Mates Rates 21 - 24 August

A quiet night in the gloom of the cutting, and a leisurely start, waiting for the next visiting crew, Anna, and considering our activities over the next few days.  I was quite interested in getting down to the recently extended Montgomery Canal, but the timings didn't quite work.  At the Junction with Llangollen Canal, there are 4 locks,  and you must book passage through them the day before. And they are only available 9am to 1pm. So we couldn't get onto the canal until Tuesday, and I really didn't want to hurtle all the way down, spin, and scramble back for a Wednesday morning passage back off, so that meant Thursday, which then gave us another scurry to get to Whitchurch by the end of Friday.

Too frantic. Knock it on the head.

Anna finally arrived at Chirk having battled heavy traffic and a wayward satnav, lugging the contents of her fridge, and we set off back into England. The border is half way across the aqueduct. 

We'd only been going 30 minutes before we stopped for a pub lunch, and duly fortified nattered our way as far as the New Marton locks, filling up with water as we queued. Anna proved to be an energetic tea maker, providing a steady supply of welcome refreshment. 

Once through the locks we moored for the evening. Absolutely the back of beyond and as peaceful as you could wish.

We sat out on the towpath for a while and had a lovely conversation with a lady walking her rescue dogs; then moved aboard to tuck in to cold meats and salad: this was turning into a foodie trip.

A leisurely start with lots more tea: then Anna produced smoked salmon, avocado and poached egg on toast for breakfast.  Classy!

Our destination for Tuesday was Ellesmere. We took off at around 11am and almost immediately paused as there was a hireboat that had no idea how to moor with the hooks supplied.  I hope that the few minutes out of our day to show them how to tie up securely will help make their holiday an easier experience. 

Anna, being used to steering dinghies,  had a couple of stints on the tiller. There was a stiff side wind and a fair amount of traffic: taking it very seriously!

All this section is gentle farming countryside,  very remote.

And we were into Ellesmere by 2pm, with Anna sorting out home made soup, charcuterie and more salad for lunch. Definitely earning her keep!

We wandered into town, adored the Harry Potter themed yarn bombing everywhere,

 mooched around the supurb deli, and had ice creams from the Boathouse at the Mere: while bantering with the owner who describes himself as Persian/Welsh and longs for the return of a Shah.

A short stroll back to the boat, and more Food!  Half a roast chicken with potatoes, carrots, cabbage and Gravy. Who needs pubs when you've an enthusiastic cook on board?

A wet morning at first which cleared to a lovely day: not sunny, but calm and mild. Serene, that's the word. We made friends with our neighbours with some crispbread:

Bacon, sausage, egg, mushrooms and fried bread for us, of course..

A pause at Ellesmere services to dump rubbish then into Blackwater Marina for diesel and a pump out. Blimey, it's a tight turn in! Thankful that there was only a slight breeze.  Less fuel needed than our fuel gauge (a stick in the diesel 'ole) had led me to believe.  I also had to calm down in the chandlery because there were four brass plaques I was entitled to buy but they're a tenner each and we'll  run out of room if we're not careful.

Backing out, and all going well until another boat popped off its moorings and headed out.. upset all the currents and pulled my stern entirely the wrong way. So, going with the flow, I backed to the edge, hopped off and pushed the back end to where it needed to be so I could continue my spin. Result. As we got through the bridge, and in the middle of the next spin in the middle the canal, a hireboat came through the bridge just downstream and had to wait.. oops, but no help for it but to continue the manoeuvre. 

We went on for a mile or so and pulled over for coffee, to let our hireboat past.

No great sacrifice really. Mimbled on a little further to moor up again and take a walk around the lovely Combermere with a picnic for lunch.

 Not so many flowers at this stage of the year but the bees adore these:

No idea what this fella will turn into: a moth of some sort, I imagine.

Back at the boat and another short cruise to the the place I'd stopped at last week as it was quiet and pretty. The main mooring area (48 hours) was already full but we popped on the end without difficulty. Homemade ratatouille and pasta on the cards tonight. Speaking of which Anna taught me gin rummy and, possibly due to beginner's luck, I won by a fair margin. Twice. 

Thursday morning and similar benign weather. Sausages, egg and mushrooms for breakfast. I could get used to this!

And a little cruise down to Whitchurch.