More Days 2-5-10 to 15-5-10

Still very cold as we motored into Nantwich to have a look round although pretty much everything was closed as it is Sunday, but Nantwich was a lovely place.          In the morning M popped back in to try and get a kettle but still most places were shut as it was a bank holiday but we did get a kettle in the Chandlers just up the cut and a new socket for the front navigation light which was not working.      So we finally have arrived at the start of the Llangollen canal. Not a good start as it was cold and windy and the cross wind flipped a mat which was on the back hatch on which I had put the camera. Luckily the mat ended up in the canal and the camera landed on the bank, phew! Very tricky getting into the locks as the overflow water that bypasses each lock was rushing across the entrance to the locks in the same direction as the wind. 4th May we lunched at Wrenbury and dined in the Swan at Marbury, but as we moored we lost (I) the poo trowel as it was just catching       the mooring line and flipped overboard as I picked up the line. I did try fishing for it with the fishing net but to no avail. In the morning I rigged up a rake with the boat hook 2 mooring pins and a bit of an old upvc chair back that I found, but I failed again. Next stop was Grindley Brook where we did our first staircase of 3 locks where the exit gate of one lock is the entrance gate to the next chamber which are all connected. 6th May we moved on to Whitchurch, but not before Charlie fell in for the first time as the boat moved just as he was getting on, and moored by the old arm and walked along the route of it into the town which was lovely. After spending the night there we moved off heading for Ellesmere where we were planning to meet Pat & Graham (M’s brother). They are in Nottingham for the weekend as Graham was playing for England in a home country international squash match in the over 65’s. On the way we went down the Prees Branch, it only runs for 2 miles then it runs on for another 2       but is not navigable but has water in it. It was absolutely beautiful and so quiet. We moored and did the rest of it by bike. We pumped the loo and filled with water at the boat yard at the end and then moored for the night just inside the branch. Next morning we left in the rain still aiming for Ellesmere, we stopped for lunch at bridge 54 and afterwards, as we were in the equivalent of the Shropshire Lake District, we walked round Cole Mere, and then moved onto Ellesmere where we moored for the night. Ever since we had bought the futon we had realised that it was really too big and to use it as a bed we had to turn it through 90 degrees in order to extend it to it’s 6 ft plus length, and then you couldn’t walk past it. With P & G’s arrival imminent I had worked out that if I shortened the frame by 250mm it would open out across the boat instead. So I spent an hour or so modifying the futon frame, during this process I suddenly discovered that we had a major leak on the bedroom radiator. The push fit elbow had unscrewed it self and chosen that moment to part company with the rad and start to empty itself. Once P & G arrived at about 2pm on 9th May and they were parked and unloaded we went back on ourselves to give them a run out, moored at the mere again and arrived back at Ellemere on the Tuesday morning. After seeing the others off we motored down to the entrance to the Montgomery canal        where we had booked a passage through the locks on Wednesday as the locks are only open between 12 & 2 pm each day to conserve water. It’s now Sunday and we are still on the Montgomery Canal even though there’s only 7 miles at our end restored and usable.
We’ve bumped into Sue & Clive on Lady Godiva again and eaten out again spent a day in Shrewsbury and BBQ’d ( on Margarets birthday) all with them, and done an 8 mile walk down the closed section of the canal and it has been really good.