THURSDAY 29th
Left Tixalwide (love the name) We need water! and on the way we saw this sorry sight! It was obviously old but still a very sorry sight.
We use a map of the navigation to point out water stops etc but one shown on the map was not there! we were told by a passing boat that we could get water from Stafford Boat Club alongside the canal. We found out that they had moorings with electric hook up for 7 quid and if we went to the clubhouse for a drink the first night was free....he he. The clubhouse is in the background. For such a small club it is amazing what they have done. All the members help with the work and they have built everything themselves!! Very impressive!!
Once settled Trev walked to Stafford to check the pubs out, it took him 45 min, he must love beer! (the club house only opened at 9 pm and thats usually past our bed time)
FRIDAY 30th
Stayed put, walked to retail park about 30 min away, had pub lunch, just ok!! England were playing a 'friendly' prior to the world cup so trev went to the bar to watch the second half and get our discount for the mooring!!
SATURDAY 31st
Set off early and stopped at a market town called Penkridge.
SUNDAY 1st
Despite our nice mooring we had been told about a 'better' mooring just outside a village called Coven. We moved to it early on Sunday but found that yes it was nice but too many trees which meant no sun on the solar panels but more importantly no satellite reception!!
So we turned around and headed back to Saturday nights mooring!! but we decided to moor just outside Coven and I walked to the Spar in the village. When I got back we both decided to return to the previous nights mooring which was much better.
On the way we found this place. It was like our own patio and with some clever tinkering with shackles and bits we were able to moor to the old metal bits sticking up.
Very hot!! Trev re waxed his barbour jacket which had gone down with the boat. He also did cleaned some wood from the kitchen as part of our ongoing restoration of Merlot. I had my 'relaxer' bed out doing some relaxing and reading.
We had a Braai using the tools that Gary and Lorraine had given us as a present.
It had been really warm but the clouds came over and we had to put some more clothers on!
When we were in SA, I bought ready made dough from Pick n Pay and made a braai bread flavoured with packet cheese and onion sauce, it was lovely so I tried it again but the packet sauce was just not the same and the bread was very doughy......not a success but the ducks likes it.
MONDAY 2nd
Having turned round the previous day we were now facing the wrong way and Trev had to continue along to the nearest 'winding hole' (pronounced wind as in the breeze) The book showed one about ten minutes away and Trev used that one but it was too shallow and we got Merlot stuck across the canal. We eventually got her out and used another one further down. Trev was uttering all sorts by the time he had got her out. hehe! We headed into Wolverhampton and turned into the Shropshire union canal for our trip to Llangollen. We filled up with water and Trev spoke with his sister June who was still in hospital after her fall. She was in good spirits and bearing up well.
We moored outside Brewood and despite today being a diet day Trev found an Indian restaurant that was supposed to be very good so we had to try it.
On the way into the village we passed a house selling plants with a honesty hole in their front door -
I bought two tomato plants for 1 pound......good hey.
The indian was ok. Nice but not mind blowing. Still it is a worthy cause to support local businesses.
Passed a very happy looking tree!
An unusual 'double' bridge with a telegraph pole in the middle!!
TUESDAY 3rd
Set off, stopped at Weaton Aston for fuel, (71.9 per litre) saw a pumpout station had some time left on the meter so we pumped our toilet tank and got a good five min....every bit helps. Arrived at the Norbury Atherly junction, had a pint in the pub on canal...ok!
Set off in pouring rain, quite a few locks and they were very busy. Stopped at Market Drayton and had lunch at the Brewery Tap, Red Lion. Trev loved the beer and the food was very good. I had a burger!! Trev bought an annoying little thing from a charity shop!!
We moved the boat so we could get a sky signal and bought scones,
sausage and eggs from a honesty box near the lock.
Honesty box, its amazing that it works as there were all sorts of goodies.
Rain rain rain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Moored outside Adderley village...stormy night
THURSDAY 5th
What a stormy windy night but cozy on Merlot. We set off early as I had 15 locks in one and half miles to do, getting fitter! We arrived at a village called Audlem. A pub called the Shroppie Fly was right on the canal, very pretty. We moored up right outside the village, we walked for 5 min into the village to check the place out. We found as very nice fish and chips place so decided it would be criminal not to have some for lunch. We also saw there as live music on at one of the pubs so Trev decided we would do the music thing then get a kebab as he also noticed a kebab shop. We had a good night and the kebab was amazing, even quite healthy (at least mine was, I had a chicken one, Trev had the usual)
The pub has a interesting bar shaped like a narrow boat.
There was a vintage car parked outside the pub. very nice.
FRIDAY 6TH
Set off to find a quite mooring for the weekend. On the way Trev saw a boat called 'Plum' that sold solar equipment so he stopped and bought everything he needs to sort our solar panels out to get the best out of them.
Arrived in Nantwich, stopped for supplies then moved on to a lovely mooring
I decided to pot my her herbs before the rain came
Cows having a drink before bed.
There was an elderly lady on her own on a small boat, she went out for a walk with her dog and when she returned she asked for help as she had locked herself out... Very posh speaking voice. Trev went to the rescue and somehow got her keys for her so no damage done.
Very stormy and rainy night AGAIN......whats happened to summer???????
SATURDAY 7th
Moved on to the Llangollen canal starting with a flight of locks in the rain rain rain. I don't mind as its not cold and I'm getting lots of exercise.
We got thru the locks and moored up near to a small village called Wrenbury. We walked to shop then moved boat further up canal so we could get a sky signal (and nearer the two pubs Trev was looking forward to visiting) Had a walk to pubs, not bad not amazing. Trev had a booboo when he returned back to Merlot, he somehow slipped when getting into the cratch and did some awful damage to the top of his inner thigh....oooooowwwwwwwch..... Shame it really hurt and will leave a wonderful bruise. Three inches to the right and he would have been speaking with a very high voice!! Shame!
SUNDAY 8th
We stayed put as the rain continued to fall. We have no wifi signal here so Trev had to go to the pub to use theirs. Good excuse eh!! There was a caravan park next to the canal and later we heard strange loud singing. We later found out that it was an Elvis impersonation weekend with several Elvis's on display. We saw two of them in the pub later in the day and they looked quite good.
MONDAY 9th
Set off to get thru another set of locks on towards the town of Whitchurch . At one of the locks we bought eggs and home grown veg from a old man who sold his produce at the locks. I love buying from farms and small producers. There is a basin off the main canal and we managed to get a good mooring quite near the town. It was quite a walk but we mooched around, had a pint, well Trev did. We decided to have a shower then walk back into town and go to a Indian restaurant, Spice Haven, who had an offer on. Indian AGAIN!!!!!!
Not bad, not amazing. Walked back in the rain.
TUESDAY 10th
Set off early, encountered platform and weigh bridges I had to operate.
We arrived in Ellesmere, not a great village, not sure why its so popular. We could not get a wifi signal anywhere but eventually found a nice pub with wifi.
We saw a family of swans and watched as the mother and babies lined up at the edge of the overflow bit of the canal, then all had a wash. It was sooooooo sweet.
We also passed an old man fishing at the bottom of someones garden, closer look, he was made of wood
Its a very beautiful canal with avenue's of beautiful trees, very very pretty.
We travelled underneath a strange sort of double bridge.
Stayed put, had an early night.
WEDNESDAY 11th
Wet off early, me still in bed. Passed along the very beautiful canal. We travelled over the first aqueduct which was just approaching the town of Chirk wonderful views of the railway viaduct. We then had to go through two tunnels, the first being the Chirk tunnel which is about 500 metres. Its quite hectic as there are so many holiday and hire boats around and the tunnel is single file so it a bit of a waiting game for the tunnel to clear then a procession of up to about 8 boats travel through in single file
Once over the aquaduct we had a queue of boats waiting to go into the tunnel!! Three boats had already gone into the tunnel and we were waiting our turn which was last!
If you have ever seen several narrow boats like this trust me its a bit like trying to heard cats!!
First long tunnel
second tunnel much shorter.
We continued passed Chirk town (set a little was from the canal) and through the second tunnel (not quite as long) We continued until we spotted a nice mooring on the canal about 1 mile from the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. We moored up then walked to the aqueduct to see what was what and had a very disappointing pint at the Telford Pub. Not good! Back to boat as the sun was shinning and we had a lovely BBQ. A lovely mooring
Amazing views.
Trev made some new friends.
About the aqueduct....
Its quite an amazing engineering feat. It was built in 1805 by Thomas Telford. Its 1,007ft long and 126ft high. The river Dee runs along underneath. Supposedly the highest point a boat can travel above the ground in the world.
THURSDAY 12TH
We set off at 7am as we had seen how busy the area gets. The actual aqueduct leads into a sort of basin called TREVOR!!!! home at last Trev ha ha. This then leads to the town of Llangollen to where we were headed. There was no one about....BLISS and we crossed the aqueduct without incident, despite it being so high it felt quite safe.
Trev received a call from his son Dan telling him he had a dentist appointment on Monday 16th in Birmingham. Very short notice but we worked out a plan that we could get the train from Chirk. So we would visit Llangollen and return to our mooring near the aqueduct ready for the Monday trip.
You can see the cratch area and how high it felt.
The river Dee running underneath
A view of the aqueduct from a bridge over the river (if you look carefully you can see a boat crossing)
This is looking towards the end which opens out into Trevor Basin.
We reached the end without incident and as it was so early, it was quite - no people about.
Trevor basin at the end.
We then turned left under a bridge towards the town of Llangollen.
This section of the canal is quite shallow and very narrow in places. I had to go on ahead with the back to back radios to tell trev when it was clear to come through. Slow progress as you are going against the flow of the water but we eventually get to the mooring basin. It took about three hours to cover just over three miles. The trip was worth it as when we arrived in the basin we had electric and water for two nights for £6.00 per night!!
I took the opportunity to get some washing done!!
The town of Llangollen is quite pretty with the river Dee taking centre stage.
We had a walk around the town and Trev said he knew of a pub with decent beer!! (for a change).
I eventually found him in the Sun Inn!! They had a stage for live music and the jukebox was free so therre he was in his element!!
Caz is making her own bread now and she saw some proper bread tins. they are original and she bartered with the guy and got some discount!!
We had a braai that evening and met a couple caller Debbie and Simon. Debbie is on facebook and we keep in touch that way now.
Friday13th June
After the previous evening when we perhaps overindulged with the alcohol we had a breakfast at the Dee Side cafe. Overlooking the river Dee. Excellent food at very reasonable prices. We decided to get the steam train from Llangollen to a place called Carrog.
A very hot day and the carriages were stifling but the guard closed all the vacant seat windows. We realised that this was because the tunnel we went through filled the carriages with steam and soot if they were left open!!
We did see some strange signs!!!!
The cistern had a pipe that depressing the ballcock would cause it to overflow through the pipe and hey an instant shower!!
A very nice journey and they are planning to open up further track later this summer. We might just return before the end of the year to try it out!!
Saturday 14th June 2014
Bye Bye Llangollen for now. We left the basin at 8am to try and avoid any oncoming boats. I walked ahead with the radio and we made good progress. We passed a boat that had moored next to us in the basin. White Atlas. We waved as we went passed and noted they had a wonderful mooring with fantastic views!!
Made a mental note!
We moored at our usual spot near the aquaduct and had a quiet day. We walked into Trevor for a paper and met another couple we had passed before. They told us about another mooring they had found but we didnt think we could get a sky signal.
Sat watching the boats turning into the Llangollen canal we saw some school kids enjoying canoes with their instructors.
They had finished their canoeing and enjoyed a slide into the canal on the bottom of the canoe!!
That is until they hit the water which was less than warm!!
When we got back to Merlot Trev worked on our bikes as we would need them to pedal to Chirk railway station on Monday and he wanted to ride to Chirk tomorrow to see how long it would take and make sure the bikes were ok.
Sunday 15th June 2014
Trev got calls/messages from his kids for Fathers day. They couldnt send anything as we were not near a post office that would accept mail for us. We rode to Chirk on the bikes. I had forgotten how painful the bike seats could be!! We both suffered but made it to the railway station and onto Chirk itself. We made it back to the boat intact and Trev went on his bike to the Aqueduct Inn for a couple of beers. I read on the boat and chilled out.
Monday 16th June 2014
I (trev) had perfected a plan to get to the train station at Chirk to get me to Birmingham Dental Hospital for 10.45am. We were to get up at 7am have breakfast and leisurely cycle to Chirk for the 08.47am train to Shrewsbury.
I woke up and thought plenty of time until I checked my watch. 07.50am. I had slept in!! Caz wasnt impressed. We left without breakfast and cycled like mad along the towpath but we made it with time to spare. I wasnt flavour of the month with Caz for a while!
We both got off at Shrewsbury and Caz went into town to do some window shopping.(unlikely).
I caught the connecting train to Birmingham and my appointment. It was basically to check that everything was ok and for the student dentist to 'hand me over' to another student as she had passed her final exams and was leaving to become a fully fledged dentist.
All went well and I will be expecting another appointment sometime in Sept. I met Caz in Shrewsbury and helped her with all her bags!!! We got back to the boat slightly saddle sore but intact!!
Tuesday 17th June 2014
We had enjoyed our stay in Llangollen so much that we decided to return for a couple more nights!! We were facing the wrong way so had to continue away from Llangollen to find somewhere to turn round. We chose Chirk Marina where we had a pump out and topped our water tank up before heading back.
Again we left early to avoid other boats. The sun was out and I took a picture from the back of the boat showing us crossing the aqueduct in the shadow!!
That is the side where there are no railings. Just over the edge is a 126ft drop!! No pressure then!!
We continued along towards Llangollen and the mooring we had seen our friends moored at a few days earlier was vacant. We decided to stay put for a couple of days. The weather was good and having been to the dentist we were not in any rush. The views were magnificent!!
Merlot is on the right in the picture. The white boat is on its way to Llangollen. Amazing views. I had got some wire and connectors for the solar panels and made plans to work on them the following day.
Wednesday 18th June 2014
We were close to the village of Trevor and as I was going to be working on the boat all day Caz jumped on the bus and had a day out in Wrexham. She bought some more troughs for her herbs and a good day out.
Thursday 19th June 2014
Lazy day really. More work on the solar panels and Caz worked on Sid's hair. Just took in the views.
Friday 20th June 2014
Set off for Llangollen. We arrived at the mooring basin and were hoping for a particular mooring to be available but unfortunately it was taken. We moored next to it and we immediately got the feeling that we were outsiders. The two boats next to us just ignored us so we took an instant dislike to them. Caz had enjoyed her day out in Wrexham so once we were settled with the boat we jumped on the bus. It was another hot day and the bus was ancient!! Noisy and hot and took a lot longer than expected. Got some nice lamb chops from the market tho. Caz had bought a pot for her herbs but we must have left it somewhere as we didnt have it when we got back!!
Back at the boat words were exchanged between us and the 'other' boaters and we left them in no doubt as to what our feelings were! Enough said.
We had a very nice Braai with the lamb chops!
Saturday 21st June 2014
The 'other' boats left early and we moved into one of their spots. Its an end mooring which makes it easier to get to stuff on the roof. Plus a little bit more privacy.
We visited the Dee Side cafe for another breakfast. Caz had a chicken pannini and I went for the full english!! No surprise there then. Had another Braai tha evening. A hire boat with several women arrived and we got talking to them. The trip was to celebrate a 50th birthday and they were a good laugh.
Sunday 22nd June 2014
We have to leave today as our 48hr stay is up. Lovely morning so nothing else for it but to fire up the BBQ!!
We dont have to leave till 5pm so made the best of our time by cleaning the outside of the boat and getting a few jobs done. We also had a walk into Llangollen and got some chops, sausages and steak for mince. We also topped up on our charcoal supplies. We were sad to leave but we set off just before 3pm. As usual Caz disappears with the radio to tell me when it is clear. As we left the basin and quite a way before any really narrow sections we wee confronted by a woman holding her hand up for us to stop!!
She informed us that there were four boats on their way up and we had to wait. I asked how far away they were and she was unclear exactly where they were. Caz set off on foot and told me they were nowhere in sight so I set off and went through the first section. The woman had the best intentions but I think she expected us to wait until they had passed however long that would take!!
We arrived at my favourite mooring again with the views and with the weather being good we have a lovely evening in the sun.
These pics were taken the last time we were here on our way to Llangollen so Merlot is facing the wrong way!!
Monday 23rd June2014
Time to leave the area and head for our next destination Chester. So here we go across the aqueduct for the last time for now!! I used my phone to video part of the crossing.
