Llangollen trip day#15

Saturday 27th May 2023

Bank Holiday Numpties Day – and that’s allowing for inexperience!

We left our lovely overnight mooring at Blake Mere at 9am and set off southbound (with the flow). We didn’t spot many moving boats for the first hour and then started meeting all the Northbound boats that obviously started from their bases yesterday. Brenda took this time to get a shower before the lift bridges started.

 

At Morris lift bridge, another boater had opened it and G told them to get on their boat, he then got off Jannock as we passed through and then held it open for another boat following the first one. Once closed he caught up and got back on Jannock. Then he went and had his shower.

 

We found ourselves following a day boat that was celebrating Mum’s birthday. At Sparks bridge (near Whitchurch) they went aground on the offside immediately after the bridge. We tried to pull them off backwards but that didn’t work so we passed them and then pulled them off forwards. We then set off ahead of them now. At the next (permanently open) lift bridge they seemed to do the same thing again but we were too far ahead to assist so we warned a hire boat going the other way.

 

When we arrived at Grindley Brook staircase locks, there was one boat already two locks down and we were ushered straight into the top lock without waiting. A very quick transit of all six locks with no-one coming the other way.

 

As Brenda steered Jannock under the main road bridge at the bottom of the staircase she was being watched by a little boy and his parents/grandparents. As Jannock emerged from the bridge he exclaimed “it’s a lady!” as he spotted who was steering. Most surprised, Brenda could only smile and replied “girls can and girls do”. His Mum and Nanna grinned.

 

We then had a steady run down through locks and lift bridges to Wrenbury meeting lots of hire boats coming the opposite way.  At one of the locks, Brenda managed to catch her watch on the cabin roof overhang which snapped the strap and sent it spiralling into the cut. A moored boater heard her swear and offered to get a sea-searcher magnet to recover it but the offer was declined. Even if it could be located, the strong magnetism would upset the mechanism as it was an electro-mechanical watch. Luckily it was very old with a very scratched glass so time for a new one – that’s the second item she has lost in the cut this trip.

 

Graham spotted this female hen harrier sat on a fence post by bridge 13. We moored for the night between bridges 13 and 12 on the SUCS 48 hour mooring. After dinner (slow cooked for 4 hours) we took a walk from bridge 12, across the field and up a lane to the village of Ravensmoor where we found the Farmers Arms is still open and serving beers from Ossett Brewery as well as offering a good food menu. The walk back to bridge 13 involved a length of busy road and crossing two fields full of cows so the bridge 12 route was the better one.

G&B