THE MONTY AND BEYOND.

Me

As I have already said, you have to book the Montgomery canal, and it is only open between 9am and 12pm. So the Captain booked for us to be on there from Saturday to Tuesday, this would give us enough time to do the whole length without rushing.

The canal was the quietest we have seen it when we travelled to the beginning of the Monty, only saw one boat all day. We were soon moored up at the Frankton locks, which mark the entrance to the canal.

Tree Creeper

I saw a new bird for me as well, a Tree Creeper, we also spotted a beautifully coloured Jay, but we are yet to see a kingfisher this year. I didn’t mention earlier that Llangollen seemed to be the home of the mandarin ducks, although we only saw mothers and chicks, no males. These are pretty little ducks and the ducklings were no exception.

A Jay

There was 1 other boat waiting to go down the locks, and as with us being late risers they got off first. Frankton locks are a set of 4 narrow locks, the first 2 being a staircase then a small gap between the next 2. The Captain booked us in with the lockee and we were told 2 boats were coming up, but that we could do the staircase locks first and pass them in the pounds. It all went to plan and we were soon on our way.

Like the Llangollen, the Monty is a pretty rural canal without many villages, and certainly no towns along the way. It was opened in 1797, and its purpose to was to transport lime from the quarries, and lime kilns in Wales, for agricultural use. It ran for 33miles, but at the moment only 8miles is navigable at the Llangollen end, although volunteers are working hard to connect the rest of it to the main line (more about that later).

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

Our original plan for the day was to get as far as the Queens Head at Oswestry and go for a pint, and on our way we met groups of canoeists and paddle boarders. When we reached the Queens Head the Captain convinced me that we needed to go a little further to the Navigation Inn. As long as I got a pint, that was fine by me.

But it was not to be as the Navigation keeps, in my opinion rather strange hours for a canal side pub, and it was closed when we got there. I wasn’t a happy bunny, but the Captain promised me we would return to the Queens Head next day. Compromise reached.

When chatting to the lockee at Frankton, the Captain discovered that you can actually get a little further than he first thought to Crickheath basin, and that the volunteers would be there all weekend working on reinstating the canal. So we thought it would be a great idea to head there and see how they were getting on.

The canal is narrow and shallow in places, but we luckily didn’t meet many other boats so it was a gentle cruise through some breath taking scenery.

We winded and moored in the basin, then took a walk up to were we could see people working on the canal, at this point they seemed to be rebuilding a side of the canal, a little further on the canal was starting to look more like a canal, although not in water yet. We could see people sat in the main channel and nothing seemed to be happening, then a little dump truck filled with blocks appeared. These blocks were being used to hold the liners down on the bottom and side of the canal, and to get them to the guys laying them was a simple but ingenious method, they had a slanting trough with a pallet table at the bottom, and the blocks were simply slid down the trough to the waiting guys below. We stood and watched fascinated for a while before being joined by a volunteer, who explained how it all worked, how many liners were used and about the different types and their purpose. In olden days the bottom and sides of the canal were filled with clay which was then ’puddled’ (squashed down) using, if they could get them a herd of cattle, this made the canal water tight.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puddling_(civil_engineering)

Laying the blocks

We chatted with the lady for a while before heading back and heading off for the pub.

We moored outside the canoe place, no canoeist were out and about today, and headed off. The Captain didn’t have a lot of choice, but made do with Station bitter. There was an extensive menu, including Sunday roasts, and the food that came out looked and smelt lovely, but I had tea all organised back home.

https://www.the-queens-head-oswestry.co.uk/

Our time on the Monty was coming to an end, and we moored for the night at the bottom of the locks. We found the bins and put water in before settling down for a quiet night, as we knew the next day would be quite hectic, as we needed to shop at Ellesmere before getting closer to Whitchurch for Thursday. We needed to be there as I wish to attend a Slimming World meeting to keep my membership current, not sure if I was really looking forward to being weighed though, been drinking lots more beer, but on the upside I have been getting lots more exercise.

A boat had just come down the locks as we set off, but first the Captain spotted something in the water, a tiny newt swimming at the back of the boat, its was only 3” long and seemed to be feeding off the algae on our hull. What a great spot.

We had 2 lockees to help us up the locks and we were soon on our way.

Ellesmere was busy with boats, and we followed a hire boat down the arm, with NB Silver Moon bringing up the rear. We nipped into the first space we spotted, whilst the hire boat winded and managed to fit in behind us.

After shopping and lunch we set off once again, and at last we spotted our first kingfisher, it sat on a branch just above the canal, before shooting off, its neon blue rump bright in the sunshine. Yippee and one happy Captain.

Kingfisher

You would have laughed to see us as we tried to moor, we desperately needed the internet, but the signal was all over the place, so we pulled the boat backwards and forwards trying to find the best spot. Eventually we gave up and went on the next moorings only to find we had a great signal there.

The final push to Whitchurch only included 3 lift bridges, at the first another boater had raised it and allowed 3 boats through, but had to lower it before we got there due to a car waiting to cross. At the next we caught up with NB Marquess, and her crew was off winding it up and through we went I returned the favour at the final bridge, and we parted company when we turned down the Whitchurch arm (which was very busy) and they continued on.

I am happy to say my weigh in at SW was a success, and I lost 5 ½ lbs in 6 weeks.

31 miles, 14 locks, 5 lift bridges and 1 tunnel. 2 canals.