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!)