Llangollen Wednesday 31 May 2017

Not the quietest of moorings last night with the railway one side and the A5 the other. Boats were passing at about 7AM this morning and we set of about quarter to ten. It was a good move doing the tunnels and aqueduct last night as this morning we soon met a group of 7 boats coming towards us, that had reached 30 boats by the time we moored in Llangollen. That is an average of one every ¼ mile

We arrived at the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and there was one boat well on his way across ahead of us, we soon caught him up as he was travelling very slowly. I took the obligatory photograph of our shadow as we crossed.
Its the first time in many years that I have crossed in nice weather, its normally raining, foggy or blowing a gale.

Some time ago CRT advertised for a cafe boat to be stationed at Trevor Basin, I see that it is housed in the dry dock.

The hire boat continued slowly and we had to wait for 4 boats at the first shallow section after Trevor, at this point the hire boat went aground and waved us past, he had been told to keep close the edge through that section, not the middle.

We passed the first narrow section with no problem but had to wait for the trip boat at the second, I don't think he was even in the narrows when his crew asked me to wait, after he was gone I met a chap running, his hire boat was coming down, so it was back again. By now Diana had walked forward to stop any more coming down and I set off again only to meet another hire boat so back for the third time and then we were away. I noticed on the off side at the bottom end of the narrows this small memorial stone to Ivan, its only a small stone about 6" tall and is just at head height.

We moored on the visitor moorings just passed the service block and visited the town. I wanted to look round the railway station, but there is really nothing much to see. So then we walked the tow path to Horseshoe Falls a mile and three quarters, we were going to visit the cycle and motor museum but it was closed.

It was also good to see that the Chain Bridge is open once more after the town council took over ownership back in 2015. We just had time for ice creams before returning to the boat to leave before 5pm after which time they charge you £6 to moor overnight, where as a mile downstream we can moor 14 days for free. We set off upstream to wind at the mooring basin, it was here that we saw the Bywater hotel boats again. They have just said goodbye to their guests and the new ones arrive tomorrow afternoon, so the crew have a bit of free time for a change. I understand they went rafting down the River Dee, As we set off it started to drizzle and the mountains looked full shrouded in it. Needless to say as we started off downstream we met the trip boat returning to its mooring to its moorings by the stables, a bit of confusion which side to pass but in the end I went where the gap was. We carried on down passed the moored boat and then had to wait while 3 boats came up, by now we were in a convoy of 4 going down, all people leaving Llangollen at 5PM to avoid paying for the night. We moored for the night just below the lift bridge and since we have been here there has been a fairly steady stream heading up to Llangollen and it was quarter to six when we stopped.

Today's Journey  

7½ miles in 4 hrs 38 minutes.