Bridges - a familiar sight these days
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.
We've been on our narrowboat for four nights now, cruising the Llangollen portion of the British canal system from Ellesmere to Llangollen. It's similar to RV'ing in the way that you're moving your house from place to place, except that you're on water instead of on land. The first real difference I noted, as we took off from Ellesmere last Wednesday, was the speed. The maximum speed limit on the canals is 4 miles per hour, but it's rare that you're going even that fast because, at that speed, you create a wake for boats moored at the side of the canal and those you're passing, going in the other direction.
To provide a gauge of how fast (or slow) we've gone, according to our map, it looks like we've traveled about 20 miles of canal from Ellesmere to Llangollen. We left Wednesday afternoon, about 2:00, and cruised until about 5:00 and stopped at Maestermyn, about 6 miles away. On Thursday morning, we left Maestermyn between 8 and 9 and stopped at Sun Trevor at about 5:30, making about 12 miles that day. After lunch, we stopped at Chirk for about 1-1/2 hours, so I estimate we made less than two miles per hour that day. On Friday morning, we cruised into the basin and moored in Llangollen, a piece of cake.
You can't use four miles per hour as a measure of how far you can go in a day. Not only do you stop here and there just to look around, but there's the matter of draw bridges and those really time-consuming locks! We navigated the two locks at New Marton coming out, and we will navigate the same two coming back, but other than that, we are free of locks on this section of the canal system. We were really, really fortunate that a group of experienced boaters - two men and a woman (I'm guessing that one man was a brother and the other the husband of the woman) - who helped us through the locks. They were wonderful. The woman took me under her wing, and showed me just what to do, letting me have a hands-on experience.
There are any number of good things about this boat trip, but one of the most impressive is how friendly and helpful people are. When we docked at Llongollen, we met up with our "new friends" who helped us through the locks at New Marton, and they gave us some hints about how the town was laid out. We chatted with them for quite a while. They've been canal boating for about 20 years, and they were natural ambassadors for their country and for canal boating. Really, really impressive!
We met another couple early in our trip, moored (docked) by the towpath (the walking path beside the canal) who have lived on the canals for a number of years, and we learned a little about canal living. They actually have wood-burning heaters aboard their boats, and he was chopping wood which he then stored in neat piles on top of his boat.
We've passed a number of boats where the occupants sell goods and services - hand-crafted items, food and drink, etc. Some of the permanent residents of the canals have potted plants - glorious flowers - on top of their boats.
In some places, the canal is wide enough for only one boat, so you must be on the lookout for boats coming in the other direction. At one place, the sign instructed one of us get out and walk ahead for about 900 yards and alert the captain, or tillerman, if another boat was headed in the opposite direction. In these narrow places, there may be - or may not be - a little place where you can pull over and let the other boat pass. If there isn't a place, then the tillerman must back the boat up (not necessarily an easy task) until we come to a wide place to pull over. We were fortunate that we didn't have to back through any of the narrow places coming up!
The downstream boat has the right of way, and the trip to Llangollen is up stream. We hear that cruising back down to Ellesmere is faster and easier.
There are frequent places where signs are posted along the towpath telling you that mooring is permissible for up to 48 hours. At those places, you will see mooring rings installed along the towpath, but there are no electric or water services, and there is no cost to moor there. At Llangollen, where we are moored now, we have both electric and water in this basin, and mooring here is permissible for 48 hours at a cost of 6 pounds a night. The basin is really nice, and the walking distance to town is very short.
Before I forget, a towpath is so named because in the older canal days, the narrowboats were towed by horses. Someone would lead the horse, to which a long rope was tied and connected to the boat, and walk along the path and tow the boat up and down the canal. Here in Llangollen, you can pay to take a ride on a horse-towed boat to the end of this section of the canal.
Britain has a large canal system. We're cruising only a short portion on the Llangollen canal. While the system was originally created for commerce, it's used (almost) exclusively for recreation these days. British Waterways takes maintaining the canals seriously, providing a great active holiday for many people.
Some memorable points from this leg of our trip to the UK:
- The countryside is breathtakingly beautiful from Ellesmere (England) to Llangollen (Wales).
- Welsh cakes, a type of flat scone, should be declared a controlled substance because they are so habit forming.
- The people, without exception, are wonderful, friendly, and helpful.
- If you have a need for speed on a holiday, the canals are not the place to go! Prepare to gear down the moment you step foot on the boat.
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