England - August 8, 2014

Head cold at its most miserable, despite the cold medicine (I need pseudoephedrine!) which resulted in a poor night’s sleep.  But I am determined to enjoy the last and most exciting day of canal boat travel on the trip.  We took off at 9:20 a.m. from our mooring, went around the corner by the pub, and immediately faced Bridge 19W.  The canal was too shallow, and Duke is very heavy.  Some dredging at this point in the canal is needed.  Allison and Andy have made complaints, but so far have had no results.

Andy worked diligently to get by the obstruction:  Removed Duchess and left us moored.  Tried going gently; tried gunning the engine.  Got rid of all the water in the tanks to lighten the load/decrease the draft.  Pushed with a pole; pulled with a rope.  As all this was happening, other boats, from both directions, had to be allowed to make their way through the bridge hole, stopping his efforts for the moment.  

Finally, a double boat like ours made it through from the other direction, with Andy and Tom’s help.  The crew of that boat stopped and assisted us by turning their engine boat around and pulling Duke.  That was still not enough.  Finally the captain of that boat (we believe a former military man) basically commandeered a day rental boat going in our direction and pushed Duke at the same time his boat was pulling – and various of his young helpers were using ropes to pull as well.  This is a picture of the boat pushing; there is another boat in front pulling with Duke sandwiched in the middle.

While all this was happening, Allison was frantically making arrangements with an aqueduct tour boat company and a taxi driver to collect us passengers so we could travel on the aqueduct if Duke was permanently stuck since she knew the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct was to be the highlight of the trip and wanted to be sure we didn't miss it.

Finally, and miraculously, Duke got through (think champagne cork popping out of the bottle!).  Duchess, a much lighter boat, was pulled through with no problems, and we were on our way, only two hours late!  Allison canceled the emergency plans she’d made since we will be able to reach and travel the aqueduct in “our” boat.  However, the two-hour delay means that we won’t reach the Llangollen mooring by the end of the day.  Instead we’ll moor at the Trevor Basin, a few miles from the town, but those few miles on the canal would take at least two hours.

The Chirk Aqueduct was quite impressive.  It’s not as long or high as Pontcysyllte, but there’s a railroad bridge built beside it that’s even higher, more impressive. 

Shortly thereafter was the lengthy Chirk tunnel (459 yards); at the entry was a “Welcome to Wales” sign.  It seems we’ve been in and out of Wales several times already; perhaps now we’re there for the duration of the trip.

Before entering the tunnel, we all went aboard Duke for lunch.  To make up time we’ll eat on the move, and there’s nothing to see while going through the tunnel anyway.  At 2 p.m. three of us returned to Duchess, I to lie down and rest a bit.  From my bed I saw us enter the Whitehorses Tunnel (191 yards); since there’s nothing to see, napping was fine!  An hour later I was up and at the front of Duchess admiring some lovely houses and gardens.  This part of the canal is more “urban;” the footpath is wider and paved, people, not on canal boats, are using it, and there are houses in close proximity.

There was a hand-operated bridge that needed to be raised so we could go through,

and then we were at Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.  It’s really quite amazing to be so high (126 feet), looking down at the valley  and the River Dee while floating on a canal. Thomas Telford is assigned credit for designing and overseeing the construction; he proceeded in spite of initial derision.

Some folk got out and walked along the walkway/tow path; I stayed aboard, taking a picture of Estelle and having her take a picture of me (and Sally).

The aqueduct is even more impressive when one realizes it was constructed between 1795 and 1805, when construction techniques and machinery were more limited.  No wonder it has been designated a World Heritage Site.

When not thinking about/noticing the impressive engineering, one can enjoy the beautiful Dee Valley spread out below.

 

At about 3:30 we arrived at a crossroads (cross canal?) where instead of making the turn to go to Llangollen, we went straight ahead and moored at Trevor Basin.

One advantage of this location is the Telford Inn, a pub just on the other side of the canal – and there is a convenient bridge!  We went over for a drink.  Andy joined us as Allison was on the phone making arrangements with the guests arriving on Saturday since, similar to when I joined at Chester, the boat was in a different location than had originally been planned.

We returned to Duke for our final dinner.  It was excellent (carrot and coriander soup, lamb chops, whole potatoes, snow peas, chocolate mousse), but I was feeling lousy and didn’t do the food full justice. 

 

Got to bed early so could do organizing and packing in the morning.

England - August 7, 2014

Almost 6 hours of solid sleep, but then a stuffed nose and pounding head woke me up and kept me awake.  Colds are not fun.  After breakfast I returned to Duchess and was able to doze for about an hour which did make me feel a bit better.  I think I may have some cold medication – but it’s in the large suitcase that is encased in plastic and stored for the duration in the engine room of Duke.  Ah, well. . . .

Estelle, Bill, Ros, and Barrie got off to walk along the towpath.  The walk here is lovely, under large oak trees and beside a large lake just behind the towpath.  This area is well forested since it was the policy of the Shropshire Union company to plant elms and oaks along the canal in order to provide raw materials for replacement for their fleet of wooden commercial craft.  (The elms have long since succumbed to Dutch elm disease, but the oaks remain).  Estelle marched along vigorously. . . .

There have been no locks which increases our speed.  Unfortunately this canal is shallow which creates a different set of problems – particularly when Andy must maneuver the boats around difficult turns and through narrow bridge holes.  So we continued moving through lunch since we’re aiming to moor for the evening at Chirk, with a good pub that is supposed to have WiFi.  

Every morning the menus for lunch and dinner would be posted on a board hanging in the main salon.  This is the scheduled dinner for this evening.  Behind it are several steam railway pictures posted because that’s where Andy works during the off season.

About 3:30 we hit the first lock of the day.  Made a nice diversion from the placid floating down the canal we’ve been doing, although the calm water and lovely trees alongside the canal made for some lovely scenery. 

The New Marton Bottom Lock was followed fairly quickly by the New Marton Upper Lock which together raised the canal by 12’ 4”.  While locking through and waiting we had tea, with homemade carrot cake, and then continued on our way at 4:40.  Andy was determined to arrive at Chirk while the shops were still open, a goal I supported in the hopes there might be cold medicine to be purchased.  (There was; not the best kind, but I’m sure it will help to some degree.)

At 5:30 we moored around the corner from the Poacher’s Pocket pub, a great location.  The pub had WiFi so in addition to enjoying a half pint of cider I was able to catch up on some e-mails.   

Returned to Duke at 7 for our evening meal of bangers and mash.  The portions were substantial.

To the cabin at 8:30, hopeful that the cold medicine will result in more and better sleep.

England - August 6, 2014

After breakfast I decided to walk from Willeymoor Lock to Povey’s Lock, supposedly ½ mile away.  Several others walked as well – but much faster than I (in my present condition, that doesn’t take much).

I’m sure the distance was less than a half mile, but that was fine.  At the moment, a little exercise goes a long way.  I waited for the boats to arrive and went through with Duchess.  Andy pointed out an old, restored, working canal boat, moored along the way.  At the Grindley Brook Lock No. 4 I got out as there were a couple of small shops.  One was operated by Valerie Reade, a very interesting woman who is active in the restoration and maintenance of Saturn, the working boat Andy had pointed out along the way (too quickly for me to get a picture).  She showed me around her garden which was gorgeous

and talked about the Saturn restoration project.  Saturn was a Fly Boat built in 1906 for the Shropshire Union Canal Carrying Company.  Fly boats were the express craft of the waterways as, running non-stop, they delivered perishable goods throughout the waterway network.  Saturn worked as a cheese fly, responsible for the fast movement of cheese from Cheshire and Shropshire to major markets such as Manchester.  Now Saturn serves educational purposes, helping school children and adults learn about the historic role of canal boats.

After leaving Valerie I walked past two locks to Duchess and got on to ride through the last two locks.  On the other side it became apparent we were going in the “right” direction, at least the one with less traffic, since 20 or 30 boats were lined up to go through the locks the other way, which might require a wait of 2 hours or more. 

Shortly after the locks we stopped at a water point to take on water.  These are located at many places along the way.  Boats carry hoses with bib cocks that will fit and are free to fill their tanks as needed.  Since it was getting close to lunch time, we had a slightly early lunch while the water tanks were filling and then set off about 1:45 for the longest stretch of canal with no locks, about 25 miles, some of which we’ll do today, some tomorrow.

During the afternoon the weather kept changing, from sunny and almost hot to cloudy, breezy, and a bit chilly.  Guess this is England (also Wales, at least some of the time, since we move back and forth across the border).

We moored for the night at 4:30 p.m. just before the Prees Branch of the canal, a stub end that goes less than a mile.  Five of us walked a short way along the Prees.  I returned ahead of the others to wash my hair and dry it outside in the warm sun while sipping a glass of wine.  Quite pleasant. . . .

Unfortunately, the head cold which began to manifest itself earlier today with a stuffy nose is developing nicely.  Bad back, head cold – I am falling apart!