Narrowboat Adventures before Dementia
NB Fantasma

Before starting this blog entry, I was asked why I highlight some text in light green, I’m sorry it was unclear, but the green highlighting denotes a hyperlink. Clicking on it will take you to another page, or site for further explanation or information.

The October 1st mooring was on the Frankton Junction Public Moorings, where the Montgomery Canal joins the Llangollen Canal.

The canal is currently navigable for just over 7 miles and access is strictly controlled in that you have to book with the C&RT for access through the Frankton Locks which are normally kept locked but will be opened daily between 9 and 12 am. You cannot book to go on the Montgomery Canal without booking to come off again. On the recommendation of other boaters, we booked to go on the canal on the 2nd of October and off again the following day having been told we could easily alter the return date if we wanted to stay longer.

Another potential problem is that the minimum available airdraft was listed by C&RT as 6’-0” (1.8m) while Fantasma’s airdraft is 6’-6” (1.98m). Chatting to the lock keeper we were assured that the minimum airdraft was, in reality, 7’-0” and by playing with water levels the lock keeper could scrape 7’-6”(2.29m).

The lock-keepers were helpful and efficient and we were soon through the four Frankton Locks and on our way. The Montgomery Canal has few mooring opportunities and in the first few miles we tried to moor at a place called the Queens Head Moorings but found each mooring spot had a label on which we could see had the CR&T logo but could not read the text. Having seen this type of label before saying that mooring was suspended for some reason we carried on and before we found another reasonable mooring we had come to the end of the navigable section of the canal and were on our way back towards Frankton Junction.

Our impression of the canal was very positive in many ways, it is very rural with little boat traffic

We were halfway back before we found somewhere reasonably decent to moor, although it was on a lock landing, so it was not ideal (and against CR&T rules). Looking at the map, we were almost back to the Queens Head Moorings, so Sue walked there to check the labels on the mooring rings. These stated that there was a canoe competition the following weekend and during that time the moorings could not be used but were still available till then. One of the reasons for mooring was a visit to the Queens Head pub. The internet reviews were very positive and the menu had lots to interest us.

Would you believe they stopped serving food at 5:30 pm on a Sunday just minutes before we arrived? Oh well, we had a good dinner on board.

The next day, Monday, we travelled the 4 miles or so to Ellesmere where we spent the next five days, doing all the necessary household chores and a major shop as we were just 100 yards away from a so-called Tesco “superstore” and 3/400 yards from the town centre and its range of superb independent shops.

On the sixth day we had hardly started on our way when we passed a mooring we had stopped at while travelling westward 20 days before. It had become one of our favourites on the Llangollen Canal so despite having been on the move for less than 2 hours after the stopover we backed up and moored for another couple of days - well, why not? we are on “canal time” after all!

On the way to our next stop, we paused to have a wander around Whixall Moss Nature Reserve, and have a gander at the “Mammoth Tower”.

We stopped for the night at the Grindley Brook Visitor Moorings, always a pleasant place to stop as there are toilets and showers as well as the usual pump-out, water and rubbish disposal. There are many service points with these facilities around the system but these are unique in that they are kept spotless, a place where you can be happy to use the loo or take a hot shower.

Tuesday night saw us moored again by Swing-bridge No 19 near Wrenbury, where we could top up our food supplies in the excellent village shop.

Our last night on the Llangollen Canal (12th October) was spent at Burland Visitor Moorings. We stayed here because we had heard very good things about Snugburys Ice Cream and these moorings are as close as you can get to the farm that is Snugburys.

We walked to the ice cream factory that afternoon and found lots of the land turned over to pumpkin production, Halloween night being less than two weeks away. We asked about a pumpkin (we love lots of pumpkin dishes) but were horrified to learn that the seed for the pumpkin harvest had been bought with Halloween firmly in mind and the farm could not remember the varieties they were selling but knew that some of them were for decoration only and not edible and they could not sort the edible from the non-edible so any bought from them should be considered non-edible. What a stupid waste!!

We bought what we actually came for - Snugburys Ice Cream. Good, but not that good! In fact quite disappointing!

We awoke to weather we have not experienced since moving aboard our narrowboat in 2020 - fog. By the time we had brekky and got ready to cruise the fog had lifted enough to safely navigate our way off the Llangollen Canal, via the Hurleston Lock flight, back onto the Shropshire Union Canal where we turned to port (WOW!! nautical talk!!😁😁😁), towards Tattenhall Marina where due to the low water levels we are forced to overwinter for a second year running, but we are not booked in until November so what till then?

Our first night back on the “Shroppy” was spent on the Beeston Stone Lock Visitor Moorings, quite simply the best mooring in the two years we have been cruising. I hope you can see why from the photo. Of course, we may have felt different if the wind had been blowing and the rain “persisting” down.

Friday 14th October, today we cruised past Tattenhall Marina and the seemingly never-ending row of moored boats beyond to moor outside the Cheshire Cat pub/hotel/restaurant. We had passed this pub several times on the boat and dozens of times on road transport but had never ventured inside before. We had a very good dinner and would be happy to return if the opportunity presented itself.

After two nights moored outside, but only one night sitting inside, the Cheshire Cat we continued north towards our next goal - Chester Zoo. There are moorings marked for zoo visitors just before Caughall Bridge No 134 and surprisingly at this time of year we got the last available. Zoos have never been cheap and two tickets (according to t’interweb) came in at a whopping £58.00. Despite the moorings being the ones recommended for visiting the zoo the walk to the entrance was long, very long and when we arrive we queued at the pay booth and asked if there were any OAP concessions, we were told a very firm no, so I asked for two standard tickets and was asked for £63.80 on asking why they wanted that sum when their website clearly states a single ticket costs £29 and two should therefore cost £58.00, I was told the zoo adds a 10% donation to the price of each ticket.

I paid £58.00.

It should be said the zoo was very well kept, the animals all looked in very good condition and none that we saw showed the pacing and or repetitive behaviours associated with unstimulated captive animals.

Having walked a couple of miles to the zoo, wandered around it for 5 or 6 hours and then walked a couple of miles back, my Fitbit step count that night was the highest it had ever been.

Our journey continued the following day to the end of the Shropshire Union Canal (Wirral Line) where we winded NB Fantasma outside the Boat Museum and backtracked as far as Stanney Mill Bridge Visitor Moorings where we overnighted as Sue wanted to visit Cheshire Oaks retail park.

Visiting Cheshire Oaks Retail Park is quite an undertaking so although we were a very short distance away Sues visit took most of the day and most of our available money so it was Thursday before we got underway and moved into the middle of Chester city and moored under the city walls very close to the King Charles Tower where we spent four days exploring this fascinating city.

Many boaters avoid city centres feeling them to be unsafe, particularly as where we were there were no other moored boats. We have not stayed in many city centres - London (Angel Islington, is that considered a part of the city centre?), Bishops Stortford (OK a town but right in the centre of town), Coventry and Chester. There were at times a few p##s heads wobbling around in all the locations but at no time did we feel threatened or unsafe. There are places in far more rural areas we would never choose to moor, for example, near a bench or seat particularly if surrounded by litter.

At the end of our four city centre days, we moved just 2.5 miles south and moored back outside the Cheshire Cat where we wanted to have another dinner but had food that needed eating.

With no locks and less than 5 miles to cover we soon reached Tattenhall Marina, booked in and were soon moored on berth E63 our mooring for the next three months and more. Our 2022 travels were complete.

For the statistic collectors among you:-