Trevor to Ellesmere
April 2012
7 hours - 15.5 miles - 2 locks
A classic bank holiday Monday - wet from start to finish.
The mooring in the Ruabon Arm is to be recommended, quiet, secluded and sheltered from the wind, but mostly away from the incessant coming and going on the mainline. A lovely canal but at times blighted by its popularity.
But I had a snag last night, I seem to have developed Gall Stones which are excruciatingly painful at times and last night was one of them. I was awake in agony for two hours, trying hard not to wake Belle and Jeff. This is bad in the house but in the confines of a boat it is unutterably miserable.
This was a day to put on the wet weather gear and press on. There are no locks to interrupt progress so it was just me, the weather and a few other boaters with someplace to go. It was a clear run to Chirk but then I fear I upset a few people, quite unwittingly.
Traffic at Chirk Tunnel
As we approached the narrows south of Chirk I saw a day boat and a hire boat pulling in behind a row of moored boats which had made the channel a bit narrow. I assumed that they were stopping, as there was still plenty of room to pass any oncoming boats. Not so, they were novices and had decided to wait for the channel to clear. Oops - by the time I realised this (they were shouting at me!) I was parallel with them and it would be harder to go back than go on. It was a bit tight but we got through ok and made ourselves scarce! Sorry guys.
Marston locks were a bit busy and we has a three boat wait but that's not bad for a bank holiday. The worst of it is handling wet ropes with cold fingers.
With an ample supply of hot tea I pressed on to Ellesmere where I found a space in the arm near the new Tescos. This whole dairy area is finally being redeveloped although the canal warehouse is getting more and more dilapidated.
With fuel supplies getting low we chopped up a couple of fencing posts we has retrieved from the cut. A bait damp but at least they give of more heat than Taybright.
Sorry about the paucity of photo's - it was too wet to get the camera out.
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