Gladys does Pontcysyllte Aqueduct

Saturday 6th June

We travelled up to Jannock on Friday evening accompanied by Gladys, our neighbour, and once loaded we moved further away from the railway before re-pegging in for a quieter night.

Smell of the day – Wild Garlic (Ransoms) and dog roses.

Saturday morning started sunny. What a super day. We obviously must bring Gladys with us more often if she’s this good a weather goddess! We set off through Fron Lift bridge and onto the aqueduct. Gladys was not at all phased and decided she’s like to walk across to see the views. At the end of the span a chap was chatting her up – he was telling her how brave she was. He’d not had the courage to go over in a boat and had been very nervous on foot. And Gladys thinks she’s the timid one. We presented her with a framed memento of the occasion and a card and chocolates that the lady at the shop alongside Grindley Brook had donated to the cause last week. That was the reason why Brenda returned from the shop completely amazed at the kindness of strangers.

The cruise up to Llangollen was very pleasant. It was almost ‘groundhog day’ after last weeks tunnel altercations at the narrows. I’d gone ahead with a radio and given Graham the all clear to start coming through. He was about half way through when a newbie hirer came along. I told him that they would not be able to go through yet – see last weeks blog for the rest. Graham was surprised to find that the locals have trouble with houses going to fast.

We winded in the basin, returned back to the on-line moorings where no ticket is required if you are staying for less than 4 hours and you leave before 5pm. We then had lunch, filled with water and then walked down into the town.  We went into the Tourist Information office to get some info on Plas Newydd as we planned to visit there by car next Saturday. We were informed that it was not too far to walk and also getting a car into Llangollen next weekend would be difficult due to the Eisteddfod starting – indeed not so far but definitely uphill. What a gem. Well worth a visit especially if you appreciate wood carvings and tales of dotty women.

We left Llangollen after an ice-cream and another look at the river Dee and moved out into the countryside to moor for the night. We were following a newbie hirer and had to smile as she tackled a 90 degree bend under a bridge, albeit with some fierce reversing, got round and then did a little victory dance on the stern deck. Way to go girl. After dinner we sat on the towpath watching para-gliders over the hill behind us and counting the sheep in the field opposite.

Brenda