Llangollen Canal

Monday 29th April

Start of the Llangollen - Looking back down the flight at Hurleston

Our start on this much lauded canal began with a lovely spring morning, the countryside resplendent in its green, new growth.
We planned a short trip up to the first sizable village of Wrenbury, not very big and only a few miles from Nantwich and Crewe, around the canal, by a hydraulic lift bridge sits the canal basin and the first of the many boat hire points along this popular canal. There are two pubs here and a camping and caravan site along side the towpath.

Wrenbury basin

The short trip consisted of  5 miles and 6 locks we had to join a short queue at some of the locks but generally made good progress. The scenery was very pastural, typical of South Cheshire.
We called into the Cotton Arms, a nice spot, dog friendly and  good beer.
The following morning we set off heading for Whitchurch a further 10 miles and 10 locks, the first four locks are spread out over a couple of miles before the impressive climb up the Grindley Brook flight,  this flight consists of 3 single locks followed by a three chamber staircase. This flight is notorious for long queues, particularly on a Thursday due to the timing of the hire boat changeover days, fortunately for us it was Wednesday and  we only met one boat coming down. We were soon at the top passing the pretty tea rooms overlooking the staircase. The staircase is manned and it is important to inform the lock keeper of you presence before starting your passage thorough. 

Grindley Brook locks

There are good facilities and about half a dozen water points above the locks.
It is only a short trip along to Whitchurch from here,  there are moorings just before the lift bridge at the junction of the short arm into the town.
This arm used to lead to a basin just below the town center, one of the main cargos leaving the town was the famous Shropshire Blue cheese made here. Sadly the branch closed in 1939 and some of it has been built over. The short length of the arm now in use was restored by the Whitchurch Waterway Trust (www.witchurchwaterway.uk) and they, along with the town council have ambitious plans to restore the route into the town,  including an incline plane to bypass the built over sections,  the aim of the project is to increase tourism into the center.
We reversed into the arm along which there are good moorings.
We took a stroll into the town, a typical market town fortunately still retaining a good range of local shops. It is quite a walk from the canal but certainly worth a visit.
Our next port of call was Ellesmere, we decided on an early start setting off in light rain that gradually eased as the day progressed. This is an interesting stretch of canal and is part of the long 20 plus mile pound between locks, the canal twists is way around low hills for the first few miles before crossing the remote and extensive Whixall mosses, an area used for peat extraction but now restored as a nature reserve. The canal crosses the area by means of long straight sections that have proved problematic over the years due to the unstable ground. Evidence of this can be seen by the extensive pilings on either side.
We passed the short Prees arm leading down to Whixall marina and it was here that we came across an episode of boat rage, we had just, slowly, passed a moored, fibreglass  boat, as a narrowboat came out of the branch turning up towards us. He was moving quite fast in our direction giving me little time to get over to the side,  even though I managed to leave plenty of room he wanted the centre of the canal and gave me a mouthful, I suggested he got a grip, and moved on giving him a large grin which only seemed to exasperate him further.
Between here and Ellesmere the scenery just got better and better, again twisting through the countryside with cuttings and embankments around every corner.
The approach to the town leads through Norh Shropshire's own Lake District, the canal passing close to the shore of several meres. This area is also heavily wooded, adding to its charm. 

Blake Mere near Ellesmere

There is a short arm leading into Ellesmere, with 72 hour mooring along its length,  we sailed to the end of the arm and turned round to moor just beyond the large  and useful Tesco store.
Ellesmere is a charming little place with all facilities to hand. We visited the famous Vermeudens delicatessen,  a must when in the town, the cheese,  pies etc are some of the best we have come across on our travels. 

Ellesmere Basin

Where it all began..

Ellesmere

The large CRT base at Ellesmere

The following morning we moved on heading for Chirk and the Welsh Hills that had provided a backdrop to our journey over the last few days. A few miles along we arrived at Frankton junction where the Montgomery canals drops away to the south we carried along saving our visit to the "Monty"  for another day.  The approach to Chirk is marked by a narrowing of the channel with substantial concrete banks enabling the canal to cling to the steep sides of the valley containing the river Ceiriog, marking the border between England and Wales. The A5 crosses the valley here on an impressive, modern viaduct, the road now bypassing the town. 

The A5 viaduct on the outside of Chirk

Mooring at Chirk bank we walked the mile or so into the town.Telford's A5 passed through here leading to the building of coaching inns and some other fine looking properties in the centre. The town now consists of a large woodchip board and  Cadbury factory, otherwise it is very quiet.
We walked down to the canal at the southern portal of Chirk tunnel before crossing back into England over the valley on Jessup's fine stone aqueduct.

Chirk Aqueduct

Chirk Tunnel

This stretch marks the beginning of the most famous part of this canal, with two aqueducts and two tunnels within the latest ten miles to the terminus.
We began our journey to the terminus on a cold, windy but bright sunny Saturday morning, we quickly came to the Chirk aqueduct crossing the valley before plunging into the tunnel.  Passage through was difficult due to the flow of water coming in the opposite direction, something we had noticed through some of the bridges and narrower sections further back. We finally emerged into a deep cutting, passing the busy marina and hire base. 

Chirk Cutting

Leaving the cutting behind we found ourselves again clinging to the side of a valley, reuniting us with the river Dee, it was here that we got our first glimpse of one of the seven wonders of the waterways.  We arrived at the village of Froncysyllte very popular and busy spot, we had to queue here to pass under the lift bridge.

First glimpse of the iconic aqueduct

Leaving the village the canal takes a sharp right turn heading straight towards the steep valley side and the famous Pontcysyllte aqueduct.
The approach to the narrow iron channel is through a heavilly wooded section before suddenly to our left there was nothing other than the side of the trough between us and the few hundred feet drop to the valley below. It really was an exhilarating experience, to the one side is the drop, to the other a towpath, very busy with visitors from all over the world marveling at what is an amazing feat of civil engineering. As we reached the midway point the wind picked up banging the boat against the side of the trough. 

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct

The design of the structure is usually attributed to Telford,  however it was a joint effort with Jessup, Telford solved the problem of the weight of such a tall stone structure by using the iron trunk method,  resulting in the slender tall pillars striding across the valley.
Reaching the other side, we arrived at the very busy basin at Trevor, our route took us round a very sharp left turn made all the more difficult by the number of spectators and a strong wind, taking it very slowly we completed the manoeuvre and continued our trip to the terminus at Llangollen.

The sharp turn at Trevor

There are warnings about this section been difficult and shallow before becoming very narrow on the approach to the town. The shallow sections are down to a concrete shelf close to the towpath side, once aware of this it was a case of keeping to the centre of the channel with care required when passing boats coming in the opposite direction, we got through these areas unscathed before arriving at the narrow sections. These are clearly marked,  Lucia walked ahead with the walkie talkie keeping watch for anything coming in the other direction. Luckily for us and the two boats following,  our way through was clear right through.
Emerging from the narrows we arrived at the town wharf, a very busy place with horse drawn boats taking people to the end of the channel as well as trip boats headed for the aqueduct.
Just beyond the Wharf is the limit of navigation and a large basin, overlooked by the Eisteddfod pavilion,  providing 48 hour moorings. These are good moorings and are charged at £6 per night, this includes water and electricity. We secured the boat before heading off to explore.
The town was incredibly busy with its steam railway, boat and bus trips. It came as a bit of a shock as we hadn't been anywhere as busy since leaving Chester. 

Llangollen Basin

The gauging house and the canal feed

It is a lovely town despite the crowds (it was the weekend), there are lots of shops, the type  you would expect in a place such as this and it seems to be an ideal centre for exploring the wider area.
We were joined by John Lockwood on the Sunday he kindly brought our mail across with him. John and I walked to the end of the channel, up to Horseshoe falls,  so named due to Telford's  huge  horse shoe  shaped weir that directs water into the channel to feed the canal from the river,  only to return some of it back in Chester.
This feed explains the flow in the canal we had encountered on our way up from Hurleston, the river not only feeds the canal but also feeds water to the reservoir by the junction which in turn provides water for the people of Crewe and Nantwich. 

Horseshoe Falls - Telfords large feeder weir

Care is required at many of the locks as this flow feeds through the by-washes making entry and exit a bit tricky.

A typical by-wash with high flow

There is a valve house at the feed, now controlled automatically, responding to the demands of the system.
We enjoyed a fine evening in the Gales Hotel where we had a great meal,  it is a peaceful haven in a hectic place with great food, it is more of a wine bar, they only stocked bottled beers, not a problem for us.
Monday morning and it was time to retrace our steps back to Chirk, John had left his car at the RAFA club in Llangollen,  they are happy to let you do this for a small donation. We had already determined that there were buses between the two towns so John left use here, returning to collect his car before heading home.
Tuesday morning arrived and we headed back to Frankton junction,  having booked out passage on to the Montgomery canal, booking is required as they only allow twelve boats at a time, onto the restored section. 

The locks at Frankton - the start of the "Monty"

The weather had deteriorated over night and we awoke to heavy rain,  thankfully this subsided a little as we made our way to the 4 lock flight to drop down onto the Monty. This section is six miles but originally went all the way down to Newtown, via Welshpool,  some 33 miles into Wales.  A lot of this canal has been restored but there are a few difficult miles to link the first six miles to the rest of the canal. Much work has been done and still continues so one day the whole length should be navigable again.

The A5 crossing the "Monty"

The weather was miserable for most of our trip down to the village of Maesbury but dried up a little once we arrived, care has to be taken along this canal as there are rare plant species so speed limits are in place through several sections.
Following dinner we went into the Navigation Inn and had a great night chatting to the very friendly locals. 

The Navigation at Maesbury

The village is only a couple of miles from Oswestry and there is a bus service, unfortunately we had to leave the next morning so didn't have time to explore the area.
We made our way back to the junction in more rain but once we arrived at the locks the weather started to improve and we then continued onto Ellesmere where I had arranged to meet a customer to pick up a bit of work.
We stayed in the town for a couple of days before making our way back to the Shropshire Union and the next stage of our adventure.
We enjoyed our couple of weeks on this canal,  it lives up to its reputation,  and any boaters wondering about a trip to the terminus,  don't be put off by the rumours, yes it's busy with lots of hire boaters from all over the world but is great meeting these people,  yes it's shallow in a few places but no more than other canals, the countryside along its length and the excitement of the last section make it worth the effort.

Back at the top of Hurleston locks ready to drop onto the Shropshire Union
The grey hills in the distance are the Derbyshire Dales, we shall be on this ridge when we
reach the Macclesfield Canal

The feed into Hurleston reservoir

The  gentle rolling hills near Ellesmere

Up to the Mersey

Monday 22nd April
We left Nantwich on another warm and sunny morning, heading north towards Chester. The canal from here to the end, at Ellesmere Port, is built to broad dimensions so everything felt so much easier with wider bridges and of course larger locks.
This canal was originally part of the Ellesmere canal network built to link the limestone quarries, around Llangollen with the river Mersey. This required the building of a new port at the junction, which became Ellesmere Port.
I mentioned Telford's amazing skills, building the canal from Nantwich down to Birmingham,  he was involved with this earlier canal working with William Jessup who designed this canal.
William Jessup was one of the great canal builders, some of the greatest northern  canals were all down to him. He is somewhat overlooked due to his modesty.
We travelled up past the junction with what is now known as the Llangollen canal at Hurleston,  before passing the busy junction with the Middlewich branch at Barbridge, heading east to join the Trent and Mersey. Beyond here traffic reduced significantly as most boats turned right towards Middlewich.
We pressed on  with the busy A51 keeping us company for several miles.
Shortly after, we arrived at the old mill at Calveley and the large and very busy CRT service station before reaching some lovely Cheshire countryside.
We arrived at Bunbury locks, a double staircase, reminding us of the  locks on the Leeds Liverpool canal, We did a switch over here, there was a boat coming up the lock, so we entered the top chamber and the other boat entered the bottom. Once we had equalised the levels we opened the gates between the two chambers and swapped places with the other boat. They filled the top and we emptied the bottom camber before heading off in opposite directions.

Bunbury Locks

Pressing on through a wooded cutting with bluebells giving a misty blue hue around the base of the trees, we arrived at the next lock, this time a single chamber, passing through to the next two locks at Beeston. The top lock is known as Beeston Stone Lock for the simple reason it was built of stone rather than the usual brick hereabouts and the second is known as the Iron lock, again because this was built in the form of an iron tanks. The reason for the change to these two materials was due to the unstable nature of the ground, the area being surrounded by sandy hills.
Although the iron lock is built to broad dimensions, boaters are now advised to pass through one boat at a time, on our arrival we joined a queue of three boats down and three boats up, the lock filling and emptying is also very slow so an hour or so elapsed before we could make our way through.Most of the boats were heading home having taken advantage of the lovely Easter weather.
A mile or so further on we arrived at the last lock of the day, before dropping down to the moorings outside the Shady Oak pub, a remote establishment with a caravan site alongside.
This whole area is dominated by the impressive Beeston Castle, sitting on top of a huge sandstone outcrop some 350 feet above the surrounding countryside.

Beeston Castle

The castle is now looked after by English Heritage, we walked up to have a closer look but were too late to be able to climb up to the top. We walked right around the outcrop before returning to the pub and boat.
The castle is in ruins, another one destroyed by the Parliamentarians after the civil war. The Royalists survived a siege from November 1644 to November 1645 when they finally succumbed due to lack of food, the Cromwellian forces then partially destroyed the fortress, ensuring it could no longer be used as a stronghold.
Behind the hill and castle lay the pretty wooded slopes of the Peckforton Hills, reminding us of central Germany.
This whole area was a pleasant surprise to us as we were expecting flat fields as we approached Chester.

The top of the five locks dropping into Chester
Note the typical round "lock keepers"hut found along this stretch

The following morning we cruised on down to Chester passing through the five locks before arriving in the city centre, to our relief we found there was plenty of mooring space available on the moorings by the Lock Keeper pub. The walk into town from here was only a couple of minutes.
We stayed here for a couple of days enjoying some of the many attractions Chester has to offer.
On the second day we decided to relocate to the basin at the bottom of triple staircase locks, this meant a trip through an impressive cutting along side the City walls, passing the KIng Charles II tower where he reputedly watched his army being defeated by the Parliamentarians.

King Charles's Tower

A little further on we passed under Chesters own version of the Bridge of Sighs, an old bridge accessing the city gaol.

Chester's Bridge of Sighs

We battled through the difficult locks in  a torrential rainstorm, before arriving in the large basin below, there are plenty of moorings here along with all boater facilities, however, boaters please note, the refuse disposal is at the top of the locks.

Chester 3 lock staircase, the middle chamber is carved from solid rock

The basin contains the link down to the river Dee with the five locks linking the basin and river. This made Chester an important location until the development of the Mersey ports took most of the trade. The link fell into decline but has recently been renovated, the final lock onto the tidal river being the missing piece of the jigsaw. This lock, sady is still in a state of dereliction.

  

The basin at Chester

The lock from the basin onto the Dee linkxb64w hkcf 

The link onto the river Dee

Chester town center

The Dee at Chester, a river we will be reunited with later

We made use of the Laundrette located just five minutes walk from the basin.
The following morning (Friday) our departure was delayed due to the canal being closed after the tragic discovery of a body a few hundred yards up from us, we were given the all clear before moving on to cross the Wirral.
This is quite a pleasant stretch of the canal passing close by Chester Zoo before going under the very busy M56. From here the view becomes somewhat more industrial with the large oil refinery at Stanlow. Crossing under the M53 we noted the site of the now demolished Wolverhampton Corrugated Iron works, they must of been huge as the works quayside stretch for almost a mile.
We arrived a Ellesmere Port and moored outside the Waterways Museum, there are moorings in the lower basin of the port but as it was raining we decided to stay at the top.
Before the arrival of the canal there was only the small village of Whitby in the location, however once the construction of the port and its link to the Mersey was completed the whole area developed into the town of Ellesmere Port now known for its connection with car production at the site of the Vauxhall works.
The museum is definitely worth visiting with many interesting exhibits  and interactive displays more information can be obtained on their website.
After the completion of the canal in mid 1790's the area was further enhanced by the construction of the Manchester ship canal in 1893, some very large ships now pass below the port.
We purchased our tickets for the museum and, as they are valid for 12 months, we visit several times during our stay here.

The lower basin of the museum with the storm clouds building in the distance

Looking out from the lower basin anto the Manchester Ship Canal

Tug on the Ship Canal

The weather took a turn for the worse so we had to sit out the teeming rain and howling gale for around 36 hours, before turning round and retracing our steps back to Chester.
Much improved weather with fine sunshine greeted our arrival at the bottom of the three rise locks, and the weather had brought out quite a number of visitors some of whom helped us up the locks.
Following a quick visit to the shops we pressed on up the five locks to moor up at the charming village of Christleton.

Canal scenes at Christleton

Monday morning brought more fine weather and we continued our journey down to Hurleston and the right turn onto the Llangollen canal arriving just in time to pass through the four locks at the junction.