Wrenbury

Today's Canal - Llangollen

The well known problems with intermittent mobile signals on this canal mean that we cannot always publish our blog as contemporaneously as we usually aim for. Apologies to both our readers.

We set off in good time - well, ten o'clock, anyway, but we do not have a demanding schedule for this trip - and our first stop was just outside the marina entrance to fill up with fuel and empty the elsan. It was pretty windy today - and chilly at first - so manoeuvring was tricky.

The first lock was only a short distance and, as we feared, there was a queue. One boat must going in and another two ahead of us (ahead of the two moored boats) As we ascended the lock, eventually, we noticed a problem with our fuel system. Just before the Baddiley flight we stopped for lunch and Mike also took a good look down the engine bay and anywhere there might be a problem but to no avail.

Not all constructed boat names make us smile as much as the owners hope, but this one ALDOITTAMORA did :)

This smart new mini-house looked very much like something out of a US Western ranch, complete with rocking chairs for grandparents! In fact it is a holiday let - Little Ranch Glamping. The owners also have two other glamping units we spotted two years ago just the other side of Wrenbury. (See tomorrow for correction)

We opted to make some progress before we decided on whether to escalate the issue and we did get some sunshine and blue sky this afternoon. With luck we might also find a spot with a mobile signal - they are few and far between along here. Christine managed a brief and interrupted call with Sally and Danny but they could offer no obvious explanation. In the end, contact was made with ABC at Wrenbury who offered to take a look if we could make it to their wharf which was only about ten minutes away.

The engineer there spotted us arriving and helped us tie up before going through a range of check - most of which we had already but he could inspect parts of the engine bay that we cannot! In the end he did not find anything amiss and told us not to worry, hopefully it will clear itself. He also offered, if we moored close by, to check for how it is  in the morning. 

We made two 'mistakes': firstly we took his advice on where to moor overnight to be close to the wharf but we were harangued by a local boater passing though as it was the very end of the bridge operation section. The second mistake was to reverse back about five boat lengths. We managed this well as we passed the three moored boats but then became caught on offside silt just as we were in a position to moor. It took us ages to free ourselves even when we seemed to be almost in the main channel. In the end we gave in and made a rare use of our long pole. We might have tried this sooner except that it was at the wrong end of the roof! The painters had put it back on the front and we did not get around to moving it on the grounds that we rarely need it!

Amidst all this, our main laptop started to play up in several different ways and eventually the mouse ceased to do anything useful at all! After a spell using the touch pad - never the best especially when editing photos - but Christine offered Mike her mouse which goes with her laptop until he can source his own replacement.

4.6 Miles - 5 Locks