Ellesmere

Saturday 4th July

The Llangollen might have a lot of things going for it but good signals for my mobile Internet are not amongst them!

We left Wrenbury on Wednesday, another of our early starts. However it is the best time of the day to travel in the heat and also not many other boaters are up....

Departing WrenburyOne of the many lifting bridgesApproaching one of the many narrow bridges

We moored in the open below bridge 35 as Geoff had deduced that we could get a good satellite signal for the TV here...he was right so I had another afternoon of tennis. We were moored up by 1215.

Thursday was another early start with Ellesmere the goal (and a good TV picture). Objective was achieved before 11am. This time not in the open but on the designated moorings just before the entrance to the town arm. More boats around now, lots of hire boats. Geoff set off for his usual explore. Small market town which is adequate for shopping. Sadly no signal at all for Internet. When I eventually walked up to town on the Friday I recognised it. We had been this way before when we first started on narrowboats. We had a week with David & Linda on Hotel Boat Heather. We were accompanied by friends Ann& Keith and had a brilliant week.
The above picture is early morning on the mere which was taken by Geoff on one of his early morning walks with Barnaby. The walk eventually led to the town for Geoff to buy the paper whilst a patient dog waits outside...

Below is the end of the town arm. Just opposite here they are building a new Tesco's which looks as though it will be quite large. Due to open on August 1st. This is the second convenient supermarket we have just missed. They opened a big new Sainsburys alongside the canal just after we left Gloucester.

We set off a a slightly more reasonable hour this morning. Watered etc and proceeded on the short trip to the bottom of the Frankton Locks which are the entrance to the Montgomery Canal. We have booked to go through this morning but they don't open until noon. However I have a connection so am able to get up to date........... we can only go 7 miles as the rest has not yet been restored but we shall have the weekend here. Some of my family from North Wales are planning to visit us on Sunday.

Llangollen Canal at last

Tuesday 30th June

So it was good bye to the Shroppie.....the north end is much nicer than the south we have decided. From Tyrely Locks onwards we have enjoyed it.

Ideally we should have been going on the Llangollen much earlier in the year before there was so much traffic but we have made it in June....just.....

We were in two minds whether to abandon the idea altogether as we discovered last weekend that the Eisteddfod begins on 6th July so I imagine people will be flocking there already. In the end we have decided to give it a try....it will either be fantastic or disastrous!!!

Our early start this morning was not as early as planned (blame the tennis) and we did not set off until 0645am. By then several boats had gone past us. We reached the entrance to the Llangollen at 0945 via a very sharp left hand bend, to find one boat coming out of the locks and one ahead of waiting to go in.

There are 5 locks here at Hurleston and we had an easy passage through. There seemed to be several British Waterways staff there also. some obviously doing maintenance but presumably or of them was a lock keeper. Anyway they were very helpful.

Geoff is waiting patiently here, one coming down, one ahead going up....good job we are not in a hurry......

We stopped at Swanley Marina to buy a new gas bottle. This looks like a fairly new marina and not marked in our Pearson Guide Book, however it is in the Nicholsons.

Eventually moored at Wrenbury just after the first of what I think will be several lifting bridges.

Very hot and muggy now with occasional short sharp showers.....have just seen the forecast and Thursday looks very wet................................

Weekend in Audlem

Sunday 28th June/Monday 29th
An extremely pleasant and relaxed weekend. We visited the local church on Sunday morning followed by finding a geocache and a leisurely lunch in the Bridge Inn. The picture below is the Shroppie Fly which has the best situation of the two pubs but we had been recommended the food at The Bridge.


We sat outside for our drinks before lunch and when we went in to eat a very kind couple offered to dog sit Barnaby so that we didn't have to take him back to the boat....he was working his magic again!

The food was as good as recommended. We then retired to our very congenial mooring spot. It was very hot in the sun but we have several areas of shade. If you click on the picture to enlarge it Petroc can be seen as the 5th boat on the left.

A sudden rush of energy later one(whilst Geoff was still siestering!) led me to touch up the black of the gunnels on the shore side. I think we drive quite carefully but we seem to pick up a lot of scratches. They don't bother Geoff in the least which is why I was painting!!

There were quite a lot of boats going to and fro now. We decided that it was so congenial there that we would stay an extra day and set off very early Tuesday morning before anyone else was around.

We had a reasonable digital TV picture so I was able to watch Wimbledon. Geoff was not impressed that I stayed up to watch the Murray match which did not end until about 10.45pm. He was sound asleep long before.....................

Made it to Audlem

Saturday 27 th June
Below is our mooring above Tryely Locks that we left at the slightly later time of 0630 this morning!!!


This meant that mooring where we wanted to be was likely to be difficult, but very kindly Dot & Bob said there was a vacant permanent mooring on the opposite bank which we were welcome to use. This was ideal as yet again we had a ringside position for the music (no vision just sound) but good vision for the fireworks. We had our own Pimms/G&T without having to brave the weather. There were two good showers during the course of the evening...just like last time....

Wonder of wonders we also had a good TV picture.....not normally so important but it is Wimbledon............
We are moored in a good quiet spot, adjacent to a field of cows. Luckily there is a fence between them and us. barney may not be interested in them, but they are curious about him!

Who is the most handsome?

The fireworks were excellent and viewed from our nice quiet spot away from all the crowds were even better!

Bratch Locks (Staffs & Worcs)to Tyrley(Shroppie)

Thursday 25th June

We were ready and waiting for the lock keeper to open the locks at 8 am and by 8.30 we were at the top. The goal was Breewood on the Shropshire Union.........Geoff has a touch of pressonitis at the moment as we would like to be on and off the Llangollen before the school holidays.

Going up Bratch Locks with Lock keepers shop at the top

Three locks further on at Dimmingsdale Lock this was the sight that greeted me as I rose in the lock. Apparently it was a purebred Arab but it did seem a strange place to take it to graze. Maybe the owner had a contract with British Waterways to keep the grass cut round the lock!!

We had a planned stop at Compton on the western outskirts of Wolverhampton to buy the paper. They have an excellent local store called Daisy which is highly recommended. We noticed a boat yard also which was advertising fuel at 59p a litre and having ascertained that we could declare our own split we decided to fill up. We had intended filling up at the garage at Wheaton Aston on the Shroppie as he is normally the cheapest around, but since we couldn't find a phone number for him to ascertain that we could declare our own split, we decided to go ahead. (Read Friday's blog!)

A very pleasant run up to Autherley Junction where we turned left onto the Shropshire Union.

Our memories of this canal are not good. We came here two years ago and did the trip up to Brewood in torrential rain. We pressed on that time because we had arranged to meet Perentis with Dick & Jill and Geoff vowed than that he would never do that sort of trip again! It was also the time of the earlier heavy rains in 2007 and it made the many narrow tree-lined cuttings on the Shroppie even more dismal....we were hoping to revise our opinion this time.

We eventually stopped just short of Breewood about 2pm. There were 48hr moorings in the open which were not shown in our guide book. There were a couple of other boats there and since they were officially designated a moorings the edge did not have the dreaded shelf which seems to be all along this canal. We both retired below for a siesta and were surprised when we emerged a couple of hours later to see we were surrounded by boats. Geoff learned later, whilst out walking and chatting as he is wont to do, that a lot of them were Stephen Goldsborough boats on their way to an owners rally in Chester at the beginning of July. We had in fact today met more boats than we have done all summer.

Friday 26th June

We wanted to be in Audlem for the weekend (We know there is a church and also a pub for Sunday Lunch!) so we had a very early start.......6am.......it was a grey chilly morning, is it really late June? This section of the Shroppie has only one lock but what seems like thousands of bridges. All the bridge holes are only wide enough for one boat to pass and it seemed that at almost every one there was a boat coming the other way who was just that bit closer to the bridge so had right of way. As yesterday there seems to be many more boats on the move.

Unusual bridge with surviving telegraph pole

Going through Wheaton Aston we checked the price of Fuel at the garage we had been going to fill up at.................just under 50p a litre!!!!!! As far as we know(from a resident boat) you could declare your own split. C'est la Vie!

We passed through the many dingy cuttings where the phrase "Stygian gloom" springs to mind. Admittedly they were not as bad as when we went through 2 years ago in heavy rain with fallen tree branches littering our way. Luckily when we went through Woodseaves Cutting which is the worst of all as passing can be difficult, we did not meet anyone coming the other way.

Weather eventually perked up and we even had a little sunshine. Moored just before 2pm, which is a very long day for us and not to be repeated too often!!! We are moored just above Tyrley Locks ready for yet another early start. Lots of locks tomorrow.........

Getting closer to the Shroppie

Wednesday 24th June

A very early start today with no fixed goal. Clear sky although at 0630 I found the knees a little chilly as I had put on my shorts!

At Stourton junction we turned right and shortly afterwards passed the Devils Den. A peculiar cave set deep into the rock, said to have been the boathouse of the Foley Family at Prestwood hall (Whoever and wherever they and it may be!)

A couple of stops en route, watering etc, and then the paper and milk, but we gently bimbled along until we had had enough........I reach this point before Geoff at the moment as my back is still troubling me and I cannot do the walking I promised myself at the beginning of the trip. However he is reasonably(sic) understanding when I show signs of tiring.

We have eventually moored just before the Bratch locks. I have discovered that I get a lie-in tomorrow as the locks don't open until 8am. The lock keeper has a few things for sale including some second hand winch handles. I bought a lovely one for £4.50 which was painted blue (to match Petroc!). I felt it was a much better bargain than the rusty one Geoff gave £5 at the top of the Tardebigge!

Delph Locks to Wordsley Junction

Tuesday 23rd June.
Big locking day today. We started with the Delph 9 down to Black Delph Junction, a twisty windy section down to Leys junction where another left turn took us to the 16 locks of the Stourton Flight. We were stopped by BW after a couple of locks as they had a problem further down but it made a welcome coffee break.
We eventually called it quits after lock 15 as I had had enough several locks back (it was very hot by now). There appeared to be a lovely spot to moor alongside a huge recreation area. The downside was that it was a little shallow near the edge......later on when all boats had ceased coming through the locks we had to let a little water down to float ourselves off again!

Red House Cone (Kiln) part of the Stuart Crystal works near the bottom of the flight
Two crew waiting for me to drive out of the lock

A beautiful evening with hardly a cloud in the sky....brilliant.

Netherton Tunnel to Merry Hill

Monday 22nd June

After watering etc at the excellent facilities at Black Country Museum we set off in a NWesterly direction (I think). I was not looking forward to the Netherton Tunnel as it is over 3000yds long and it promised to be about 4o minutes.

The approach to Netherton Tunnel
Entering the tunnel

This was the point at which I disappeared below and occupied myself on my computer, together with Barnaby. The reality was only just over 30 minutes and Geoff declared this to be a most gentlemanly tunnel. Dead straight, very wide and a towpath either side.......I'm so glad he was happy!!
The route between here and Parkhead Junction was surprisingly pleasant and not at all as expected. We had expected built up and industrial but it was surprisingly rural.

At Parkhead junction we turned left. On our right was the other end of the Dudley Tunnel. Now we have seen both ends but will never go through it.

En route we passed High Bridge, very aptly names compared to the height of some of the bridges we have been through recently.

We also passed this boat and I couldn't resist a picture......domestics still have to be done even when boating!!
Shortly after the turn we reached "The Waterfront" and Merry Hill Shopping Centre.

There is plenty of good mooring here, both opposite "The Waterfront and sitting high above the Merry Hill Shopping Complex.

There is a large M&S amongst other which necessitated a visit, but I was strong-minded and purchased nothing. However the 3 items I went into Sainsburys for grew somewhat and I then struggled back up many steps to Petroc!