To Llangollen at Last!

Wednesday 14th September, 2016 at Llangollen.
Yesterday, we drove from home to Aston Marina, so that the car will be waiting for us when we get back to Aston at the end of the month. Our mooring space looked forlorn without MM.

After lunch at the Bistro, where we were warmly welcomed as usual by the staff and having said hallo to Nick in the office, we took a taxi to Stoke-on-Trent and caught a train to Wolverhampton. While waiting there for the train to Chirk there was a massive thunderstorm and M was trapped for a long while on the (covered) stairs between platforms, muttering darkly that. R, who was already safely under cover, had her umbrella!
We arrived back at Chirk marina in the early evening but didn't leave until the following morning (Wednesday) after we had settled our bill. We awoke to a lovely morning after yesterday's storms.

Almost immediately after leaving the marina, we came to the 191 yard "Whitehouse" tunnel. The tunnel is one-way working and there were already three boats waiting to go through, so we tagged on to the end of the queue just as the last of the half dozen boats coming the other way came out of the tunnel.

The first boat in the line was going incredibly slowly and almost stopping every now and then for no apparent reason - a fact that made our progress all the way to Llangollen resemble a snail with a limp.
As we got nearer, we caught our first glimpse of the famous aqueduct in the distance through the trees.

One advantage of travelling in a line was that someone else further up the queue had opened the lift bridge for us. M was very pleased as it usually her job!

Just before the famous Pontcysyllte aqueduct, it was clear that we had picked up something on the propellor so R stopped to remove one of those elastic bungee cords (slightly damaged). However, because the "convoy" was moving so very slowly, we easily caught them up before the aqueduct and followed them across.

M decided to walk across on the towpath partly so she could get some photos of MM going across but the towpath was busy with walkers and cyclists, making it difficult for her to get the pictures she wanted.

Photographs don't really represent how high the aqueduct is, nor the fact that on the non-towpath side the edge of the steel "bath" is lower than the gunwhale and there is nothing between you and the ground 140ft below!
Guy looked on in awe at the drop down to the River Dee below.

Progress across the aqueduct was very slow as we were still in a queue of half a dozen boats. Quite a contrast to six years ago when we did this on a hire boat in November in a howling gale - we were the only boat in sight that time!

Eventually we reached Trevor on the far side and turned into the arm down to Llangollen. Six years ago, we couldn't take the hired boat down the arm as it was closed for maintenance - so this was virgin territory for us.  Exciting!

The arm to Llangollen is very narrow and in places it is one way only. Again, as we were still in convoy, we just followed on the boat in front - the owner of which was getting increasingly frustrated with the slow progress of the boats in front of him. Our first encounter was with the trip boat that just managed to squeeze past. It does the trip from Llangollen to Trevor and back in two hours. Our slow progress can be judged by the fact that it took us well over two hours to go just one way!

Despite the fact that the arm is narrow and sometimes not too deep, it is one of the most beautiful sections of canal that we have been on. It is carved into the hillside of the Vale of Llangollen, high above the lovely River Dee and flanked by mature trees.  One of the canal guide books describes this length as "a mountain odyssey of unparalleled loveliness" - and it truly is.

At the end of the arm in Llangollen, there is a large basin with moorings. There is a charge of £12 for two nights but that includes electricity. We moored up and walked into town to reconnoitre.

We plan to spend two nights here, so we will take all tomorrow to explore the town and the surrounding area.
We found another of the new C&RT "Warning" notices. Nice to see that someone has a sense of humour.

Today: 6 miles, 0 locks and 3.9 hours (That is an average of 1.5 mph!).
Trip: 351 miles, 243 locks and 259.7 hours.