Summer Tour Memoirs 2007

Our 'Summer Tour 07' comes to a disappointing end but despite the dreadful weather we had a great time!
Starting out back on May 29th we headed straight for the Llangollen Canal, arriving 10-days later. With some great foresight our plan this year was to avoid any rivers until August, when our rough schedule was to complete the River Thames. Looking back at our diary for 2006 at exactly the time of this years floods, we were placed on the rivers Avon and Severn. Having seen and heard first hand some of the horrendous stories from fellow boater's we're sure glad we completed that section last year!
Our first visit to the Llangollen turned out to be everything we'd imagined it would be. Stunning views, beautiful countryside and amazingly more than ample mooring. Our diversion onto the Montgomery Canal, if being truthful, was, although having all the scenery of the Llangollen, a little below expectations. To find the only decent moorings available to us some 4 hours sailing, overgrown and full of dog crap, it took the edge off it for me. However, Dee reckons it was only because I had the raging hump as it totally peed down for the final hour when all I wanted to do was to get moored and dry out!
The new Llangollen Basin moorings are an excellent place to stay for 48hrs, your provided with electric hook up and pleasant surroundings. A walk to the nearby Horseshoe Falls, where the canal begins it's journey and a trip on the Steam Railway are a must. Crossing the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is every boaters dream, or nightmare, which ever way you look at it, either way it's a phenomenal piece of engineering!
From the Llangollen we spent our usual week long stay at Cholmondeston, Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union and hired a car to visit mum in Liverpool and later in the week picked up with some other boaty friends before completing the Harecastle Tunnel once again around mid July.
Continuing slowly South for the Thames we made our way down the Trent & Mersey turning at Fradley Junction onto the Coventry Canal on July 18th.
Saturday July 21st we made a short stop at Nuneaton where I cycled into the town centre to buy a couple of copies of Harry Potter and by the evening we where both engrossed and moored on the Ashby Canal at Bridge 3.
This was our first trip along the 22 miles of the lock free Ashby Canal and due to the River Thames remaining in flood we spent longer than planned. We thoroughly enjoyed the Ashby and had excellent days out visiting the Battlefield Line Steam Railway and the battlefield itself where King Richard III was defeated by Henry Tudor at the battle of Bosworth in 1485.
We arrived back at Wigram's on July 31st for a short break and departed for our final trip of the summer on Tuesday August 6th bound for the Thames, unfortunately we never made it!!
Arriving a day out from entering the Thames at Kings Lock, Oxford, we'd already decided to ere on the side of caution and abandon our Thames trip as once again the heavens opened for another 2 days of torrential rain. Needing to be back in Wigram's for Sept 1st we simply couldn't afford to get stranded. It was here that our decision was justified as we met a fellow boater who had only 24hrs earlier escaped the Thames just as the red-boards ('river-in-flood') were being hung! In his own words... I'd been stuck for 19-days earlier in the month and I'm damned if I'm going thru' that again'.
We'd forgotten how beautiful the South Oxford Canal was! Due to our abandoned trip we spent the final weeks of our summer re-discovering this picturesque section of the canal system, an unexpected yet enjoyable end to our tour.
So that's it for another summer tour. Our thoughts for this year..... well, the weather is the headline maker for all the wrong reasons. However, the most disappointing aspect for us this year has been the lack of courtesy shown by what seems to be a greater minority of boat owners and I emphasise 'boat owners' who constantly speed past without a care for moored craft or the environment. The BW cutbacks have also been apparent this year with more overgrown moorings than every before. To end on a positive note, once again we've met some lovely people, both on hire boats and privately owned, the wildlife has been plentiful and the countryside is as beautiful as it ever was.
'Better a bad day on the water than a good day in the office'...........

Dee & Keith 2007