Blake Mere

Today's canals: Montgomery, Llangollen

We were up and away at the incredibly early hour of 8.30. When we booked for the return passage through Frankton Locks back last Sunday, we were the fifth boat to book and so we guessed that there might be even more by now. We had to moor last night on the towpath, with pins, as the visitor moorings were all full, with one more on the services point. We did not want to wait an hour below the locks when they open at 9 if all of them moved off first. So we made sure we were head of the queue!

Our wait was broken up by chatting to two grass strimmer chaps, whom we had spotted yesterday at Aston Locks. It seems that they have 8 days to do the whole towpath right down to Newtown.

Right on time the lock keeper came down from the hut at the top and unlocked the bottom gate paddle. We had already brought the boat in as the lock is left empty overnight.

Near the top, we spotted a decorative planter full with seasonal flower plants. In 'the olden days' when lock keepers lived in an adjacent cottage, they would have had time to tend their patch - some canal companies even ran competitions for the Best Kept Lock. Today, sadly, this is much rarer,

The top two locks form a staircase and as a boat had just started down, we had to wait in the previous lock until they had come through. Time to admire more of the flowers.

The lock keeper concentrates on the staircase, generally leaving boaters to fend for themselves in the two single locks. Staircases are not really difficult but can be daunting to someone encountering one for the first time. As we chatted he asked if we know about the Charles and Diana Brick. He then offered to take a photo for us - the commemorative brick is set just down from the coping stones on the lock wall. Taking a photo does mean getting down really low and it is  better if you know where it is! Wonder if the King remembers it or perhaps one of his days he might wish to forget . . . ? However, he is said to be very interested in the canals.

After completing the top lock we bade farewell to the very friendly and chatty keeper and a really interesting canal. All the best to those focussed on maintaining what is in use and bringing the rest back into use.

Now back on the main Llangollen Canal - we came from the left in the photo and Llangollen itself is ahead. We now made for Ellesmere where we hoped to find a good enough signal for a Zoom meeting.

Winston Farm Lodges look a great place to stay - today may well be a turnaround but all three looked empty but the spa hot tubs were being cleaned! The farm al so grows Christmas trees and Pumpkins - three for £10 in October half term.

Arriving at Ellesmere we quickly turned up the arm towards the centre of the town, which is one long visitor mooring apart from a winding hole right at the end. We found a space just near the junction - right at the far end would have been better as it is right outside the entrance to tesco! On the other hand, despite being told by a chap on the next boat along that we would not get a signal strong enough for Zoom, this slot was just right!

We immediately set off into town to pick up items from our two favourite Ellesmere shops - a butcher and a deli. They did not disappoint! They are next door but one to each right in the centre of the photo. On the way back we picked up three heavier items rather than leave those til later.

Enough time for lunch before it was time for Christine to set up her kit for the meeting. Hey presto! It all worked and she was able to make decisions on Faculties, a bit like Listed Building Consents but for works on churches. Meanwhile, Mike walked back to tesco for the main shopping. He used the scan and shop device but at the checkout the system called for a random check. The second item came up as not scanned (Mike clearly remembers 'shooting' the goose fat but the system had forgotten. This meant that the slightly miffed assistant had to do a full check and Mike was ushered unceremoniously away to a special corner for naughts boys where the whole lot was emptied out and re-scanned. Nothing else was missed but, of course, it was the most expensive item in the bags!

Back at the boat it was not long before the Zoom meeting ended and we opted to move on a little further - we could have stayed and at least known that we would have been able to stream tv or Netflix, but ahead is a more scenic section.

We reversed back down the arm and turned to continue our journey, . . .

. . . fairly soon passing through the short Ellesmere Tunnel.

Alongside Blake Mere, close to where we moored on the way up, we were seduced by the scenery, the shady trees and a patch of sunshine!

4.3 Miles - 4 Locks