The Llangollen continued . . .

Slowly getting towards the top of the Llangollen canal now and some impressive sights to be had. First was the Chirk aqueduct and next to it a viaduct for the trains. Here’s us crossing in the first picture and you can see a train that just happened to cross as we were. At the end of the waterway you can see the Chirk tunnel that's 459m long. Nicky suggested that I strip off and do a streak in the tunnel, lucky for me (and for you come to think of it) that the flash on the camera didn't work :-)

About three miles after this has to come the Pièce de Résistance of the Llangollen canal in the shape of the Pontcysylite Aqeduct that is 1007 feet long and stands 126 feet high. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s a nice safe walkway with railings on one side, but the other is a sheer drop save for the six inch edge of the trough edge and I don’t think that’ll do much to save you.

 

Now I’m not scared of heights, but I did take this photo on my knees in case her in doors (aka the misses, aka Nicky) decided that she was in need of a younger model and oops, end of blogging. . . . .

Now it’s not all plain sailing this liveaboard lark, as I’ve found I don’t have the excuse of going to work and thus getting away with having to do the shopping or such likes. And the shopping, now there’s another story, no nipping off in the car to do the weekly shop, you have to carry what you buy and that can be a bit of a bugger when you need heavy stuff like water and milk. So far the best (for want of another word) shopping expedition was at a place called Ellesmere where there’s a Tesco right next to the canal, the worst being at a place called Trevor that’s twenty minutes from the canal and we were a further twenty-five minutes up the canal, so yes for those of you who are good at maths, that’s forty-five minutes there and forty-five minutes back plus shopping time. Now every cloud has a silver lining they say and I suppose mine is that in not having the excuse of going to work, I don’t have to give Nicky a kiss when I go to work and another when I get back, bonus. . . . . . (but I never said that)
 

I’m probably not allowed a second Pièce de Résistance on the Llangollen, but what has to come a very close second is the remains of the Dinas Bran castle that overlooks the town of Llangollen itself. Now it’s half a mile away, 1100 feet up and a little over a hours walk away, but does come very recommended. To really get the best for the effort though, you’ve got to do it on a clear day so you can get the benefit of the views.

 

 

And yes, the Boys came on tour with us.

 

If you should be in the area sometime, another worthwhile walk is a mile and a half up the un-navigable part of the Llangollen canal to a weir called Horseshoe Falls. Did this right at the end of the day so got some nice dusky type shots and when I say right at the end of the day I mean right at the end of the day as it was dark by the time we got back to the boat.

 Whilst the weather has been great, it has still been a bit chilly, so our stove deciding to pack up and us having to resort to the central heating wasn’t the best (or cheapest) way to keep us warm inside, but anything is of course better than nothing. All back up and running now though and living in far better kind of heat.

 
Anybody know how to fix holes in socks, if yes, let Nicky know for me. . . . . . .

On our way back to Audlem now and then dropping Nicky’s parents off at Liverpool airport. Been a busy few weeks, so looking forward to not doing much in the coming days and with various winter stoppages on the network in our area, we’re just planning to stay fairly local for the next month and focus on getting the boat completely fitted out and ready for life aboard. At the time of writing, we’ve got a list of 66 things (no make that 65 as I did one yesterday) to do that range from the large to the small and from the necessary to the not really necessary, but might do if we’ve got a mind to.

And so in signing off,

Day 55 in the Badger Sett Narrowboat - 158 miles and 61 locks further on from when we started.

 

The Llangollen Canel

Off to meet the In-Laws at the end of the Llangollen Canal and have had to do three to four hours of motoring a day to get there. So far we’ve only travelled on the Shroppie (Shropshire Union Canal) with minimal water flow so we’ve been caught out a bit with the flow of the Llangollen canal. So it’s been twelve to fourteen thousand revs per minute on the engine as opposed to our normal ten and we still only cover half the distance we normally would in the time. So much for our quite days!

Came across our first set of ‘Lift Bridges’ that you have to do as it says on the tin, lift them.
 

The bridges are counter balanced so I thought they should be easier enough to lift so had a go.

And heaved

And pushed
 

But wasn’t quite tall enough to get it up enough. ‘What’s this’ came a little voice to my ear.

 

And started to wind up the bridge.
 

Okay, only joking, knew how to use it really, but thought it would be an amusing story. Have to apologise about the acting though, so won’t give up our day jobs just yet, oops almost forgot, don’t have day jobs anymore . . . .

Keeping with my newly started tradition of bird watching, here’s a Heron just taking off, although hopefully I'll get him taking off towards me next time.

 

The Boys have been a little dubious about the boat, especially the older one, but he’s found his safety spot for when the boat is going and yes, he does fall asleep sitting up. So long as the younger one can have a sleep though, he’s fairly happy anywhere and even better if it’s in Nicky’s seat.

 

Anyway, back to the Llangollen.

Bit disappointed with the first stretch down to Whitchurch, but the scenery has slowly got better the closer we get to Wales. Although it’s been half term week, it hasn’t been very busy on the water, but we dread to think what it would be like in the height of the season when the canal is full of boats, many of which would no doubt be on a mission to cover as much of it as they can in the available time. But whilst it has been quiet, we’ve still seen a few bumps and close calls and can only imagine. It would probably be the sort of place though to moor up somewhere safely out of the way and enjoy the water rage that I’m sure happens. Here’s a few scenery photo’s for you to be going on with this week.

 

As you can see, the weather has been good to us for November. . . . .

Highlight of the week so far (!) the In-Laws arriving and going to take two weeks to do what we’ve done in a week in heading back to Audlem and hopefully with the flow of the water in our favour this time, it’ll be easier going.

Had a mixture in problems uploading photo's and not finding the time to sort it so a little behind with this blog so the next one will need to fast forward a few weeks.

And so in signing off,

 

Day 44 in the Badger Sett Narrowboat -  157 miles and 61 locks further on from when we started.