have recently posted to our Guest-Book.

Monthly Log (June 07)

Of course one easy headline for June would be the weather, it’s certainly been a record breaker for all the wrong reasons.
When we first set out from Napton in May our sole intention was to head straight for the Llangollen Canal to begin with and end on the Thames sometime in September. I’m certainly glad we didn’t do it the other way around, we’d probably still be flooded in at this stage!
Having spent most of June on the Llangollen we now prepare to come off and I have mixed feelings about the canal.
Arriving at Hurleston Junction and turning onto the canal from the Shropshire Union the first 25 miles thru’ to Ellesmere are amazingly quiet and you wonder what all the fuss regarding it’s busy reputation is about. Just after Ellesmere at Frankton Junction is the entrance to the 7 mile restored Montgomery Canal which requires advance booking. Continuing on from here thru’ to Llangollen there is a marked increase in traffic & you can see why the canal has it’s reputation as the busiest on the system. After the amazing Pontcysyllte Aqueduct from Trevor thru’ to Llangollen, the final 4 miles, requires great patience being both shallow & narrow. There are 2 sections which require you to send a crew member ahead to check for oncoming boats as only one can pass thru’, 2-way radios are very handy! Once into Llangollen pass right to the end where it opens out & you’ll find the basin with water & electric, £5 a night, 48hrs only, it’s well worth the effort. Have a day on the Llangollen Steam Railway too.
The Llangollen certainly is the beautiful canal we knew it would be and apart from the Caldon Canal it’s certainly the most rural we’ve done. However, being the busiest canal on the system and saturated with hire boats, for me it loses a lot of its charm. You could be on the Caldon for example and as the steam train passed by through Churnet Valley you got the impression of times gone by and maybe only a half dozen boats would drift by a day. The dozens of hire boats however and I would estimate that those have been around 80% of the traffic on the Llangollen, are on the go from 6am until 10pm. I use those examples from personal experience as we’ve been passed on more than one occasion at both these times. It seems to me that time is as critical for some on this canal as it is in their busy lives as they literally speed passed without a thought to moored boats or environment, trying to get to the nearest pub or to be first at the lock or water point. Over our 2+ weeks on the Llangollen we’ve met many nice people aboard hire boats and have even invited some into our home but we’ve also met our fair share of boats who simply don’t have a clue, or simply don’t care. In fact as I post this entry one is passing far too fast & totally oblivious to the moored boats! Surely a canal-boat holiday should be about escaping from the stresses of everyday life and soaking in the beauty and atmosphere that rural England & Wales have to offer. I wonder how many have spotted a Kingfisher diving for fish, a Buzzard, Water Vole or Meadow Brown butterfly or heard the many Chiffchaff singing while they rush up and down this canal! Obviously these are my personal views but I think it's a great shame that the minority don't actually grasp what a holiday aboard a narrowboat is all about.
Anyway to end on a positive, don’t be put off by it’s reputation or my moaning. Despite the traffic & the odd renegade hire-boat the Llangollen has it all, aqueducts, tunnels & exceptional and plentiful moorings, well tended and an example of how the rest of the system should be done if BW got their act together. With patience it’s well worth the effort, we’d certainly do it again.
(Pictured Above... Another Hire-boat loses it, panics & heads straight for us!)

Prees Branch

Tuesday June 26th.. The morning was spent recovering from yesterdays storm, clearing the roof of leaves & bits of tree.
Dee’s tomato plant which was doing so well had completely snapped off but I was able to save the roof troughs.
Around midday we moved the few miles into the Ellsmere Arm for more shopping and to meet up with Graham & Hazel from NB-Nesta who we first met when we moored at the Thames & Kennet Marina in Reading a few years ago. I should mention that we delayed pushing off from our overnight mooring by around 30 minutes due to the fact that the 3 stooges I mentioned yesterday on route from Llangollen passed us by just as we were about to push-off, enough said! In the evening we met up with NB-Nesta and enjoyed a decent meal in the local curry-house. It seems to be a tradition now that every time we meet up we have a curry.
Wednesday June 27th.. We said farewell to NB-Nesta who were moving up to Llangollen and only moved a few miles today to a nice mooring we’d spotted on our way up in-between bridges 51/50. One night in a town mooring was enough for us although we found the Ellesmere Arm, although full, pretty peaceful. If you do ever moor there try to moor away from the top end as there is a lot of building work going into the new Wharf. Around mid afternoon I rescued two lovely families on a 70ft beast of a hire boat who were trying to ‘wind’ (boaty term for turn around) and had got badly stuck. The remainder of the day was spent enjoying what turned out to be a sunny although chilly end. Later Dee made her home-made Steak, Stilton & Guinness pie which was delicious.
Thursday June 28th.. For those who have emailed to ask - Although the surrounding fields are flooded after the recent storm & the occasional brook or stream we pass is in full flood, we’ve not noticed much of a difference to the Llangollen except for a small increase in flow & around 3inch in depth. We are aware however of other canals being closed for periods & we are certainly glad we’re not on any rivers at present. Today we once again only moved around 3 miles to the Prees Branch of the canal and moored in a single mooring opposite Whixall Moss (pictured). This is a raised bog rich in flora & insect fauna, including mosquito’s! The peat surface remains inspite of the past cutting of the peat for garden use, and is now a SSSI, and an important site for rare insects & plant life which survive on the delicate habitat. In the afternoon we cycled down this pretty ½ mile branch section to Whixall Marina and then continued on further along the un-navigable section which is now a nature reserve.
NB.. Apologies to those who subscribe to our blog who have received email notification from ‘Feedburner’ of some very old postings. I don’t know why that happened and our apologies!

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct

Friday June 22nd.. Turned out to be a 7 hour epic, completing Chirk & Whitehouse tunnels, Chirk Aqueduct and the fantastic Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.

The Pontcysyllte is easily the most famous & most spectacular feature on the whole canal system. Apart from its great height of 126ft above the River Dee and its length of 1007ft, the excitement to be derived from crossing this structure by boat is partly due to the fact that, while the towpath side is fenced off with, albeit widely spaced iron railings, the offside is completely unprotected from around 12inches above the water level, hence a sheer drop. I have to say that unlike Dee, who was unfased by the whole event I found it slightly daunting steering Quidditch across and looking straight down 100ft. We completed our epic by mooring in the Llangollen Basin at around 7pm.
Saturday June 23rd.. After our epic yesterday we took time out to enjoy the Llangollen visitor moorings and the added benefit of shoreline electricity. After breakfast we visited Llangollen town centre for shopping and took a trip on the Llangollen Steam Railway.
Sunday June 24th.. We walked the 2 mile remainder of the un-navigable section of the canal, which culminates at the well known Horseshoe Falls where the Llangollen Canal originates and then set off from the basin at around 3pm. The plan was to complete the Llangollen – Trevor section and after taking the return trip across the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct mooring just prior to the Whitehouse Tunnel.
I would say that the Llangollen – Trevor section is one of the most difficult sections on any canal, narrow & shallow with several sections only wide enough for 1 boat to navigate. Just the place you don’t want to meet total incompetents!!
One example was a hire boat that proceeded against us despite plainly seeing us, a clear BW sign informing you to stop & send a crew member ahead to check the section is clear & Dee actually telling them to wait. Another was a group of 3 guys ahead of us the whole stretch who instead of allowing us to pass were more intent on fishing & boozing & were totally incapable of navigating. Hitting every bridge and stopping dead, resulting in grounding, every time a boat passed the opposite way, it was like watching the ball of a pinball machine and not very funny. Despite having great patience with hire boat crews who are in general quite competent, helpful & willing to learn, I don’t believe I’ve seen as many useless individuals as we encountered today. I would simply ask anyone planning to hire a narrowboat to please do their research and use their common sense, it ain’t rocket science!
Monday June 25th.. Today we moved from our overnight mooring at Whitehouse Tunnel, 9 miles & 2 locks, to Frankton Junction in the most appalling weather we’ve ever experienced on a canal. With driving rain and strong winds it felt like the middle of February not the end of June. I must say that we felt totally sorry for a couple who we passed on a ‘Day Boat’ hired from Maestermyn Marine who were being blown & buffeted across the canal as the wind crashed in over an open field. We finally moored at around 4pm and within 10 minutes the fire was lit & the wine was out. Best place to be in winter…… I mean summer!!!

The Montgomery

Tuesday 19th.. At around 11am we picked up with NB-Tagine Queen & made the 2hr run to Frankton Junction & our booked passage onto the navigable 7ml stretch of the Montgomery.
The locks both ways must be booked in advance & are only open & manned 12noon until 2pm after which they’re padlocked! Only 12 boats are allowed down daily and once a quota of 1250 boats is reached (annually) the canal is closed to traffic. Another point to bare in mind is the speed limit of 3mph which is enforced for conservation reasons.
Quidditch & Tagine were the last 2 boats in the 12 so a 90 minute wait gave us both time to catch up on the gossip. After emerging thru’ Frankton locks we completed the remaining 4 locks together & made the 7 mile navigable passage to Maesbury in around 4hrs. In the evening we visited The Navigation Inn which was directly opposite our mooring and had an excellent meal as the thunder once again rattled in!
Wednesday 20th.. After turning at Gronwyn Wharf, which is the limit of the navigation, we had a leisurely 4hr cruise back to Weston Wharf around a ½ mile from Frankton Junction, where the plan was to moor in position for the lock up at midday.
My impressions of the Montgomery are mixed. The canal is quite pretty & well serviced for elsan, bins & water but really nothing out of the ordinary & is straight & long for good periods of the 7 mile stretch. The moorings are poorly tended & un-inviting, they are overgrown & there are none after the Graham Palmer lock until you reach the ‘Queens Head’ (full on our visit) & Maesbury. Disappointingly the Maesbury towpath was full of dog crap and I have to say that Frankton Locks also had its fair share! The lock keeper who lives at Frankton is a really helpful chap and very chatty. In conclusion it was nice to have completed the section and well done to those who have restored it but it’s not the ‘Oh! you have to do the Montgomery’ a lot of people have raved about.
Thursday 21st.. You wouldn’t think it was midsummer’s day! Always fun to see ‘I wanna be 1st at the locks syndrome’. I could see by my strategic viewpoint, (and binoculars), from around a ½ mile away that the 1st lock back up had a queue of 4 boats by 9am, pointless really as the locks aren’t open until midday and the lock mooring is shallow & insufficient. So we had a leisurely breakfast and walk along the Weston Branch disused arm and were then treated to several card tricks aboard Tagine by the ultra-talented John.
At around 12.30pm we sauntered up to the locks and made a slow transition through, emerging as the last boat of the day at around 2.15pm only a ½ hour behind the 1st boat which had been queuing since 9am. At the top we moored for a cuppa with John & Joan before heading our separate ways, NB-Tagine back down to Ellsmere and Quidditch up to Llangollen which we should hit by Saturday.

Over the Border

Friday 15th.. Torrential rain thru’ the night meant that a poor nights sleep was subsidised by sleeping in until around 10.30am.

As luck would have it though our 3 hour sailing today was in dry and sometimes sunny conditions. One thing that’s striking already about the Llangollen Canal, apart from the beautiful scenery, is the constant flow. There is a significant west-to-east current, thanks to the canals other role as a water conduit from the welsh mountains to the people of Crewe.
Our sailing today took us 7 miles and 5 locks but with Dee’s beady eye we spotted Kingfisher and a Tawny Owl which was roosting for the day low in an oak tree.
We eventually moored just short of Marbury Lock in sunshine but within the hour we were battered once again by torrential rain & thunderstorms.
Saturday 16th.. Leaving Marbury the canal again enters peaceful and remote countryside. Continuing thru’ 5 more isolated locks we eventually arrived at Grindley Brook Locks, 3 locks followed by 3 staircase locks. Saturday is definitely the day to pass thru’. Most of the large hire fleets are on turn-around day so we saw very few but bare in mind your location as there’s a mass exodus at around 4pm from the boat-yards!
Grindley locks are manned and 3 boats at a time enter at once. We were fortunately the third and navigated thru’ quickly but in pouring rain. At the top end there are 3 water points, elsan, bins and ample mooring during this quiet time. We took the opportunity to stop for a while & have lunch at the café & shop which overlooks the lock.
Moving on after lunch we eventually moored 2 hours later at Tilstock Park Lift-Bridge 2 miles from the Welsh border.
Sunday 17th.. With such a pleasant and secluded mooring we took a breather today & completed the house chores. This area is very remote and in fact we only saw 6 people all day apart from other boats.
Monday 18th.. Today we completed 8 miles in remote countryside with no locks and 1 swing bridge passing into Wales at around midday. The weather has taken a decidedly chilly note with persistent heavy showers and also of note is the increase in hire boats we are now encountering.
Arriving at Ellsmere we took the ½ mile walk into the small town to stock up on provisions and got totally soaked thru'. We’ve also nearly caught up with John & Joan aboard NBTagine Queen, (also from our Marina), who are on their return journey from Llangollen, they were originally 2 weeks ahead of us. Tomorrow the plan is for us both to book passage onto the Montgomery Canal but more on that in my next post!
(Sorry about the image but I’m unable to upload a decent photo for this post due to poor signal quality!)

Quidditch on Llangollen

Tuesday 12th.. We began early today at 9am and after filling with diesel and water we departed Norbury Junction.

During our transit of the Shropshire Union Canal one big factor is the price of Diesel, cheap at current standards. (Norbury 44.9P, Wheaton Aston 41.5P, Market Drayton 44.5P) so if your following in our footsteps well worth a mental note as we’ve heard that the Llangollen is well over 60P!
Arriving at Tyrley Lock 1 in a group of 5 locks we were met by a 6 boat queue! Probably due to our early departure today as we don’t normally come across many queue’s,11am being our average departure time when the hoard of early risers have moved on.
Completing Tyrley locks we arrived at Market Drayton at around 3pm. If you moor in the section just before Lord’s Bridge (64) you can hammer Morrison’s for supplies and get a taxi back with all your many bags via the path at Windsor Drive for only £3, a real boaters secret.
Wednesday 13th.. After wishing Winnie well, ( A lovely old lady we’d met who lives in one of the houses that back onto the canal), we set off for Audlem. Just after leaving I spotted my 1st Kingfisher of the trip sitting on one of the moored boats, normally we’ve seen several by this time. We had a fantastic pass thru’ the 5 Adderley locks, completing them in only 20mins, and progressed on to the Audlem flight of 15 locks. These locks lower the canal by over 90ft to the diarylands of Cheshire. We completed 13 of the 15 in just short of 2 hours and moored prior to the final 2 locks in Audlem. Having completed 18 locks we didn’t much feel like preparing lunch so we treated ourselves to lunch at the Shroppie Fly. The Fly is a converted warehouse that serves ale from a bar shaped like a narrowboat. Although the food was expensive it was well presented and there was a lot of it. There’s also a useful book exchange there too. When we left the Shroppie the 1st significant rain of our trip had begun to fall.
Thursday 14th.. After a rainy night & morning we left Audlem and completed the 2 final locks of the flight. Continuing on in the rain we passed thru’ Nantwich eventually reaching the Llangollen turn around 2.30pm. Despite this being the busiest canal on the system we passed thru’ the 4 locks of Hurleston Junction with impunity and had arrived on the Llangollen Canal for our 1st visit.
(Pictured above... Dee prepares the 1st lock of the Llangollen Canal in damp & murky conditions)

BBQ Time!

Friday 8th… We left Tixall Wide at our normal start time of 11am and after completing Tixall Lock a short time later we passed the entrance to Shugborough railway tunnel at the foot of some thick woods of Cannock Chase.
At Milford our navigation crossed the river Sow which is an early structure by James Brindley and continues on 5 locks later to Penkridge where we took on water and some food supplies. Passing quite close to the busy M6 motorway we finally moored for the day 4 locks later just short of Brick Kiln Lock,12 miles and 10 locks today!
Saturday 9th… Completing Brick Kiln Lock we progressed thru Gailey and on past the 2 lock Hatherton Branch. Shortly after Bridge 74 the canal widens where Brindley amazingly incorporated part of a medieval moat into the canal system. The rest of our route today took us under the M54 motorway and the final stretch of this section of the Staffs & Worcester takes us past the outskirts of Wolverhampton. Around 2pm we arrived at Autherley Junction & the stop lock for the Shropshire Union Canal and made the turn north.
Passing back under the M54 we continued north heading away from Wolverhampton, passing Brewood and eventually arriving at our mooring for today at Wheaton Aston. Tonight we had our 1st BBQ (pictured Above) of the season in glorious evening sunshine, today has been the hottest so far!
Sunday 10th… We set off from Wheaton Aston after cycling in to the village for a few supplies and passed thru’ the Cowley Tunnel and on thru’ Gnosall around lunchtime. Navigating past some beautiful countryside and a couple of large fishing matches, (1MPH), before reaching our destination of Norbury Junction around 2pm. In the evening we had a nice walk & spotted Warren & Lynne’s boat, One Chance, which is moored here. Warren & Lynne used to work at our home base Wigram’s Turn but are now happily running a caravan park in Cornwall.
Monday 11th.. Staying for the day we breakfasted at the Cosy Tea Café and spent a few £’S at the Norbury chandlery. The rest of the day was spent just chilling out in what I have to say is a very quiet Norbury Junction! Tomorrow we head for Market Drayton and then on hopefully entering the Llangollen Canal around the end of the week.

Tixall Wide

Tuesday 5th… Departing our lovely view of the Lavender fields we set off at around 11.45am.
Just before departing I was greeted at the hatch by a familiar face from NB-Winifred who was walking his 2 Jack Russell’s along the towpath. We’d first met Ken & Mary on the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal at Sharpness in 2005 and have bumped into them each year since. Experienced boaters they’ve been living aboard narrowboat’s for over 30 years!
After chatting for a while we finally set off around midday and arrived at Fradley Junction an hour later, turning North-West onto the Trent & Mersey Canal. Progressing thru’ Handacre & Rugeley we finally moored at Taft Bridge (No.69) about 3 miles short of Great Haywood Junction.
Wednesday 6th… Having cleared some debris from our weed-hatch and checked the rudder we set off around 11am for Gt. Hayward Junction, completing a couple of locks en route and turning West onto the Staffs & Worcester Canal a short time later. A mile on we moored for the day at Tixall Wide.
Tixall is an amazing & delightful stretch of water more resembling a lake than a canal, and navigable to the edges. The wide is renown for it’s Kingfisher population. The evening was spent with a TV dinner & champagne while watching England beat Estonia. The Champs was to celebrate Quidditch’s 3rd birthday.
Thursday 7th… Today we had a day off and a lovely mooring so we completed some chores. The rule of thumb aboard Quidditch while sailing is that Dee does the innie & I do the outie! So while Dee completed the housework I gave the engine & shower pump a full service.
Around lunchtime we discovered that another boat we knew, NBChardonnay, was moored slightly ahead of use. We’d bumped into Mel & Trish several times last year while navigating the same stretch of the Shropshire Union. We took time out to catch up on the news with Mel who unfortunately looked a little rough having crashed his bike into the water the day before when the towpath crumbled from underneath him! A likely story Mel!!!
Unfortunately we didn’t get to see Trish who was down in London.
In the afternoon we cycled into Gt. Haywood for provisions and had a nice lunch in a café that overlooks Haywood lock. The evening was spent looking for the elusive Kingfishers! We saw none but did watch a Buzzard hunting prey.
(Pictured above is out 1st lock queue of the season @ Colwick Lock T&M Canal)