The familiar Shropshire Union Canal & beyond

 We’ve been up & down the beautiful Shropshire Union Canal a few times. This canal was built for speed and the Shroppie Fly boats used to run 24 hours/day with frequent horse changes. Most bridges show the evidence of the ropes.

It’s so lovely seeing the ducklings appearing. Let’s just hope the heron finds enough fish to eat so it leaves the duckies alone!

The canal is fairly straight & features many deep cuttings and high embankments. The literature explains how the navvies encountered lots of land slides in their construction through the sandstone. Last time we went through Woodsheaves Cutting there was evidence of landslides. With this winter’s very heavy rain, there have been slides all the way along, with a couple of huge ones. The North Oxford Canal is closed at the moment due to a massive landslide totally filling the canal, and it’s quite possible the Shroppie could be soon too!

There was a day’s stoppage while a fallen tree was cleared from one of the other cuttings. While we waited, we were kept company by some very friendly mallards!

 

 

 

 

Audlem Flight of 15 locks has a wonderful reward for boaters at the top. The residents in what was the lockkeepers cottage have a shed where they sell home cooked cakes & pies.

The very pretty aqueduct over the A5 has ferns and a railing on its off side. So, Burnt Oak is just over a hundred miles south of this stretch.

Some graffiti under the M54.

We turned right at the end of the Shroppie onto the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal, new territory for us. It’s clear to see how the old canal designers built the canals slightly differently to each other. The locks on this canal have little bridges over the bottom gates, unlike the Shroppie, which is super as I’m not able to step over the gates like John can.

There are circular and horseshoe shaped bi-weirs at the locks, which are gorgeous.

 

Bratch locks used to be a staircase of 3 chambers, but quirkily now separated into 3 locks with extended side-pounds to conserve water. There was an army of volunteer lockkeepers there. Like other staircases, there are correct paddle sequences and gate opening procedures.

 

We moored at Stourton Junction and I spotted new Himalayan balsam growing, so balsam bashing I went.

We had a surprise crew to help us up the 4 Stourton Locks at the beginning of the Stourbridge Canal. Our nephew Jack was in Birmingham visiting his friends, so they drove over.

Exploring Llangollen

 The canal basin at Llangollen is way above the lovely old town. With steep steps & a slope to go down.

We were all mesmerised by the raging River Dee. Some elderly local chaps told us they’ve never seen the river so high. We saw many boats taking advantage of the river for white water rafting. I never actually managed to get the phone up in time to take a photo.

A trip on the Llangollen & Corwen Railway was called for. We travelled out on the steam train in the luxury of a first class carriage.

After exploring Corwen’s park, we headed for the diesel train to go back.

The train wasn’t far out of Corwen Station when it ground to a very sudden halt. The guard came to tell us all that they had a broken air line on the brakes. They did a temporary fix which got us to the next halt where we had to wait for another engine to come to pull ours back to Llangollen!

Although Llangollen is the terminus of the canal for visitors, it actually goes all the way to Horseshoe Falls, accessed on water by a horse-drawn boat. It was a truly miserable day, so we chose to do a short trip with the lads.

 

Magnus wanted to get some rock, but he decided to go for a traditional flavour and not this one. The shopkeeper said the ‘fish & Chips’ flavour is one of their most popular flavours, ‘really’?

The four of us navigated back along the narrows & over Pontcysyllte aqueduct, ready for crew change at Chirk. The boys were due back to school a week before Nikita. So Heather came to do the change over.

Nikita was quite pleased she’d missed the scary aqueduct and was happy to go over the small Chirk one with an edge on the off side as we re-entered England.

 

While we’d been up stream, the workforce had built a large dam around the breach site and were putting in steel piling.

She was only able to stay a couple of days but got to do a few lift bridges and locked us down the staircase of 3 locks & 3 single locks at Grindley Brook before being picked up by her dad.

I got to do a bit of spinning while waiting for a lock to be vacated on Hurleston Flight of locks, where we got back onto the Shropshire Union Canal.

And to end with one of the few sunsets we had.

On to Llangollen

 CRT announced they would do a temporary repair to the breach, so we decided to move a little closer to have a look. When we moored near the junction of the Prees Branch there was a team  doing routine work on the off side bank.

 

 

There was a pontoon across the closed section. The canal twists into Wales just before the breach & then twists back into England for a good few miles.

We chatted to one of the workmen who was delivering huge bags of ballast to the breach site. He said it was a badger set that had caused the problem.

 

We enjoyed exploring the area beside the canal, Wixal Moss. The peat was originally 12m deep, but due to digging it up for fuel & garden compost, plus, draining it to allow canal & later railway construction is now only 6m deep. A viewing tower has been constructed to the original 12m. During WW2, large braziers ( Starfish site) were lit at night on the moss as decoys to help protect Liverpool from the enemy. It was hard to believe the moss had been drained, as it was very wet & muddy as we crossed back into England. We were thrilled to have spotted a marsh tit on our bird feeder, another bird to add to our list.

The canal beside the viewing tower is a good couple of feet above the towpath and held back with rather substantial piling.

 

There are quite a few lift bridges on the Llangollen Canal, which need winding up & down with a windlass.

 

We got the OK to go past the breach very slowly, so as not to further damage the bank. We could see close up the large yellow tarpaulin was placed over the hole & fixed in place with the huge bags of ballast.

We spent Easter at Ellesmere and had one rain free day when we were able to open Jubilee Fibres.

 

It’s easy to imagine the hive activity the town had. As lots of the old warehouses are still there.

We found a lovely little pub, the White Hart in the town that had a big sign by the door inviting you to bring your takeaway food, it would have been rude not to. Plus, a good place to catch up with my socks.

 

CRT has a large yard at Ellesmere, and we met their noisy pet showing off his tail feathers as we got water!

Ellesmere Tesco was a right by the mooring, so we took advantage of bringing a full trolley back to the boat ready for when Magnus & Lance came to stay.

Prior to going over Chirk aqueduct & through it’s tunnel, we moored up & explored on foot. The aqueduct is a splendid sight with its railway neighbour.

Unusually, the tunnels on this canal have towpaths in them. Most other canals the horses were taken over the top & the boat ‘legged’ through by the crew or paid leggers who laid on the cabin roof & pushed the boat along with their feet!

 

It’s tricky to see in the photo, but the canal is perched on a huge embankment, with the rooftops way below!

We brought the boys to the boat for a week on the train, and they too found the walk through tunnels fascinating.

 

They’re a super little crew helping with all the chores:- getting water, going through the lift bridges and cooking.

  

And onto the highlight of our new adventure, going over the Pontcysylite Aqueduct, which carries the canal over the River Dee valley. It really is quite daunting with a sheer drop on the off side. Most other aqueducts have an edge of some sort.

Once over the aqueduct, the canal narrows to single file for fairly long distances a few times before it reaches its terminus at Llangollen. The guide books suggest sending a crew member ahead to make sure the way is clear. I thought it best to leave the 3 lads on the boat, so I went ahead.

We booked to stay in Llangollen Basin for a few days to explore. The boys had a super time playing in the wooded area behind the mooring.