Finished with May 16-5-10 to 31-5-10

Sunday16th we cycled back down the unrestored section of the Montgomery a bit further than we walked the day before as we wanted to see the       2 Carreghofa Locks which had been restored back in 1987 but are still not in use. They were in a lovely setting and had very unusual and unique paddle gear, instead of a draw up door across the face of the underwater pipe these have a hinged out door so the operating arrangement is totally different. We didn’t take Charlie as we thought it was a bit too far for him. Next day we set off early as we were wanting to leave the Montgomery Canal and carry on to Llangollen, which meant we had to get to the locks by 12pm.      Our next stop on our route to Llangollen was    Chirk which also has a high aqueduct and a railway viaduct next to each other and in our opinion was more magnificent than the big one still to do at Pontcysyllte.      By Wednesday we were just near the big one and we did a lovely circular walk around a country park and along the banks of the River Dee which Charlie enjoyed. Thursday we set off early to avoid any rush on the last bit to Llangollen as there are one or two narrow one boat only sections. This proved to be quite a challenge as being narrow and shallow and very bendy the boat struggled against the flow of the river Dee    which is fed into the canal beyond Llangollen as a water supply to the canal and drinking water to Cheshire. Finally we arrived at our target at 10.30am and moored in the basin which turned out not to be very busy at all with never more than 8 boats there ( it takes about 30). We stayed until Saturday 2.00pm (only allowed 48hrs) and     did some walking (to Horseshoe Falls where the Dee is fed in to the canal very pretty) and exploring. Took a 7 mile steam train trip to Carrog one day and then walked back, but it was about 10/11 miles back on the Dee Valley Way…phew and it rained some.     In the morning before we left we walked up to Dinas Bran Castle…very uppish. We stopped again at Chirk on the way back so Charlie could swim in the Dee again and ended up in Ellesmere again and had a nice Sunday roast in a pub that we found. In the co-op at Ellesmere the next morning we met Richard and Liz from Dragonfly and arrange to met in the evening at Whitchurch which was very pleasant. Had our first meal of lettuce and rocket salad grown on the roof of Sammy Jo, yum. By Wed 26th we were almost back at the Shropshire Union Canal and needing to get to Calveley for the dreaded pump out!! In the rain of course, so we moored up asap after that and ended up 3 boats behind Lady Godiva again. We had afternoon tea with Sue and Clive and then joined them in the pub after we had eaten…..It’s hard work all this socialising and pubbing. First stop next day was more fuel at the Anglo Welsh yard which was the cheapest around at 69p plus declared tax, so in just over a month we had used about 160l and run the engine for about 100 hours. By lunch time we had got to Beeston and after we walked up to the castle (ruins), lovely views and then motored on for a couple of hours to get nearer to Chester where we were meeting Sam and Claire and the boys who were coming for the weekend. Cycled to Chester and did Tesco’s and then moved the boat right into the basin, but visited Tesco’s again as we could wheel the trolley right to the boat for the heavy bulky bits and some more wine which was getting a bit low. Arrived at Chester on Friday 28th. Saturday was awful it rained a lot but we did manage to walk round the walls of Chester which was great and to be recommended. So much so that we will probably come back after family camp.
After   Sam & co arrived we headed off towards Ellesmere Port and a visit to the Waterways Boat Museum. It is here that you can get out onto the Manchester Ship Canal and get to Liverpool but we were too afraid of the BIG TANKERS and decided to go the long way round by ordinary canal, not that we would have had time to do it with Sam & co as they were heading back on B/Hol Monday.
Very conveniently when Sam left for home he gave me a lift back to Great Haywood where I had left the car, but he did leave Luke behind for us to take back to family camp on Thursday. By 4.30 pm I was back at Chester with the car, had a great time with the others and it was lovely to see the boys again and to see Tom who has just started walking. The plan is to leave the boat at Tattenhall Marina the sister yard to Great Haywood, while we go to family camp, then back to Chester to look round properly and take in Chester Zoo if poss as it’s great apparently. Then off towards Middlewich for a boat festival on the 19th June.