Day 2 & 3 on the Narrowboat

 

                                 

                                          

June 10, 2025 - Everyone slept well on the boat and we're ready for day 2!  We've got two locks to go through today and a couple of lift bridges.  We take turns at the helm and everyone is getting better at it.  Luckily we only travel at about 2 or 3 miles an hour, so everything happens slowly, but it's a really long boat, so when you are first learning to steer the boat you go wiggling down the canal by doing a lot of over compensating with the steering.  Our goal today is to make it to Ellesmere to go grocery shopping, we are completely out of food, since we weren't able to grocery shop before our trip (Trevor where we picked up the boat only had a tiny convenience store within walking distance where we picked up just a few things).  There is a Tesco Supermarket, in Ellesmere that is within walking distance of the canal.  We had heard Ellesmere is a pretty spot so we going to moor there for the night.

It's a beautifully quiet morning on the canal

Kevin and I are sitting in the front this morning...enjoying the morning

Video Tour of our boat!

Our first lock is just past the bridge, so we decided to stop and go take a look at it so we see what we're up against.

pretty bridge on the walk to the lock

There's a crowd at the lock.  The boat that's going through is just learning how to do it too.  And there are some full-timers that are explaining how it all works.  We've watched YouTube videos on how the locks work, but it's good to see it in action to feel ready to try it ourselves.

Nice walk back to our boat

Jeanene and I jumped off the boat to man the locks

Both sides are level, so the lock gate is pushed open

And Kevin steers the boat into the lock

Once the boat is in the lock we close the gate, so the boat is enclosed in the lock, and we move to the gate at the other end of the lock

Jeanene and I man the paddles on the gates at the other end of the lock.  We each have a windlass and we crank the paddles open.  This lets water out of the lock that the boat is in and the boat lowers to the same level, as the canal we're moving to

Jeanene and I push open the gates and Kevin drives out of the lock.  Once the boat is out of the lock, Jeanene and I wind the paddles closed and push the gates closed.

then Jeanene and I jump back on the boat

the next lock we went to had this brickwork next to the lock which made it easier to push the gates open and closed

pretty countryside

Kev and I are on the tiller

We stopped at the Narrowboat Inn for lunch.  You can see our boat parked on the right hand side of the pic

lunch in the sun with a view of the canal!

Canal sign

another skinny bridge

blue heron

Kev's happy to finally be in shorts!  It's 73 degrees!

There is seating in the back of the boat.  Jim & Jeanene's bedroom is at the back of the boat

We made it to Tesco.  There was a veryyyyyyy narrow canal down to the town of Ellesmere that we were able to navigate, but it was quite stressful with a boat coming from the other direction.  We made it and got the last mooring spot.  We were able to bring the groceries right to the boat...that's how close the grocery store was

Now we need to turn around and unfortunately someone has decided to park at the other side of the winding hole (which is an open spot specifically for turning around...NO PARKING)

 

There are benches so the gongoozlers (people who like to watch the narrowboats and the drama that comes with it!) can watch in comfort

Jeanene made dinner tonight

We're having bangers and mash with broccoli

After dinner we decided to walk to Ellesmere, since we moored for the night just outside of Ellesmere

There was a nice park on the Mere

Home for the night

June 11, 2025 - Nothing new today, just cruising and a few lift bridges.  The only objective today is to stop for water!

We've got our first tunnel of the day

morning selfie

I love the painted boats.  The lettering always reminds me of an old circus

pretty boats with flowers out front

we saw eggs for sale at several spots on the canal today

Kevin pulled out the folding chairs and it's much more comfortable when sitting in the front

We found a spot to get water.  It was in use when we got there by a boat with 5 older women that we chatted with while they were getting water.  They were out for a week and it looked like they were having a great time.  They were from England and had been friends since they were four.

Another lift bridge

we had to wait while this boat comes through the bridge

hopefully no one is coming towards us.  This is a really skinny section of the canal

we made it

pretty house next to the bridge

another lift bridge

the lifters

bridge 42

we're coming through

Hi Kev

the bridge is back down and we're headed back to the boat

we got passed by a barge full of propane

another view of the boat

Our boat, Aquarius.  We're moored for the night outside of Whitchurch

We're going to walk the mile to town for dinner

nice to walk after a day on the boat

another town with a bell tower

A few boaters had recommended the Black Bear for dinner

Kev and I split a few small plates, thyme and sea salt beer bread, halloumi fries, Scotch egg and coated whitebait.

I found a bench and got to talk to Elaine with a view of the canal!

Sunset view at 10:00 before heading to bed

Trevor Wales - We're Picking Up Our Narrowboat!

 

June 9, 2025 - We're renting a 64 foot narrowboat from Anglo Welsh Waterways for a week of exploring the canals of Wales and England.  We got a 1 hour tutorial from Matt at Anglo Welsh and someone from Anglo Welsh came with us for the first 20 minutes to be sure we were OK with handling the boat and then we were on our own.  We left at 3:30, so we didn't have much of a day of cruising, but we made it to the first pub for dinner and got a good night's sleep!

The view as we're getting ready to leave Anglo Welsh

We immediately went over the Pontcysyllte Aquaduct, along with a bunch of canoers and walkers.  

The Pontcysyllte Aquaduct carries the Llangollen Canal across the River Dee and is 126 feet high.  It was built in the early 1800's.  When you look over the edge it is straight down

There were quite a few people walking across as well as canoeing

The views over the edge were pretty

Next we came to our first lift bridge.  We jump off the boat and take a windlass (which is a crank handle) and crank the bridge up.  The boat motors under the bridge and then we crank the bridge down and hop back on the boat

Kevin and Jim at the helm

lots of pretty bridges

Our first tunnel (with a biker on the walkway in the distance)

it's getting lighter

pretty colors as we come out of the bridge

Here's our boat...the living room with a chair for each of us and a table that opens nice and wide for dinner and playing games

                  

             nice that the chairs move around so we can sit with the view we want

It has 2 bedrooms.  Ours is in the middle of the boat, so you walk through it to get to the other end of the boat.  We each have a bathroom too.  There are sliding doors that separate our bed/bath from Jim & Jeanene's bed/bath.

lots of pretty cruising

another tunnel

We are crossing the Chirk aquaduct 

with views of the Welsh countryside through the Chirk Viaduct

Welcome to England!!

Kev's getting the hang of it

The bridges are very very tiny...are we going to fit?

We parked just down the way from the Poachers Pub at Chirk and walked there for dinner.

The pub is right on the canal

Unlocking the doors after we walked back from dinner.  We're staying here for tonight.

View from our room before bed