After our brief stop at Frankton Junction we carried on for a couple more miles then stopped for a bite to eat. We found a pub near Hindford, right on the side of the canal Called the Jack Mytton Inn. This is where the life size carving of the grizzly bear was. Why it was there? I have no idea. A couple of hours later we carry on travelling towards Chirk. This is the location of the first of two big aqueducts we had to go over and then straight into a 459yd tunnel.

Chirk Aqueduct was opened in 1801, it is a massive brick and stone structure that carries the canal in a narrow (one boat wide) cast iron trough from England to Wales over the River Ceiriog flowing 70ft below also running parallel but up a little higher is the great railway viaduct. At the end of the aqueduct is the Chirk Tunnel, 459yd long and just wide enough for one boat.

As we reached the aqueduct there was a line of boats already crossing so we had to wait. Hoping that no other boats would join the boats already crossing we waited with the excitement growing as this was the first big aqueduct we had ever done. It was finally clear and we started cruising across, it was quite breath taking, how small did them sheep look. With the water flow and the narrow cannel it did feel at some points that we were going to stop, also it was quite windy up there so it made it hard to stop the boat rubbing along one side. Part way across Mark hopped off the boat and walked ahead to see if the tunnel was clear. When we reached the end of the aqueduct there was a waiting area but luckily the tunnel was clear. As we went into the tunnel I could see another boat near the other end but was sure it was travelling in the same direction as us. Suddenly a white light came on, PANIC!  The boat was coming towards us so we had to reverse out. As I was reversing the light went off again and then I realised it was kids messing about with a torch and infect the boat was travelling in the same direction as us, I was not impressed. As we travelled through the tunnel, as with the aqueduct the boat got slower and slower and by the end we were nearly flat out and hardly going anywhere. After the tunnel we cruised for about another mile and came to Whitehouse Tunnel, this one was only 191yds long so didn’t take long at all. As we came out that tunnel I looked at the map and saw we were only about 1.5miles from the big Pontcysylite Aqueduct, would we make it today.  We cruised for about another mile and came to the village of Froncysyllte, this village is the last before the aqueduct. We turned a corner to see a line of moored boats to our left and a chap stood on the front of one, we asked how far to the aqueduct, he replied just round that corner, the corner was only a stones through away. He also said we could moor near him, in his mates space as he was away. With a quick decision made we decided to moor there for the evening so we could walk up to see the aqueduct.

The Pontcysylite Aqueduct built by Thomas Telford is the most spectacular feature on the whole canal system. It sits 126ft above the River Dee and is 1007ft in length. It was opened in 1805, took ten years to build with an estimated cost of £47,018. The excitement for crossing this structure by boat is due to the fact that the towpath side is fenced off with iron railing but the offside is completely unprotected, there is just 12in of the cast iron trough sitting above the water level to keep you on.

We walked over the aqueduct that evening and to tell the truth it didn’t seem that high or long, remembering we were on the towpath side that had quite high safety railings all the way along. As we took the boat over the following morning (12^th July) it was quite a different story, with just the 12in of iron above the water level keeping us up there it was quite scary, it seemed very high and very long. The conditions for crossing the aqueduct were ideal, the sun was shining and there was not a breath of wind, as with the previous aqueduct it was hard work for the boat to get across due to the water flow. It really was quite something crossing it but I think we were both glad to come to the end. At the end of the aqueduct we had to make a sharp left turn through a narrow bridge as straight on led into the Trevor boatyard. Now only 3miles away from Llangollen we were both quite excited that we had nearly made it as it seemed so far away when we left Eaton Socon. We had been warned that the last section of the canal between Trevor and Llangollen was the narrowest and the shallowest and this was the section that I was most worried about getting stuck. They weren’t wrong, it got extremely narrow and we started scrapping the bottom in places. We took a steady plod along the last section staying firmly in the middle of the cut. If a boat came towards us I slowed right down and moved over just enough for them to pass, I was determined not to get stuck. As we twisted and turned along the last few miles we kept seeing a mountain with strange shapes on the top, what were they? As we cruised in to the Vale Of Llangollen we had the River Dee on one side and the mountain with the strange shapes that were the ruins of Dinas Bran Castle on the other, it was quite a view. We managed to find a lovely place to moor right at the base of the mountain where we stayed for five days. When we arrived in Llangollen the sun was shining  so we made the most of it and took Cassie for a walk up to the Horseshoe Fall. We sat in the sunshine admiring the scenery, watching a chap fly fishing and canoeists going off the falls and down the rapids.

Due to the weather we really haven’t got out into the mountains as much as we’ve wanted. We did have one good day so we walked up to the ruins we could see from the boat. It was a beautiful sunny day so when we got to the top we could see for miles. In the distance you could pick out the Chirk Viaduct that we had come past. We spent time taking in the views, trying to see the boat and taking photos, we then walked back down the opposite side of the mountain, fortunately this bought us out at the Sun Trevor Pub. The pub was situated on the side of the valley looking over the canal, the River Dee and then right up the other side of the valley to where they paraglide from, we haven’t seen any yet due to the horrid weather.

On Wednesday 18^th July we moved the boat, as where we had been moored was about 1mile from the end of the navigable part of the canal. At the end of the canal is the British Waterways Basin (marina) where you can stay for two days and use their water and electricity, a good chance to get all the washing done. It was also nice not to be trudging around the muddy towpaths. Hopefully the rain will stop so they can dry out a bit, but no chance. Thursday night we walked to the Sun Trevor pub as some friends had turned up and they had moored right opposite it. As we sat outside the pub we could see a thunder storm brewing, lots of flashing and rumbling in the distance. It then started raining, no it wasn’t it was that watering system for the pubs hanging baskets splashing us, hehe.!  But it wasn’t long before it was actually raining. As I had taken Cassie with me I couldn’t go in the pub so we all huddled under the table umbrellas. The rain got harder and harder it was pouring off the umbrellas, the barman then told us we could take Cassie in. The rain still got harder, we were hoping it was going stop for the walk home but it didn’t. It would take us about an hour to walk home, the towpaths were completely under water, we got absolutely drenched and covered with mud. 

The Llangollen canal is a feeder canal, it is fed by the river Dee at Llantysilio via the Horseshoe Falls (a large semicircular weir across the River Dee, built by Telford) about 2miles on from Llangollen. This 2mile stretch of canal is un-navigable for us, they do horse drawn boat trips on it daily. The water then flows the 45miles to Hurleston Reservoir and the Shropshire Union Canal at 12 million gallons a day.

We waited a short time at Hurleston Junction for the boat in front to go up through the lock and for one to come down and then it was our turn. We were all quite excited about making it to here, this was the beginning of a new chapter to our adventure. We had been told lots of different stories about this canal. We’ve been told it’s one of the busiest canals on the system and that its very narrow and very shallow in places and even the map/guide book reads that we might sit too deep in the water to get to the end, fingers crossed we wont get stuck. We head off towards the first lock, after making slight contact with the wall we’re in the first of the Hurleston lock flight, all full of smiles. We had just 45miles and 21 locks to do before we reached our furthest point at Llangollen. It may sound a long way but it really seemed like nothing after thinking how far we had to go when we left on the 9^th April. Up through the 4 locks and we’re on our way along the Llangollen Canal, not seeming to narrow or shallow at the moment. We cruised on for another 5miles miles with 4 locks dotted along the way until we reached a place called Wrenbury where we moored for the evening. It seemed nice but we hadn’t noticed the caravan site over the other side of the hedge, we definitely wouldn’t be staying here any longer than one night.

Sunday 8^th July – We left Wrenbry in the sunshine. The first thing we had to do when leaving Wrenbry was go through a lift bridge. This meant shutting the barriers and stopping the traffic and I’m sure Mark enjoyed that part. The bridge was up and off we went, this was the first time we experienced the water flow on the canal. We got part way through the bridge and came to a standstill, we gave it more power and managed to crawl our way through. I did panic for a second or two thinking there was a problem but remembered I’d been told the water flow gets very strong in the narrow parts. Crikey, what was it going to be like on Aqueducts and going through the tunnels. We had only done a couple of miles when we came to a lock and the people there told us there was a big queue for the Grindley Brook lock flight 3miles ahead of us. What shall we do? Go and queue or Stop at the next pub? Yes, you’ve got it, the pub got the most votes. We stopped for an hour or so and then got going again, by the time we got to the locks the queues had gone. We went straight to the locks, through the first three single locks and then into the staircase. A staircase is where the top gate of one lock is the bottom gate of the next lock so you have to empty one lock to fill another. This was all new to us so we went to find the lock keeper to help. Mark found the lock keeper and frightened the life out of him as he was having a snooze in his hut. As we went into the first lock it all seemed quite daunting with the lock gates twice the height of what we had been use to. As the first lock rose I noticed all the spectators, that makes me even more nervous, but in the end the staircase was quiet easy. We left the staircase and cruised for about another mile until we came to a short arm off the canal leading to a place called Whitchurch. It was such a sharp narrow turn into the arm we had to turn and come back. Once in the arm we moored and stayed there for a couple of days. Whitchurch had all the things we needed before we really started getting into the middle of nowhere like supermarkets, banks and post office etc.

Tuesday 10^th July – We left Whitchurch in the sunshine, we didn’t have any locks to do for a few miles instead we had four lift bridges to go under that had to be left closed after passing. Two were footpaths but the other two Mark had to stop the traffic again, not sure they were happy about it but I know Mark enjoyed it. We cruised for a short time longer then moored near a nature reserve called Whixall Moss. It came into existence at the end of the Ice Age, as huge blocks of ice were left behind when the remainder of the ice cap melted and drained off into what is now the Severn Valley. The peat surface remains, in spite of the past cutting of peat for garden use and is an important site for rare insects and plant life. As we got to Whixall Mose we crossed the England Wales border, as we left Whixall Mose the canal then winds this way and that and crosses back over the border back into England again, we haven’t made it to Wales yet! As we cruised through the countryside towards Ellesmere the canal became lined by several Mere’s (lakes that are as broad as they are deep) with many Oak trees planted along side, they are said to have been planted by the Shropshire Union Carriers to provide raw materials to replace their carrying fleet. We then passed through the short Ellesmere tunnel and cruised onto Ellesmere Junction where we moored for the night. The following morning the sun was shining so we had to get going to make the most of it. We cruised for about three miles before coming to Frankton Junction, this is where the Montgomery Canal meets the Llangollen Canal. The Montgomery Canal is now only 7miles long and is now a nature conservation area, due to this they only allow a 12 boats a day onto it. We stopped on the off chance that we might get onto it, not a chance all the places were filled for that day. Never mind we can book our place and visit on our way back.

Saturday 23^rd June – We left Atherstone to find a pub near the canal as we had family coming to visit for Mark’s birthday. We trundled on for a couple of miles and came to a place called Polesworth. We went for a wander around but couldn’t find anywhere we liked so we carried on. Shortly after leaving Polesworth we passed under the M42 motorway where we came across a couple painting their boat, I guess at least it won’t get rained on. We then came to a place called Alvecote with a marina and a pub called The Samuel Barlow, we moored up and went to investigate the pub. The pub was on the upstairs level of the building and with water on three sides there were plenty of boats to be seen. New ones, old ones, ex-working ones and even sunken ones.

The following day Mark’s family came to see us and to wish Mark a happy birthday. We had a lovely day having a few beers, a bite to eat and catching up on what been happening.  His birthday wasn’t really until Monday so as you can imagine we didn’t get far the next day either.

On Tuesday 26^th June a little worse for wear from the day before we carried on our way. We wanted to get through Tamworth and out the other side to stop at a certain bridge we had been told was good for shopping. After a trouble free cruise through the Glascote locks in Tamworth, over the River Tame, we were at Fazeley Junction, this is where the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal meets the Coventry Canal. We carried on north along the Coventry/Birmingham & Fazeley canal(nobody seems sure where one starts and the other finishes) until we found the bridge(useless fact all the bridges on this stretch have names instead of number). We moored up and walked into Tamworth forgetting my camera so I couldn’t take any photos of Tamworth Castle or the lovely gardens as we walked around. It took us a couple of hours to sort out what we needed and then we were off again to find a quiet place to moor for the evening. We ended up mooring just as we came into a small village called Hopwas. It had a few houses and two pubs. That’s good enough for us, HEHE..! Hopwas was only about a three hour cruise from our next junction. This was Fradley Junction where the Coventry/Birmingham & Fazeley Canal meets the Trent and Mersey Canal. Wednesday (27^th) morning the sun was actually shining so we made the most of it and got going by about 8.30am. As we left Hopwas I was sworn at by a hire boat as they hadn’t tied up properly and there boat nearly came with us, hehe..! The other side of Hopwas we had to cruise past had an area marked on the map as DANGER AREA, it turned out to be an area the army use for target practice, we didn’t hang around there for to long. After passing the danger area we had a lovely cruise in the sunshine to next junction. We moored just short of the junction and took Cassie for a walk. At the junction were souvenir shops, teashops, nature walks and yes another pub. We had a pint, got chatting, had another pint, chatted some more, the rain came so we had another beer and that was the end of that days cruising.

Thursday 28^th June – As we only cruised for about 3 hours the day before we thought we’d better get a few hours in today. We set off with the sun shining again but how long was it going to last. We came down to the junction where there was a swing bridge Mark had to open. Through the bridge and there was The Trent and Mersey Canal running across in front of us. The canal was extremely busy as further along, the canal and the river Trent join but due to all the rain the canal had been closed and there were queues of boats waiting for it to reopen. Luckily we needed to turn in the opposite direction. We turned left at the junction and head between the rows of boats towards the next locks, just up the canal. We got through the first lock and onto the second, here we got chatting to a lady who told us that it might be flooded further up near Great Haywood, this is where the canal and the river Trent run very close together. Through the third and final lock and we’re off, with 11 miles before the next junction and the sun disappearing more and more behind the clouds how far would we get before the rain started. We had one big place to go through and that was Rugeley. The canal lined the edge of Rangeley for about two miles. We had industrial buildings on the left and a big power station on the right, not the most scenic of places. Surprisingly we did manage to get the 11 miles done without getting to wet. We cruised along side a very flooded river Trent for much of the journey but there were no problems with the canal. Apparently a couple of days earlier the river Trent was right over the towpath of the canal. We moored up for the night next to Shugborough Hall that dates back to 1693 and is now in the hands of the National Trust. We made it to here just in time, as you will see in the photos of the hall the heavens soon opened. In the morning we had one mile and one lock to do and then we would be making a left turn onto the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal. The morning came and it was still pouring with rain, we waited for it to ease off to make a move. We tried a couple of time to leave in the lighter showers but it didn’t work, in the end fully equipped with waterproofs we went for it. We had to keep moving as later in the week we were meeting family further along this canal. We trundled up to the lock, through the lock, trundled a short distance and then turned left through a narrow bridge onto the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal. Due to the heavy rain I didn’t get the camera at this point. We were now trundling towards a point on the canal called Tixall Wide, this is where the canal opens up into what can only be described as a massive lake and then narrows back down to the canal, the photos really do not do it justice. After a few hours of the rain the clouds passed and it turned into a lovely day with the odd black cloud still lurking in the background. Despite the late start because of the weather we still managed to do 15 miles, that probably doesn’t sound much but it is with a narrowboat.  We skirted round a place called Baswich, along the edge of Acton Trussell, right through the centre of Penkridge (where we drove to, to get lots of bits for the boat including the fridge) and then through a quaint place called Gailey with the Round Gallery, shop and tea room, shame it was closed when we went past. We then moored opposite Calf Heath Marina that had bar called Misty’s. The evening had turned out to be the best part of the day, as the sun was shining we played chase with Cassie along the towpath for a while. We then walked over to the bar, well tried to. We discovered that we couldn’t get to it from this side of the canal. The only way we could find to get across was to take boat over to the visitor’s moorings outside the pub, hehe.!  Anything for a beer, well it was Friday night.J

Saturday 30^th June – Another rainy day. Today we only had about an hours cruise to get to where we were meeting family tomorrow. We stayed on the pub mooring hoping to get a break in the rain, it didn’t happen so we left in the rain. Not much to say about the journey really apart from rain, rain, rain, Oh and one of British Waterways work boats drifting down the canal on its own. It made life quite interesting as it was just round a corner, near a moored boat with over hanging trees on the opposite side and to make life even more interesting, right in the middle of it all a boat decided to stop and pick his dog up on our side. No panic, with a nifty piece of manoeuvring we got through and trundled on our way round the next corner to a place called Cross Green we had planned to meet up with family. I did make a quick phone call to BW to tell them about their boat drifting around on its own. With our experience of a BW boat not tied up properly and nearly getting a tiller arm through the window we weren’t going anywhere near it. Sunday we had another lovely day catching up with family and as you will see in most of the photos we have some new plants for the roof thanx to Mums green fingers.J

Monday 2^nd July – Later today we would be on the Shropshire Union Canal, so all eager to get there we left in the rain. As the Shoppie was only a couple of miles away it wasn’t long before we were there and the rain had stopped. We moored up just before Autherley Junction (the junction onto the Shropshire Union) to have a bite to eat and take Cassie for a walk. We then joined the queue of boats that had now formed to get through the stop lock at the beginning of the Shropshire Union Canal. It didn’t take long as the lock only changed its level by about 6inches. The stop locks where there to stop boats years ago so they could collect the toll charges for the use of the canal. Through the lock and off we cruised in the sunshine. We seemed to be making great time until we caught up with a boat being towed. They let the boat in front of us pass on the last straight so I guessed it would be ours turn to pass on the next straight. We followed them over the A5 aqueduct and pass a boat yard. Now onto the straight I went to pass them but they pulled back to the middle of the cut so we couldn’t get passed. I followed patiently with another boat right behind but they wouldn’t move. Finally a boat came the other way and told us it was clear for miles so we pushed our way past on a bend saying a very pleasant thank you on the way past, closely followed by the boat behind us. Up to the lock at Wheaton Aston and the towing boats caught up but nothing was said. Through the lock and on we cruised with the canal getting very narrow in places especially leading up to the Cowley Tunnel. When to tunnel was originally planned in 1831 it was going to be a lot longer but due to faults in the rocks it was opened up leaving the short tunnel and the very narrow cutting towards the entrance. Through the tunnel and on towards Norbury Junction we managed to get there just in time to fill up. Whilst filling up the chap at the boat yard told us of an old pub called The Anchor, unchanged for 100years so we thought we’d better go check it out. On the way we cruised under a bridge called the High Bridge with a Telegraph pole built in the top arch and a bridge called the Double Calvert Bridge that carries both a stream and a footpath. As we came up to bridge 42 we could see The Anchor Pub we moored up and went for a wander. It looked like someone’s house but we had been assured it was a pub. There were no lights on so we looked round the side for someone. There was a lady so we asked when she was open?  “I am open she replied”. We went in as she turned the lights on and it was just like walking into her house. The two front rooms had been turned into two small bars and the family lived out the back. We ordered a pint of lager and a pint of bitter. The lager came from a pump but for the bitter she went off down the cellar. She soon came back with a jug of bitter and poured it in the glass. There were tall wooden benches, tiled floors and lovely open fires. After a time more people came in and the room began to fill up, 10 people and the room was full, it was a great night. We found out that the pub had been in her family for over 100years and that she had run it for the last 36years.

Tuesday 3^rd July – We carried on towards Market Drayton thinking it wouldn’t take us that long to get there but as we got closer the cut got narrower and narrower. Due to all the rain we’d had there were signs with warnings of unstable ground, watch out for landslides and falling trees, we didn’t want to hang around there for to long. You could see where the ground had given way and the trees had fallen, they had been cleared from the cut and left on the side, other trees were newly down so we cruised around some and over the ends of others. We finally reached the Tyrley Locks just before Market Drayton, great I thought. No, not so great, again because of the amount of rain the run offs on the locks were vicious. Going down the locks wasn’t quite as bad as going up the locks, luckily we’re going down. The run offs connect the pounds between the locks and if the top pound has too much water it will then run down to the next pound and so on down to the bottom lock. Due to the amount of rain the run offs were like rivers and as you come out the locks it first hits the front and pushes it over so you had to counter steer that and then it hit the back and sends you down the pound sideways. We made it through the five locks unscathed but I’ve never been so glad to see the end of a flight of lock so much as those. As we carried on the canal was still very narrow hardly wide enough for two boats to pass. We did meet several boats and somehow managed to pass. I was so glad when we finally made it to Market Drayton, I could give the nerves a rest.

I’m sure I told you about a chap we met in Braunston with a boat called Mr Sweep and that we had planned to meet up again in Wales. Well when we stopped in Market Drayton two lads told us that they had seen a boat by that name after the locks at Audlem, about five miles and 20 locks ahead of us. As we were moored in Market Drayton the boats that where towing came past and stopped, at that point we decided we would carry on to get in front of those boats and try to catch up with Mr Sweep. We cruised for about 3 miles then came to a flight of 5 locks at Adderley. We managed the flight in record time, well Mark managed it I just did the steering. We got to the bottom of the flight at about 9pm, we moored up ready for an early start the in morning to get through the next flight of 15 locks at Audlem.        

Wednesday 4^th July – Up bright and early to get through the locks and we actually started off in the sunshine. We only had a short cruise until we got to the first lock. Through that one with ease and onto the second. Through that one and only 13 to go. Mark ran up the towpath towards number three when he started waving his arms and pointing. Wondering what was going on I approached with caution. There was nothing to worry about Mark had found Mr Sweep. I think he was as surprised to see us, as we were to find him, thinking he was at the bottom of the locks. We stopped to say Hi and have a cuppa, we then carried on with the locks together. The locks were very busy, which was good because as one boat comes out a lock we go in and that happened almost all the way to lock 11, where it started raining, time to stop. We stopped between lock 11 and 12, which were in the middle of a town called Audlem. The rain never really stopped so we ended up staying in Audlem for 3 days and you’ll never believe it but we found a really excellent pub. It was called The Shoppie Fly and the bar was a narrowboat.

 Saturday 7^th July – Our aim for today was to get onto the Llangollen Canal, we left Audlem quite early with the sun shining. We had 8miles and only 1 lock before we reached the Llangollen Canal. It was an easy cruise with no problems. We seemed to make it there in no time at all. The last bridge before the turning was in front of us. We needed to take a sharp left turn under the bridge onto the mooring for the first lock of the Llangollen Canal. As we came under the bridge a hire boat beat us to the mooring so we had to hang around until he’d gone into the lock then it was our turn. Finally we had made it to the Llangollen Canal.