Ellesmere to Llangollen

This could be another long post as it's over a week since the last one. When we started cruising back in May I did intend to post more frequently, thinking that I would sit down at the end of the day & relay the days events including the bits & bobs that punctuate the day, like the incident a couple of weeks ago when the woman who, despite her partner/crew member  waving us through one of the lift bridges at Wrenbury decided she should still get through before us, scraped along our side & then sarcastically commented  "he should have asked the captain 1st" !!  


So updating seems to have settled into a weekly event although I probably would have posted at the weekend but we had no phone or Internet signal, fortunately we still had TV that would have been a step too far!!


Anyway, back to last week, we left Ellesmere at 8am on a cold & damp Thursday morning, 

having 1st used the service point.

We spent one night at Chirk Bank & on Friday it was another early start ready for the aqueduct & tunnels & by 9am (!!) we were moored up just after bridge 27 on the 48hr spot.

Chirk Tunnel

We decided to take a walk over the Pontcysyllte aqueduct to Trevor to stretch our legs, maybe find somewhere for a spot of lunch & if we could get a paper that would be a bonus.

 Hmm, well of course the countryside is fabulous & the aqueduct breathtaking, but we found Trevor a grim, depressing  place & didn't manage to find anywhere for lunch ( I made do with a bag of chips from a chippie) or a paper. 

So on Saturday I walked the 3 miles back along the towpath to Chirk,  which a great little town & managed to get the Guardian for the local Spar. Two towns only a few miles apart yet so very different.


Sunday & another walk to Chirk for a few essentials from the Spar then a lazy afternoon.


Which brings us to yesterday, up & off by 7.15 am, a quick stop at the water point & then it was onto the aqueduct,  Mark hates heights & wasn't sure he'd be okay ( said he may be laid flat on the floor inside!) but he was fine - so long as he didn't look left... 

View of the River Dee from the aqueduct

Lots of hire boats in Trevor basin before the sharp left turn to Llangollen.

Once round this corner the scenery gets seriously beautiful & the hills you saw in the distance a few days ago are on all sides.  As it got narrower & windier I walked ahead to spot oncomers,

the lovely Plas Isaf Bridge

But we were lucky, it was quiet (a benefit of an early start!) & we were settled on the 48 hr moorings opposite the Sun Trevor pub by 9.30 am. Once we'd got sorted we walked into Llangollen, inspected the moorings, very nice, had a potter round the town & had lunch. 

 view  down the valley towards Llangollen from the towpath

rock 'wall', no wonder the canal is only narrow here, this cutting would have been done by navvies with no power tools.

Looking up towards Castell Dinas Bran, we were going to have a walk up there this afternoon but we have had showers all morning, some quite heavy so hence me doing the blog instead.

Tomorrow we will have an early start & move up to the basin in Llangollen for a couple of days. Wilson's are due in the morning to fit the frame & template for the back cover & RCR are coming to do an engine service in the afternoon so we better make sure we nip to the shops & get the biscuits in ;-)

Hopefully the weather will be kind on Thursday & then we'll get our walk up to the Castell.