From owner-canals@blacksheep.org Mon Jun 23 12:11:18 1997 id AA02756; Mon, 23 Jun 97 12:11:00 EDT id ; Mon, 23 Jun 1997 17:08:01 +0100 From: Alan Jackson To: "'canals@blacksheep.org'" Subject: Trip Report - Up the Llangollen 14/6 -> 21/6 - 4K Date: Mon, 23 Jun 1997 17:07:58 +0100 charset="iso-8859-1" For some reason, back at Christmas we decided that it was about time we hired a narrowboat again. The crew was to be formed from my fianc=E9e, = her parents and myself (brave man I know!). Everything was going well until we arrived to pick up the boat from Alvechurch boats recently acquired Wrenbury base. We arrived to find = the boat we had booked was not at Wrenbury ! fortunately, we had been given another which was slightly longer and had a second bathroom, so we weren't complaining although it would have been nice to have been informed. Anyway, to save you the bother of reading lots of drivel about spending time on holiday on the cut away from work etc. etc. etc. I thought I'd drop notes of the interesting things that happened while up the cut and the pubs that we frequented. Saturday, saw us lunch at the Dusty Miller at Wrenbury. Food was very good and not too badly priced. Living in the south, I don't know what = is considered good/bad prices up north. I had a very nice steak & onion stottie which went down very well, together with a good pint of bitter, although I can't remember what the brew was, I think it was local. By Sunday evening we had managed to get up to the restaurant just below New Marton Locks where we stopped for a b-b-q. We popped in for a drink and they do a good pint of Murphy's, also some nice sketch drawings by = a local artist for sale around 10 UKP each. Monday night was in Llangollen with some good fish & chips on the A5 next to the Tandouri. Tuesday, came back down to Trevor for water to be told that we could = not use the water taps of the boat yard, we had to go through the bridge to the taps there. Having a 62' boat we were not happy about this as we were aware that it is not overly wide through there although there is room to turn. Coming across the Ponty, there were some men from BW = there taking photo's of the aqueduct, my joking enquiry as to if it was leaking was greeted with a resounding YES. Fortunately not a large one! Having moored the other side, we came back across to walk it and takes photo's. As it was hot, we popped back into the above mentioned boat yard for an ice-cream. Sitting outside enjoying them we obviously = didn't realise that they were shutting up shop and promptly removed the = parasol from our table. As we left, a comment was passed in Welsh that I will not repeat in a civilised list. Although not fluent in Welsh, 3 years = at University in North Wales (Bangor) taught me a few unpleasant comments. Sorry Anglo Welsh, but none of our party will not be returning to your boatyards even if we have to go out of our way. Wednesday and Thursday were quiet, continuing to meander towards Hurlstone.=20 Friday we decided to go to the Barbridge Inn for lunch. Again, a fine pint of Murphy's and not a bad Boddingtons. The food was excellent and well priced. The sweets came with plenty of real cream. having been fattened to brave the elements, we headed back towards Wrenbury. Hurlstone was fairly busy with boats coming down, all without incident apart from the last we passed as we were entering the top lock. The = boat coming down into the second lock were struggling against a strong cross wind, blowing them into the middle of the pound. Having lost the stern to the wind, a young girl was trying to hold the bows. Due to poor footwear she started to lose her footing and sent the rope back to the boat where her mother was standing, almost taking her hat off ! The = girl ran round to help from the other side of the lock. Getting close to the edge, she went to grab the rope that had been thrown, slipped and went straight into the water. If at this point you're asking why didn't I go and lend a hand, well I was in the process of taking our boat up the = top lock although my fianc=E9e had already gone over. By now the bow was under control and heading towards the lock. We asked the skipper to pass the stern rope to help get the boat into the lock, only to find it wrapped around the prop shaft ! Fortunately this came out with relative ease. Eventually the boat made it into the lock and hopefully to base. It transgressed that during the weeks holiday (that was not their first on the cut) they had managed to lose all but one of their windlasses = and the mother had also fallen in the day before. I know that we shouldn't laugh at other peoples expense, but it was funny to watch as you could see it all happening. The rest of the trip back to base was rather quiet in comparison. We decided to pop in to the Cotton Arms in Wrenbury for a final drink, and again a good pint was served. I get the feeling that all the pubs we visited are well frequented and thus provide suitable watering holes.=20 Hope this is not followed by more binary !! Alan Jackson