I'm writing this on 20th due to circumstances beyond my control last night - more of that later.
Yesterday we had a walk into Nantwich in the morning to see what there was to see. It's a pretty little town with some nice shops and would probably be even nicer in the dry!
The rain had been torrential during the night and started again just after we had got off the canal and onto the road into town. It stopped just after we got back on the boat but kept up with intermittent showers until lunchtime.
We decided to make a run for it when the weather appeared to have dried out a bit and try to get to Wrenbury, where we hope to see Sue and Terry. This meant that AT LAST we got onto the Llangollen! Yeah.
The junction was wide and the boat in front went straight into the empty lock that awaits you at the junction, but we are so used to that now that we have come to expect it. The wind was blowing directly from the north and we were turning west. Those of you who haven't tried to move a boat 62foot long in a howling wind have NO idea how tricky this is. I was confident about it right up until the moment I had to slam her in reverse to stop me hitting the entrance at a rate of knots. I got the bow in but then she went on a rather worrying tilt as the rest of her followed - not my finest hour, but ably supported by my nearest and dearest who had his hands over his eyes and gritted his teeth and shook his head. Bless.
After a similar debacle getting into the second lock I got him to come and do the other 2 - I think that's the first time I've chickened out at locks - certainly since the first guillotine locks on the Ouse.
We stopped briefly to have a pump out at Swanley Bridge Marina since they very sensibly had it on an outside mooring, along with the fuel. Mind you they charged £16 and didn't put any chemical in so it was by far and away the dearest one we have had.
The weather stayed dry on the whole - I think because we were wearing our boat coats just in case! There were a further 5 locks to do and because of the strong flow of water on this canal, there is a lot of water at both the top and the bottom, trying to push the boat to the side. A real fight at some of them and we've been told it gets worse further up. Great.
A boat was in front of us all the way and very little coming the other way so it took us quite a while to travel the distance and it was gone 6.30 when we moored. John suggested a pub meal and who was I to disagree!
We went to one of the two pubs here at Wrenbury and had an excellent meal and got chatting to the 2 couples who were at the table next to us. It turned out that Ian and Claire and Roy and Joan were celebrating their joint 37th wedding anniversaries. They met on honeymoon and have been constant friends ever since! We ended up going back to their boat for drinks and not returning back to ours until after midnight! Unheard of for us (or them apparently) We shall hope to meet them again, 2 lovely couples. Now you know why I didn't do the blog last night.
We have just heard that Sue and Terry can't meet up today as they have an emergency to return to Devon so we are about to set sail into more of the great unknown
I will have to add the photos to the next one as they are taking forever and we need to be moving!
No comments:
Post a Comment