With a spell of fine weather promised, we decided to try the Llangollen canal again. We booked into a canalside
B&B near Froncysyllte, where we could tie up for the night. We couldn't launch there, but we could at the "slipway" at Froncysyllte, on the southern end of the famous Pontcysyllte aqueduct . This slipway is clearly not designed for launching, as you can see, and it isn't marked on the British Waterways maps as a slipway. Our host at the B&B thought it had been installed for the benefit of the ducks, and other wildlife, who cannot otherwise get in and out of a canal that is concreted for long stretches.
Once in the water, we scooted across the aqueduct
and back to make sure we had everything in place for the major passage the following day. The northern end of the aqueduct at Trevor is a
narrowboat hire company base . We threaded our way through the moored boats to the pub.
This must be quite an exciting place to be when the hiring week starts. What with the aqueduct in one direction and the very narrow Llangollen canal in the other, it must take quite a while for everyone to disperse. After a quick drink, we re-crossed the aqueduct and then repaired to Chirk (by car) for an excellent curry.
The following morning we set off from our B&B, crossing the aqueduct unimpeded. This was useful because the aqueduct is strictly one boat wide, the canal can be pretty busy, and narrow boats proceed even more slowly than usual across this engineering marvel - it must be something to do with the altitude.
We turned left at the nothern end and set off up the Llangollen arm of the canal, which clings to the sides of the Dee valley. It was originally intended mainly to feed water into the canal from the Horseshoe falls above Llangollen, and since it wasn't therefore primarily a commercial waterway, it is very narrow in places. The canal is still a major supplier of water to some towns in Cheshire, which probably helps to keep it in good condition. There is therefore quite a water flow, but we were pleased to note that this was having little effect on Winsome - we were able to maintain our usual 4mph without additional effort. The flow is certainly greater than it is on the Mon & Brec, but the waterway is also quite a bit deeper for the most part, so I guess the power required to push the boat along is probably comparable.
There are two sections between Trevor and Llangollen where two boats cannot pass. There is no signalling system and the signs advise you to send someone ahead to ensure the canal is clear (and stays that way) before entering the sections. We were held up on the upper section - about 500 metres - waiting for a boat coming downstream. This place must be a nightmare on busy days.
When we got to Llangollen, which took us just under an hour, we tied up outside the British Waterways booth where you buy tickets if you plan to moor overnight. The very friendly BW officer remembered another pedal boat from last year, and gave us this photograph of it.
It looks rather fine, with two pedalling stations and a good deal more storage space than Winsome. We hope we encounter it again. The BW guy said we ought to be able to get up to Horseshoe falls - where the canal takes water from the Dee - but we would need to watch out for the only boat that normally proceeds beyond Llangollen, the horsedrawn trip boat.
We walked into the town to buy some sandwiches and ginger beer for lunch, and then set of westwards towards the source of the canal. Just above the main Llangollen quays, and opposite the International Eisteddfod field, there is a new marina where about 20 narrowboats can tie up for the night. Since this was early in the season, there were only a couple moored there when we went past. Narrow boats have to turn round at this point - above the marina the canal is narrow and shallow but (more importantly) there are no "winding holes" where 60 or 70 foot boats can turn round. There is even a sign forbidding boat traffic from travelling up the feeder, but we had been invited by the BW manager for Wales and North West England to proceed to the source, and BW at Llangollen seemed happy for us to proceed.
The canal above Llangollen is wide enough for boats to pass, but because it gets very little traffic apart from the horse-drawn trip boat, it is shallow near the banks in many places. BW clearly do not expect motor boats on this stretch, although organised parties of canoists are welcome. We passed the horse-drawn trip boat about halfway up, and managed to stay well out of its way.
Here's the horse:
and here's the boat, with a troop of what looked like junior scouts aboard:
The boatman obviously doesn't encounter many other boats on this stretch! The horse-boat is quite long but it is double-ended and you can move the entire rudder and tiller from one end to the other. This enables the boat to proceed pretty well as far as we did - to the hotel just below the Horseshoe falls.
We arrived at the terminus at the famous
Chainbridge hotel about 30 minutes out from Llangollen, and immediately saw that the warnings about not being able to turn round were quite serious. We knew that, if necessary, we could lift the bow out of the water to turn the boat, but the concrete banks are quite high, and the water flow is more pronounced at this point.
The friendly manager came out to see what was happening, and between us we found a spot - just outside the door to room 44 if you want to repeat this feat - where you can rope a 17+ foot pedal boat around. Fortunately, although the canal is very narrow it is also quite deep - there was therefore little risk of grounding the boat while turning her round. With Winsome pointing in the right direction for the return trip, we rewarded ourselves with a drink from the bar and a look at the falls.
We timed our return to avoid the horse boat, due to make its next trip at 2pm. Even so, we managed to stop on the way to eat our sandwiches and bask in the sun. The GPS showed that we were making about 1/2 mph more going downstream, and we arrived back in Llangollen pretty quickly. Things looked quite quiet on the canal so we decided to sprint through the first narrow section and hope for the best. This was a mistake. About 200 metres into the thing we encountered a hire boat coming towards us and decided to retreat. We may have been unnecessarily anxious about the flow, because we opted to tow Winsome backwards up the canal from the bank, rather than pedal her. This, it turns out, is not terribly easy to do - the rudder becomes a largely unhelpful encumbrance to sternward motion, and we could see why narrow boat rudders often have a small "eye" visible above the surface, no doubt for attaching towing roped under exactly these circumstances. But with much bumping and cursing, and help of someone from the oncoming boat, we managed to tow Winsome back to a passing place.
Our early hubris having received its just desert, we re-navigated this narrow stretch "by the book" with one of us jogging ahead along the towpath until we could see the way clear ahead. This means (a) proceeding 300 metres to a bend and beyond before returning and waving Winsome through and (b) one of us having to pedal the boat unaided through the narrows. Despite this unhappy conjunction of circumstance, the passage was made without mishap. The solo pedaller, aided somewhat by the flow, managed a record-breaking sprint over the 500 metres that almost left her breathless. Fortunately, the other narrow section has passing places at visible intervals and could be navigated under full power. Needless to say, it was quite empty.
The remainder of the trip back to the aqueduct proved uneventful and relaxing. We passed some boats coming up but none going in our direction. When we arrived back at Trevor, we stopped for an ice-cream before setting off back over the aqueduct for the last time .... or would have, but for a convoy of nicely spaced out narrow boats coming in the other direction. A narrow boat takes a loooong time to cross the Pontcysyllte aqueduct, and it seems even longer if you are waiting. It needs traffic lights!
When the last boat had come across, we sprinted for the aqueduct to book our place, and shot across at indecent speed. We need not have worried - the canal was now quite quiet again.
And thus we arrived back at our slipway after an epic 12 mile (or so, according to the GPS) voyage, and tied up alongside. We decided to strip the boat while afloat, because we were not entirely sure how we were going to get her out of the drink. As you can see from the picture above, the slipway shelves relatively steeply (good) but reverts to a regular canal bank about a foot from the water's edge (bad). The challenge, therefore, was to get the bow out of the water and clear of the step and hope that we could drag the boat ashore before the rudder grounded.
We had brought two boat rollers just in case, and inflated both of them. The bow lifted easily enough and Winsome could be pulled ashore onto the first roller on the top of the step then pulled up the grass slope of the canal bank a little way before inserting the second roller. Things were going reasonably well when it became apparent that the boat was rolling off the top most roller and the bottom roller decided to detach itself and disappear down the canal to Chirk. A friendly passer-by retrieved the roller and we managed to regain control of the boat by some inelegant shoving and a fair bit of cursing. All in all not the most graceful recovery we have done, but not something we wouldn't attempt again, either.
All in all a delightful trip, and one we are keen to do again, but we would counsel any other Winsomers to avoid busy times of the year or of the hire boating week. Narrowboating is relaxing only if you are the narrowboater.
The regular helmswoman (now crew) concentrates on sending out intermittent blasts on our old, but very loud, horn. The darkness and narrowness, combined with Winsome’s silent propulsion, concentrates our minds on keeping narrow boats well clear of entering the tunnel until we are through. One time, we tried following a narrow boat through the tunnel but will avoid doing this ever again. Inhaling their engine fumes was unpleasant, it was noisy, we were repeatedly thrown off course by their (considerable) water displacement and it took about twice as long as when we nip through ourselves at only a little less than normal cruising speed. A lesson learned.
Fortunately, the Mon & Brec canal is never very busy and we only passed two other boats (easy) and had to overtake one (bit harder). We find two main problems in overtaking narrow boats. The first is getting them to notice you coming up astern but without creating unnecessary anxiety – a polite “hello” doesn’t usually get heard. A short toot on our fine horn would work but feels rude. Once into the manoeuvre, we can put on a 5mph burst of speed and get past in no time at all. The problem is that, if the narrow boat crew only notice you as you start to draw alongside, they tend helpfully (they think) to steer into the bank (to create more room for us) but, of course, this swings their (hefty) stern out making our passage a lot more hairy. The most effective approach is simply to cruise cheerfully by shouting “stay as you are, stay as you are”….
With a bit of luck, this will include an ice cream stop at Talybont…….
