Narrow boat on the Llangollen Canal

Watford Junction Station

European trains run like clocks, but UK trains, not so much.  Our train from Watford to Birmingham was delayed due to mechanical problems.  Hence we missed the connection in Birmingham to Gobowen.  Fortunately there are many trains and we were able to make a new connection and arrived less than 2 hrs later than planned.

The crew of Jubilee Bridge

We met our boating colleagues from Anacortes, David & Elaine, in Ellesmere and boarded our narrow boat, Jubilee Bridge.  The boat is 46' by 8'.  The boat has a nice galley,but is a bit shy of storage space.  We ended up storing our suitcases in the shower/tub.

David feeling good about making it under his 1st bridge

Our first day was spent getting used to the feel of the boat and enjoying the slow pace and views of the country side.  We were blessed with a sunny day.  Three weeks earlier this area had 3' of snow.








An old and stately oak tree stood beside the canal.  There were many trees which had dropped branches or the whole tree into the canal creating navigational hazards.  Fortunately most had been cut back.







As we moved along the canal we saw lots of sheep and cows, an occasional duck with ducklings, geese, swans and in the fields pheasants.  It kept us alert to see what we could see.

Our canal challenges included bridges, tunnels, aquaducts, and of course locks.  We had to wait for another boat at the Chirk tunnel.  It was dark inside the tunnel and is said to be haunted.  Fortunately the boats have a head light just for tunnels.

                                                                  Meeting boats head on looks like a challenge, but actually there is room if both pilots are steady on the tiller.  One day when it was windy we had a boat in front of us lose control of the bow and end up crosswise in the canal.  We were thankful to have 4 hands on our boat to help with lines and all.  

We enjoyed a nice walk through a cow pasture up to Chirk Castle.  They had beautiful grounds and many families were enjoying the weekend there. 

The countryside offered up neat farms with flocks of sheep or herds of cows (or both).  We loved the rolling hills and green pastures. 

The lambs were so cute, especially the twins.  We hated to think about them as we had nice lamb meals in the pubs.

                                                                                                                   I won't lie to you, it was cold at night (low 40's). The days were pretty nice, except when the wind blew.  Then it was cold.  We enjoyed the warmth of the fire places in the pubs we visited.  The highlight of the trip was pubs and the good food.  It was surprisingly inexpensive.  Most meals cost 10 GBP per person and that included drinks.

A highlight of the trip was the Pontcysylite Aquaduct on the way into Llangollen, Wales.  The aqueduct, is 1,007 ft (307 m) long, 11 ft (3.4 m) wide and 5.25 ft (1.60 m) deep. It consists of a cast iron trough supported 126 ft (38 m) above the river on iron arched ribs carried on nineteen hollow masonry piers (pillars).  We found the crossing exciting.  Others apparently find it terrifying.  

                                                                                        The aqueduct support structure was truly amazing.  We trusted that it would support us with no problems.

                                                                                                                                                           We enjoyed several signs from the "Houses slow down" to "Heavy plant crossing" to the one in the ladies room with a toilet that had a high water tank with a pull to flush where the sign read "Patrons wishing to hair wash, please reach up and depress ball-valve for approximately 30 seconds".

David Y moving up in a Grindley Brook lock

                                                                                                                           Between Whitchurch and Wrenbury we experienced most of our locks.  First we went through the Grindley Brooks set of three "stair case" locks.  These were followed by another three individual locks.  In all we probably descended about 50 ft.  We were lucky to pass through at a time the canals are not so busy.  We heard that in the summer one could wait a long time to pass through.




You know we ate well in the pubs.  One of my favorites was steak and ale pie with chips.  David ate a lot of lamb and things like liver and kidneys.  Of course the ales were enjoyed as well.

Steak and ale pie

Lamb shank

As you can tell we had a great time on the boat.  Canal boating is a slow paced relaxing way to see the countryside.  After moving along the canal during the day, sightseeing and visiting pubs we managed to get in some good Wizard card games.








All good things must come to an end and so we bid farewell to the Yorks and Jubilee Bridge #73 and head on to Austria (May 29, 2013).  

The end!

If you would like to see more photos or bigger photos follow the link below.  View as a slideshow and you will see the captions.

https://plus.google.com/photos/114965289412774881547/albums/5870428570365814881?authkey=CL-u7uD2jZGeQQ