Is there a more comforting sound than, when miles from home, you hear the sound of a traditional peel of church bells? We had moored up on Saturday on the Llangollen canal and, looking for a church to attend, realised we had to travel a further half hour, followed by a 20 minute uphill walk. St Martin’s church at St Martin’s Moor appeared to be the nearest Anglican place of worship so early on Sunday morning we set off, in the rain, to join the congregation at 0930. Many canal boats were already on the move. This is a popular canal, although I have been told it is quiet for this time of year. The escalating price of hiring a boat may have something to do with that, but having now owned our boat for 3 and a half years, I realise how expensive they are to maintain! More of that later! Suffice to say, we were given a warm welcome at church, sung some very familiar hymns and appreciated both the peace and the beauty of the church building. Decent coffee and delicious homemade cake added to our morning. One or two mentioned to us they weren’t fans of the vicar’s other nearby church as it was a bit ‘happy clappy’ but as that too is a similar distance from the canal, albeit further along, we shall endeavour to visit it whilst we are in the vicinity. I’m not adverse to some modern songs and a relaxed informal style of worship. When miles from home, in an area where you know no one, to be able to find instant community, is a real blessing. As was being told about Stan’s, the most amazing country supermarket selling everything from chandeliers to champagne, car tyres to carrots!
We’ve had a chequered two months as far as boat life goes. It became obvious it was far easier to cope with a broken foot on dry land. Arriving on a boat somewhere at the end of the day and then having to walk a distance to find food was not easy and as for enjoying walking around the vicinity and taking in our surroundings – it was all a bit impractical, so we returned home. Having said that, we then found ourselves travelling by train, car and ferry to various destinations to attend numerous family celebrations. At least I could rest my foot as necessary – I just couldn’t dance the night away with my usual vigour!
Returning to the boat, post friends of ours borrowing it for a fortnight, was delightful. The weather was fantastic (although we’re praying for more rain as so many canals are closing temporarily due to lack of water) and the boat handed back to us spic and span, with some welcome alcoholic refreshment secreted in the fridge! However, I did rather wonder where we’d left our clothes – G and S had picked the boat up from Market Drayton and then proceeded to do the four counties ring. We suggested to them they leave the boat in a marina just shy of Market Drayton so that they avoided the 16 locks into the town and we avoided the 16 locks out of the town. A perfect solution, especially as we didn’t return to the boat until a few days after they left it. We made quick progress towards Middlewich as a good friend had invited us to her birthday lunch and collecting us by car from there was not too far for them to kindly pick us up. Market Drayton was the distant past until I realised that is where we’d left all our clothes!! Having been moored alongside a friend’s house, we emptied the boat of our clothing to make space for G and S. Only I forgot this fact when negotiating the boat pick up point. Post party weekend we retraced our boat cruise, deciding that Nantwich was a good place to moor up and then take a taxi to MD and back. Imagine our delight when we found ourselves moored next to some good Canal Ministry friends. Not only did we have a sociable evening together but M had his car nearby and obliged us by offering a taxi service. Part of his recompense included a trip to ‘the office’ aka Weatherspoons, where we indulged in brunch and copious cups of coffee – the free refill system means you leave Weatherspoons far more wired than when you arrive!
The friend’s who had the birthday party also had a young German couple staying with them, so we offered to give them a ride along the canal the day we left Middlewich. J dropped them with us, collected our dirty washing and when he returned later, a bag of freshly laundered clothing accompanied him. What a treat – simple pleasures of boat life, because at that stage we had very few clothes to change into!!
Turning the boat at Nantwich we headed towards the Llangollen canal, which mercifully has relatively few locks! After the initial four locks, close together, you travel along, passing a marina and then a further two locks. It was on exiting the second of these locks that i discovered i had no revs when I turned the boat throttle – the boat engine didn’t engage at all!! My immediate thought was that the throttle cable had broken and this thought was backed up by R after he lifted the engine floor and peered into the recess. We even had a spare cable on the boat, but we weren’t quite brave enough to change it ourselves. I rung the marina who gave me the number of a boat engineer called Eric, but I had no idea of his credentials and we have heard enough horror stories of cowboy engineers. However I rang him and left a message on his answerphone. It just so happened that the previous lock to the one we had exited, had a broken paddle. Although we got through (it had taken four people to force the gate shut) very shortly after, the CRT arrived and temporarily closed the lock to do an emergency repair. This meant a few boats were unable to move and some of the boaters walked along the towpath. One of these stopped to chat and hearing of our dilemma, said his boat was usually moored at the nearby marina and he had the name of a very reliable engineer – Eric! Relieved to know he was reputable, I tried his numbed again and this time he picked up and was able to come straight to us. Within an hour we were on our way, very thankful for the assistance we had received.
Our week travelling along the Llangollen has been tranquil, albeit a little wet at times, but we are so grateful to see rain and at least the showers are warm! Although the locals think the canal is quiet and it isn’t as busy as I thought it might be, we are still passing more boats than we have seen on any other canal. Not only that, but we are also in a queue of boats and having, at times, to go at a snails pace – tickover even when not passing moored boats (it is polite then to slow right down. If you don’t, not only do you risk pulling a boat’s mooring pins out, but the boat itself can bang heavily against the canal side). I realised today that there are lots of hire boats on the cut and handover day seems to be Saturday, so there many novice boaters who are trying to negotiate very tight passages through the many bridges along the canal – some of them are in 60 – 70ft boat’s, so I don’t blame them for being cautious. I just have to learn patience!! Thankfully tonight we are where we planned to be! Friends of ours are arriving to join us travelling over the Pontcysylite aqueduct in Wales – one of the wonders of the whole canal network. It’s why this stretch of the canal is so busy. I’m not sure if I’m looking forward to it as on one side of the aqueduct there is a sheer drop and it is very very high up! Shortly meeting our friends in their hotel, where they’ve said we can have a proper shower, we are currently in the midst of heavy rain and thunder. A natural shower will probably assault us when we try leaving the boat. The rain has that steady feel of not letting up anytime soon!
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