From owner-canals@blacksheep.org Tue Jun 24 09:47:46 1997 id AA15444; Tue, 24 Jun 97 09:47:37 EDT From: "Reico van Gelder" To: "canals" Subject: trip report part 1 Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 15:41:33 +0200 Hi Stan, Judy (you encouraged me to write this) and all. Here is our trip report. 2 June Nearly all forms of transports will be used today: from Oosterbeek by bus to Arnhem train station at 6.12 am. Train to Amsterdam Schiphol airport and from there by plane to Manchester. So far they all run late. From Manchester aiport by train to Crewe and a 20 minutes taxi drive to Alvechurch Boatyard at Wrenbury Mill. As we cannot pick up the boat until 2.30, we have lunch at the Cotton Arms at midday. At 2.15 we're back at the yard and Blue Throat is ready. Just brief instructions are necessary as this boat is identical to the one we had last year. The lift bridge is open so off we go and it feels like only yesterday since we last boated. Beautiful weather, but lots of wind. We moor before the Grindley Brook locks for two reasons: it's been a lond day and we have never been in a staicase before, so we want to have a peek what it looks like. 3 June Up and moving by 8. It's a sunny day, but still windy. It took us an hour to get through all of Grindley Brook locks and all went fine. We were back to our old routine: I steer and Onno works the locks. Moored at Bettisfield that night, which had absolutely nothing to offer. Along the way we passed two dead sheep in the canal. In the evening it was very irritating to feel that quite a few passing boats did not bother to slow down when passing. Something we experienced a couple of times later on as well. 4 June Clouded and cold and off to Ellesmere. Thanks to tips from the ng and Pearson's we went straight to Vermeulen's! What a treat. The weather changed into bright and sunny and we moored just past 'Jack Myttons' at Hindford. As we had bought so many goodies, we didn't go to the restaurant, but ate al fresco. Today we saw a dead fox in the canal. Is this typical of the Llangollen? We never saw dead animals last year. It was a day without locks and Onno is getting a bit restless. 5 June We left before 8.It's cloudy, but not as cold as yesterday. 2 locks (I like the challenge of the flow and gushing water from the side on this canal and getting the boat straight in), Chirk aquaduct and tunnel and eager to see THE Aquaduct. I dropped Onno off about 200 yards before it as it was busy. When he was a few yards on the footpath he waved me through. What we both experienced from then on can hardly be put into words, but I'll try. Onno (who wanted to walk as he is afraid of hights) crossed by holding himself firmly to the railing with his back to the deep end. I (who had never experienced fear of hight) took one glance down and for the rest of the crossing only felt the bumping of the boat against the iron rail on the left and was in a sort of trance of fear. The colour must have gone from my cheeks as a complete stanger told me I looked a bit off when I had moored in Trevor basin. We decided we'd make this our turning point as it was very busy on the part to Llangollen. ..to be continued, if you like Reico From owner-canals@blacksheep.org Tue Jun 24 14:19:30 1997 id AA19035; Tue, 24 Jun 97 14:19:23 EDT From: "Reico van Gelder" To: "canals" Subject: trip report part 2 Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 20:14:05 +0200 second part of Reico's trip report: 6 June We did not sleep very well, knowing we had to cross IT again. This time Onno stayed inside the boat and I just looked at the railing. How we managed to get some photo's I don't know. By lunchtime we were back in Ellesmere. It was a cloudy, dry and windy day. 7 June Thanks to Vermeulen's we had an elaborate breakfast and didn't leave until 9. Moored at that night at Willeymoor Lock and dined out for the first time, at the adjacent pub. I'm sorry to say that the food was quite horrible: straight from a packet of deep freeze food. 8 June Back to Wrenbury Mill for a pump out and some diesel just in case. Another windy day, which made the Hurleston locks difficult for some of the boats we saw there. One Dartline boat had 8 to 12 people on board, none of whom spoke or understood English. They lost control in one of the pounds and couldn't get it straight again. There were enough people to help, so we moved on to the Shroppie and moored at the Barbridge Inn together with 2 couples in a boat that had been following us for a while. It turned out that the owner of the boat was born on a canal boat in 1947. His parents had lived and worked on one. 9 June Our next target was Bunbury Staircase Locks. Mooring a couple of hundred yards before it to have a look what this one was like, because we had heard some 'interesting' stories of how people made a mess of locking through it. We were alone and not a boat in sight, so we decided to go by ourselves. No problem at all. The next locks there was always someone to pair with, so I could also have a chat while locking. Bought freshly baked scones from the lady at Beeston Stone Lock and found the Castle too far and high to climb. We fell in love with this canal instantly. The beautiful weather helped. Spent the night at Christleton. The Beefeater pub was closed for a month because of renovation. 10 June Set off at 8.30 and moored just before bridge 123E in Chester at 11 after turning in de winding hole. We really enjoyed this city and did some serious shopping in M&S and Tesco. I can really recommend this mooring spot. People there warned us against mooring past bridge 123E under the wall because of tramps spending the night there. The only distraction was the Chester Mill Hotel's dinner boat which passed us 4 times in full speed at night. That boat is so long, it cannot turn, so the captain, very cheerful, returns to the hotel in reverse, at full speed too. 11 June Stayed in Chester to see the sights by double decker and foot. At night there was lots of rain and thunder. end of part 2 final part some other time From owner-canals@blacksheep.org Wed Jun 25 07:44:03 1997 id AA22832; Wed, 25 Jun 97 07:43:49 EDT From: "Reico van Gelder" To: "canals" Subject: trip report part 3 Date: Wed, 25 Jun 1997 13:32:36 +0200 part 3 of reico's trip report 12 June It was raining cats and dogs (learnt this expression at school in the Sixties, but haven't heard it since) so we didn't leave until 11. The people in the hire boat behind us asked if they could go through the locks with us; of course. We stopped at the Shady Oak for the night and when we went over for a drink and dinner the owner told us he had to close his kitchen because it got flooded the night before. Most of the freezers were out of order, part of the roof was covered by plastic, in short: he had been up all night and his place was in a mess. We had a drink with him and felt really sorry both for him and ourselves as we had to return to the boat and make our own dinner. Behind us moored a lovely brand new boat with an elderly couple we had met before in the Beeston locks on the way to Chester. They invited us for a drink on their boat and told us their story: recently they had sold their house and bought the boat to live on it as this had been their dream. Nothing unusual so far, but..... *they had never boated before in their lives*. So 4 weeks earlier they set off without any idea about what it was going to be like. She told me they really enjoyed it as long as they were taking it easy. Locking made her nervous though, she said. We have their telephone number to let them know where we will be next summer. I'm so curious to know whether they will still live on their boat. Weather-wise and otherwise it turned out a beautiful day. 13 June It's Friday the 13th, but who cares, we're not supersticious (?!). Left in a drizzle and moored between two boats at the Barbridge Inn for lunch. Someone gave Onno a compliment for the neat way we did this. This someone suddenly saw our logo and introduced himself: John Watson. The boat in front of us was Tam Lin and Gill and 2 friends of theirs were on board. As John already wrote, we had a chat and promised to let them know when we would be back next year. After lunch we set off for Nantwich and moored just before the aquaduct for the night. 14 June Took the bus into Nantwich and found the butcher Pearson's mentioned. (somehow food played a very important part this holiday. Is it just us?We had the feeling there were more canalside pubs on the Avon Ring last year) Well that was a trip worth while: excellent display, choice and quality. By lunchtime we set off again and arrived at the Shroppie Fly (Audlem) where we moored at 3.30. Had drinks there, but made dinner with the meat we'd bought earlier. May be I should mention that cooking is a hobby and that I therefore don't mind doing it during the holidays as well. 15 June Working the 12 locks at Audlem was fine, but from then on we experienced something not many of you have I'm sure: It was Sunday, it was Fathers day(I think) and it was the official beginning of the fishing season. From lock 1 at Audlem up to Market Drayton there were more than 400 ANGLERS sitting next to each other. And belive it or not: they were ALL friendly. You can imagine how long it took us to Market Drayton, where we moored for the night. end of part 3 there will be a 4th episode From owner-canals@blacksheep.org Sun Jun 29 07:34:12 1997 id AA03757; Sun, 29 Jun 97 07:34:04 EDT From: "Reico van Gelder" To: "canals" Subject: trip report part 4 Date: Sun, 29 Jun 1997 13:28:38 +0200 Ok so here is the final part. I noticed none of the previous reports made it to uk.rec.waterways, so it's for a very select group :-)) 16 June We had spent the night at Market Drayton and set off at 8.40. It was a sunny day and after the 5 Tyrley locks we were in for a very special treat: Woodseaves Cutting. I hope many of you have been there so you know what I am talking about. It's so special: the high sandstone walls covered with different kinds of ferns. We were lucky because it was very quiet, only one other boat, which was good because passing is nearly impossible at some stretches. We went as far as Goldstone Wharf (closed) and turned. Well we had to at some point, because the boat had to be back at Wrenbury on the 19th. Back to Market Drayton where we shopped and on to Audlem. Onno was exhausted when we moored between locks 11 and 12. He had worked 25 locks and we had been on the boat for 9 hours that day. We decided to have a day's rest the next day. 17 June Another beautiful day. Lazy breakfast outside. At 11 I sat on the stern when a lady passed on the footpath who asked if we were waiting to go through the lock. I answered 'no' and she asked if we were Americans. No again. Then comes the boat and I immediately spot the ng logo's. A man and woman on board and an American flag. This could only be John, Barb and Marcia from Grand Rapids Michigan. Then follows a muddle of shouts and screams and John mooring the boat perfectly. An instant (micro) GIG happens when we decide to wait for the Shroppie Fly to open at noon and have lunch together. I'm sure you'll read more about this meeting in their trip report. 18 June By now we are getting sad. We know it's almost over but we are not yet ready to go home. Another month or two would be nice. We spend the night at Nantwich, which is getting ready for the rally that weekend. 19 June This is the first day we are having very heavy rain all day. We have plenty of time to get to Wrenbury so we stop from time to time. In the afternoon we are back at the yard where we return the boat in one piece. We have dinner at the Dusty Miller, which is the best 'pub food' we had this holiday. We realize that we have been very lucky this trip: no nasty accidents, friendly people on the way, no hickups with the boat (we saw 3 stranded on different places, all were Dartline hirers) We'll be back as soon as we can. In the mean time this ng will have to do to cheer us up. Reico from Oosterbeek (near Arnhem) Holland