From owner-canals@blacksheep.org Sun Jan  5 14:22:59 1997
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Date: Sun, 5 Jan 1997 06:57:28 -0500
From: John Watson <100277.45@compuserve.com>
Subject: Llangollen Christmas Cruise.
To: "'unknown'" <canals@blacksheep.org>

This is a brief account of a short cruise Gill and I did just
before Christmas, I hope it is of some interest.

Saturday 21/12/96
Gill and I arrived at the moorings at 0915 and proceeded to 
load the gear into the boat, with the extra bedding and clothes 
brought because of the time of year I think we had as much 
as if we were going on a fortnights cruise. The weather was 
fine and clear but very cold, not helped by a biting easterly 
wind. We set off at 1000, our destination Frankton Junction 
where we had a passage booked down the locks onto the 
Montgomery on Sunday morning. We reached Ellesmere at 
1425 and arrived at Frankton 1525 where we moored in 
the arm leading to Frankton Locks. The trip had been quite 
quick (for the Llangollen) due mainly to fewer boats being 
on the move, we saw only six other boats under way, This is
very quiet for the Llangollen where you seem to meet 
another boat at every bridge hole in the summer.
 The canal looked quite different in its winter clothes and the 
views through trees normally full of leaves made the 
journey pass swiftly, this was helped by generous portions 
of mulled wine and also coffee laced with whiskey served 
at intervals throughout the journey. The boat was warm and 
cosy with our stove pumping out heat in the corner of the 
saloon. 
Sunday 22/12/96
We were up early (0730) on a fine clear crisp morning to 
discover that the canal was frozen to a depth of about a 
quarter of an inch, this was a blow to our plans and I 
walked down the locks to the junction with the truncated 
Weston Branch to see the extent of the ice. The ice was 
solid all the way. On walking back up to the main line of 
the Llangollen it was seen that this was free of ice, the 
Llangollen does not often freeze solid due to the 
considerable flow to Hurleston Reservoir. The Lock 
Keeper arrived promptly at 0930 to unlock the gates for us, 
he lives on the side of the flight. We had a discussion with 
him about the conditions and he said it was quite possible 
to get down the flight and he would help us clear the ice 
from gates and paddles but as the weather forecast was for 
continuing freezing conditions (with wind chill down to -10) 
we decided not to proceed as getting back up the flight might
well have been a problem. At 1030 we reversed out of the 
arm after breaking the ice behind us with the boat-hook and 
headed back towards Ellesmere where we moored at 1130 
for the rest of the day in the company of  a number of other 
boats crewed by 'liveaboards' who were spending the winter 
here. In the evening we walked into Ellesmere and had 
a meal of fish & chips followed by a drink or two in the Black 
Lion.
Monday 23/12/96
We awoke to another cold day but cloud had set in making the 
world look very grey. We set off at 1045 back towards 
Whitchurch, we had an excellent cruise to the Whitchurch Arm 
seeing at least fifteen other boats on the move, many were 
decorated for Christmas and at least half were hireboats from 
Dartline and Middlewich. After mooring in the Arm we walked 
into Whitchurch to do some last minute Christmas shopping, 
returning to the boat for our evening meal. We spent a cosy 
night on the boat, the stove has been running continuously since 
day one.        
Tuesday 24/12/96
Christmas Eve and the day we have to go home to join in the 
Christmas festivities. It was with some reluctance we headed 
back towards our moorings having really enjoyed getting away 
from the seasonal hurly-burly. We arrived back at Grindley 
Brook where we met Tom, who looks after the moorings, back 
from the dry-dock at Ellesmere where his latest fit-out had just 
been painted. We put out the stove, loaded the car and set off for 
home to rejoin the rest of the Human Race.      

This was the first time Gill and I had been on the boat for more 
than a day at this time of year and it was a truly enjoyable cruise.
The stove (fitted in March 96) was wonderful and standing inside
the rear doors on our trad tug style boat while steering was quite 
warm, at least on the lower half of the body! To anybody who has
not sampled the delights of winter cruising I would say try it, the 
canal looks so different, its quieter and the countryside looks great
in its winter settings. If you do decide to go winter cruising be 
careful not to try to do too much in a day, particularly if you have
only one steersperson, short journeys and plenty of warm 
refreshment make for a more comfortable journey, no matter
how well you dress up its still cold standing on the back of a 
boat in below freezing temperatures but it is most enjoyable.

Regards

John Watson
nb Tam Lin