Without any hurry we're below Grindley Brook

We have been pottering along but somehow, yesterday afternoon, we moored in Whichurch and now we are well on the way to Wrenbury. 

It seems to me that, once you are near Whitchurch, the Llangollen becomes ..well ..ordinary! I say this in terms of pretty countryside but there are roads.You hear traffic!! We have been spoilt the last two months!! Still so very quiet though, with one solitry Winter Moorer at  Grindley. That was it. A boat came up as we arrived and boat arrived at the bottom of the staircase as we left. All good.

Things .. that is ..us..have moved on since this but signal has been too poor to load the images.

No trouble from our neighbours

Two nights on the Arm at Ellesmere to accommodate LJ getting an excellent hair cut in town. A da treat for me...trip to the launderette! 

Then......round the corner, through the tunnel and the beauty of Blake Mere in perfect winter weather. Got here on Friday and will move on tomorrow.  Our plans fir the next week to be guided after a phonecall to the dentist in Nantwich tomorrow. The crown once again is sitting on Alistair's bedside table. This time it's an extraction. Which, if recent experience is anything to go be, will mean him fainting!!  It better if thus happens with QISMA moored in Nantwich where he only has to be escorted back up Welsh Row before he can collapse on the bed. 

Four nights here. We know some boats out of sight behind us but, it does seem that we have it to ourselves. Well us and the dozen or so pheasants that sleep in the tree across the bank. They make nice quiet neighbours.

Sunshine after the rain ...name that tune!

We made great progress, without getting wet, or taxing ourselves and sat the wind and rain out before the Jack Myton.....which...for Team NZ looked pretty lonely on a cold, wet and windy Monday! 

Yesterday brought the best possible winter cruising weather. Off we went .

Not all plain sailing. The levels so down in one stretch we pulled over. Two unheard of events in two days! Reported it. Had lunch. Decided to push on to Frankton.

Then we hit a snag. Well we hit a submerged tree trunk. Stuck in silt. 30 minutes of shuffling and pulling and getting nowhere. Our Captain decided to try and pass on the off side...despite the low levels. I was on the bank. Without my phone!  No need to leap ahead with your imagination...we made it!! 

One bridge later and moored at Frankton. I spoke to Howard, the supervisor for this area. He came along later and I walked him back to the check out the scene. He was armed with extending rake..no chance! He will be in his wet suit and into the cut this morning!! He did ask about the levels and today they are up a good 6" .... Good work CRT!! 

Not this porthole!

Let me make clear....it wasn't this porthole. This porthole has been chosen because the boat is the right colour. It's like half a reconstruction. 

We were on our way out of Llangollen on Sunday. A quick stop at the Sani Station to...well...you know!!

We were passing the boats moored on the Winter Moorings, close to the Sani Station, when....on a boat of this colour...the loo porthole opened...a hand holding a sheet of used loo roll appeared and the paper was dropped into the  canal! Casual and blatant at the same time! 

For once...both members of the QISMA crew were totally speechless!! 

A rare burst of speed!

From us....not QISMA!  Sunday at 1pm. Looking at the forecast and the sky. We have to be in Ellesmere by Friday. Regular readers will guess this can only mean one thing....LJ is having his hair cut!  Oh yes...we decided that Mi day and the aqueduct was never going to happen. We were full of water so...at 1305, with a quick goodbye to Louise Fron NB Darwin...we were on our way.

Pulled in at Fron at 3.20 pm two minutes before the next band of rain. Not another boat moving.  Perfik.

It's certainly easier coming back from Llangollen than getting there!

Reading Tweets from Louise last winter tempted us to move from the Fens! Really nice to have caught up with you!

6 boats in during our stay in the basin.

The views aren't bad.

,

Llangollen...at last ..a taster

  

 Slowly, slowly up to Llangollen. Admiring the scenery along the way.

 And, enjoying the luxury of having this stretch of canal all to ourselves! We didn't make it to Llangollen last trip..in 2010.  Our depth means it is slow going and we didn't want to disrupt traffic. I walked it. This time no such worries.

 LJ not concerned about the scenery.this is the most interesting field he's found in a long time!

More to follow when I get phone signal to transfer pics.

Just what I needed.......

A day off!! The weather pretty filthy morning so a day off was declared. After all the road travelling over the last 10 days I needed it!

We are on a lovely mooring. All on our own. Though two time share boats came last on Tuesday late afternoon. I confess I was worried one of them would stop!!

Happy to report rain stopped at ,inch time and all god walking completed in sunshine.

Today we are heading for Llangollen. NB DARWIN went up yesterday and 3 came down so time for us to make the move. Louise's Tweets from Winter 2014-2015 are the reason we are here now... and we thought we would never leave the Fens!!


LJ and I won't be fighting our way through this! Fortunately not on tow path!

 Chirk Basin

Heading here today the turning left

Catching Up

That's what we have been doing. Some time at Glasbury. Two nights with Alistair's daughter, hubby and gorgeous girls. For nights with his parents...poor Ma in Law has broken her right arm so was glad to be there to help out a bit.

Broke the journey back from Dorset at Glasbury. Back to Chirk Marina. Must say the team there are excellent. Had done some work and a service. Great job. Engine positively purring...quietly?

Then I took car back to Glasbury. One night there...fortunately friends in recovery from party weekend so I was able to tell them to ignore me and go to bed when visitors departed... as I was arriving! Shut myself in the flat with fire, hot bath, Kindle and music, only disappointment was Radio 2 pre recorded all afternoon ...morning coverage following death of Sir Terry Wogan gad been brilliant. I was hoping afternoon was going to be the same.

Like so many Terry's breakfast show had taken me to work year after year. More often than not with tears of laughter running down my face. I vividly recall sitting in my little 2cv on A30 at Bagshot. Laughing,so much that if I'd been moving I think I would have had to stop. I looked round at others in the jam. You could see who was listening to Wogan from their faces. My own faves were the Raising of the Raleigh from Carshalton Duck Pond...and of course..the cones and Janet and John.  I genuinely did have a weep on Sunday morning and again in the car when they played Gretchen Peters singing When I Get Old.

Yesterday...back to Abergavenny for train back to Chirk. Made time for lunch with Janue at splendid station cafe at Aber. Not to be missed!

Boat was already in position on great mooring by tunnel so the boys met me.

Pictorial catch up!

Current mooring

Chirk Aqueduct

This amuses us as houses are way down in the valley

Moving towards Trevor

Which involves .....

Brecon Beacons