THE LOVELY LLANGOLLEN.

 

A Beautiful Sunset

I know I said we were on the Shropshire Union canal, well we were, but on the Middlewich branch which is only 9 miles long, with 2 locks before you reach Barbridge Junction and the main arm of the Shroppy.

At the junction you can turn right towards Chester or left towards Birmingham. We turned left but didn’t get very far at all, as we decided to moor outside The Old Barbridge Inn for the night, and of course we had to nip in and pay our dues and demands, well just have a drink actually. Unfortunately the Captain was disappointed, for although they had 6 cask ales on, not one was a dark and he had to make do with a palatable bitter.

Next day, and only a couple of miles on and we turned on to the Llangollen canal for our trip into deepest darkest Wales.

The name Llangollen canal was only coined in the 1980’s, but historically it was part of the Ellesmere canal and the Llangollen feeder, which became part of the Shroppy canal in 1846. It is 46miles long and a narrow canal, with 21 locks, 9 moveable bridges, 3 tunnels, 5 small aqueducts and 2 major aqueducts, the most famous being the Pontcysyllte. It was used to transport iron and coal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llangollen_Canal

At the start of the Llangollen are the 4 locks of the Hurleston flight, and I was very happy to see Lockees in attendance. But when the heavens opened (again) 2 of them disappeared, but they soon reappeared in their wet weather gear.

As the clouds were looking menacing, as we cleared the locks we decided to cut our losses and moor up for the night.

The next day was one of the most enjoyable I have had up to now on this trip. We were heading for Wrenbury and had 5 locks in front of us, but every man and his dog seemed to be heading our way, and at each lock we were in a queue. This meant I could get off help out and chat. And I did a lot of chatting and helping. I also found time to make scones between locks. I mainly chatted to the Captains and crews of NB Intrigue and NB Isadora, that’s Kim and Neil, and Pam and Darrell. They were travelling together but we managed to insert our boat between them. They were from Leighton Buzzard and out for about 3months. We had a great time, and I gifted them some of my scones (have to watch the Captains waistline somehow). Although we hadn’t planned to get all the way to Wrenbury, we soon found ourselves there and moored up near the pub, The Dusty Miller.

On our last visit to Wrenbury in 2016, there was another pub called The Cotton Arms, but as with so many others this has now closed, such a shame, the food in there was excellent. We did nip to the Dusty Miller for a pint, but again there were no darks on tap, they did have Old Tom in bottles (small bottles). Again the last time we were here Old Tom was actually on tap, but at £6 a pint it was very expensive and the Captain had to make do with a half. He resisted and had a lager for the first round, but then succumbed and had Old Tom for his second drink, at 8.5% avb you don’t need many.

https://www.robinsonsbrewery.com/our-beers/old-tom/

The Llangollen is very rural and very pretty, with lovely views. The locks are not to hard, only 4 the next day. More boats were moving, mainly hire boats ,which can make life interesting depending on how experienced their crews are, but in the main the ones we met were doing very well, with a little advise from me and other boaters. At most of the locks we managed to meet boats coming the other way, which always makes life easier and helps with water conservations.

We moored up just before Grindley Brook, this is a flight of 3 single locks and a staircase of 3 with lockees on to help. As we sat having lunch the heavens opened again, and I was very pleased we had stopped when we did.

Boats passed without any problem, until one hire boat passed at full speed making us rock and roll, I stood up and shouted, only to be met by a blank stare from the bloke (wont call him a gentleman) steering. The Captain had to go out and check our ropes. The rule is to pass moored boats on tick over, but some don’t know and some don’t care.

I very much enjoyed the locks at Grindley Brook, but as we pulled out to start our journey the hire boat moored in front of us decided to set off to, then changed his mind, it was all a bit confusing. We got through the first 3 locks without any problems and were lucky enough to meet boats coming the other way. At the bottom of the staircase locks I went off to find the lockees in charge, so as to let them know we and the 2 hire boats behind us wished to come up. We had to wait, as they were just letting 3 boats down, and of course I stayed to help. It was great fun and the lockee was very friendly as we worked each boat through the locks. The Captain was being helpful all on his own with a single hander, who was heading down the locks, and he emptied the bins for me.

Eventually it was our turn and we were soon up and on our way, the lockee thanked me profusely for all my help which was lovely. and sang my praises to the Captain.

We didn’t get to far as we needed water and a pump out, and then onto the Whitchurch arm for shopping at Aldi. We hadn’t been down this short arm before, and the Captain made an excellent job of negotiating the sharp bend that led to the moorings.

They are very good moorings and only a short walk from Aldi. We also decided to take the 20min walk into the town for a pint or 2 of course.

The walk was lovely, through a country park were we spotted another woodpecker, and then through Jubilee park and into the town. The Captain had done his homework and knew there was a little micropub called the Crafty Dragon, and we soon found it. It is owned by Magic Dragon brewery, and had a great selection of their own ales and others. I tried Snowden Lager which was lovely, whilst the Captain had Gwyn a Du Stout from Monty, and Obsidian Stout by Magic Dragon, and we chatted to some of the locals. We then went to the Old Town Hall Vaults, a Joules brewery tap house for a pint of Slumbering Monk.

The Old Town Hall Vaults and me

https://magicdragonbrewing.com/

https://www.joulesbrewery.co.uk/our-taphouses/old-town-hall-vaults/

Will definitely go back to Whitchurch at some point.

Our next port of call is Ellesmere.

Church Minshull to Whitchurch 19½ miles and 21 locks, 1 canal.