Llangollen Canal

The Llangollen Canal takes you through some of Britain's most beautiful scenery and there is no doubt a cruise on the Llangollen Canal in a narrowboat is the most enjoyable and relaxing holiday you can have.

The Canal leaves the Union Canal near Nantwich, Cheshire and winds it's way to the town of Llangollen, in Northern Wales. On the way it passes through some of Britain's most beautiful countryside and there are interesting villages and towns to visit along the way, not to mention some of the most hospitable pubs you will find anywhere in the world.

Our holiday on the Llangollen Canal started at Swanley Bridge Marina, near Nantwich, where we joined two friends on the Narrowboat "Charlton" for a week cruising the canal.

Narrowboats are the long, narrow, flat bottomed craft that are specially designed for canal transport. The accommodation is quite comfortable inside, rather like a long, narrow caravan. They are completely self contained with shower and toilet, completely fitted-out galley and comfortable lounge and sleeping accommodation. They are powered by diesel and controlled by tiller at the stern. They travel very slowly, about four miles per hour, to minimise the wake, so that they don't cause much erosion to the banks of the canal, or rocking of moored boats. In fact, even travelling at that slow speed they throttle back to drift past any moored boats so that they cause as little disturbance as possible. Canal boatmen are very considerate of others on the water.

Speed and noise are certainly not features of Canal travel. From memory, I think we travelled only about 10 or 12 miles a day. We would start off after breakfast, when we felt like it, stop for lunch at a particularly scenic spot or a friendly canal-side pub, and end our day's journey at about 4 or 5 in the afternoon, again, usually not far from a Pub or village where we could enjoy a pint and a yarn and a first class dinner.

We learned a useful bit of information about British Pubs from our companions on this trip, one that we found invaluable, later on our UK holiday. If the Pub has TV or pinball machines in the bar, the food will be very ordinary, and if music is playing in the restaurant, you won't be able to hear your conversation. This advice turned out to be just so right, and not just in Britain.

The Swanley Bridge Marina is quite new, with all the latest facilities and well kept. There were over 200 narrowboats tied up at berths in the Marina. As it was early afternoon by the time we left, we selected Wrenbury as our destination that day. On the way we learned how to operate the locks that enable boats to proceed to different water levels, and there was even a low level bridge that needed to be raised to let us pass.

Locks are designed to enable you to raise or lower the level of the water in an enclosed section of the canal, the lock, to allow boats to go to another level of water. Lock gates have to be swung open at one end of the lock to allow the boat to come in. There is just enough room for one narrowboat at a time to enter the locks on this canal. The gates are then closed behind the boat and valves are opened, by manually winding them, at the other end of the lock to allow water to flow in and raise the water in the lock, to the level at the other end. As soon as the water level inside the lock and outside in the canal, are equal, the gates at the forward end can be opened and the boat can proceed on its way.

Apart from the locks, there are some low level bridges that need to be raised to let boats pass. Some are powered by electric motors, but others need to be wound up by hand - not hard, as they are counterbalanced. It gives one a sense of power to stop traffic while you raise the bridge to let a narrowboat pass.

There are two canal side pubs at Wrenbury. We had drinks and Dinner at the Cotton Arms and were very pleased with the food and service. It's funny how, at these canal-side pubs, it's so easy to strike up a conversation with strangers and meet other travellers. It adds to the charm and friendliness of a canal holiday.

Wrenbury is as pretty as it's name. We walked into the village next morning and had a look around. They were in the midst of a scarecrow competition, where many of the residents set up scarecrows in front of their cottages, and compete for some prize or other, or maybe for the honour of having an interesting and ingenious scarecrow outside their gate.

We continued our leisurely journey, interrupted from time to time by a lock to negotiate or bridge to raise, eventually reaching bridge number 43 at about 4.30 in the afternoon. We had intended having dinner at the Wagoneer Inn but found it closed, due to a fire some months earlier. So we had chicken and salad on board, and a nice bottle of Australian White. The reflections on the Canal at this location are unforgettable.

The pattern of our cruise on the peaceful Llangollen Canal was pretty much set by this stage. Enjoying the scenery, spotting birds, wren, wagtail, robin and kingfishers caught our attention. As the narrowboat travels so slowly, it is easy to stretch your legs and walk between locks where they are not too far apart. A walk along the towpath beside the canal is really very pleasant on a nice day.

At Hindford we tied up at the bank, looking forward to a pint at the Jack Mytton Inn. We arrived just as the Publican was closing the bar, but when he recognised our Aussie accents, we were served the last drinks before closing. The bar usually closes from 4 to 6 pm. Dinner at the Jack Mytton was excellent, with farm fresh vegetables and delicious meat dishes.

The Jack Mytton is named after a legendary Shropshire Squire who was renowned for his reckless deeds... some might say stupid. It is said that he tried to take a coach and horses over a jump, with disastrous results, and on another occasion he tried to wrestle a bear. Just as well motor bikes weren't invented then or he might have done himself some harm. I bet all his descendants emigrated to New Zealand and invented bungee jumping.

So our cruise moved on. The highlights of the Llangollen Canal are the tunnels and aqueducts near Chirk, in a hilly part of Wales. The longest of the tunnels, the Chirk Tunnel, is 420 meters long, so the boats engage their headlights to go through it. The Chirk Aqueduct and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct bring a new dimension to Canal cruising.

The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is truly amazing. Built by Thomas Telford, it carries the Canal a distance of 307 meters, more than 1000 feet, and at it's highest point it is 38 meters or 126 feet above the River Dee. Construction of the stonework arches started in 1795, and it took ten years to complete. The water is carried through a cast iron trough, with just enough room for one narrowboat at a time. There is a narrow walkway for those who prefer to walk across.

The Llangollen Canal presents many excellent photo opportunities so you need to have your camera ready.

At the end of the Canal, the Welsh town of Llangollen is a busy place where travellers find much to interest them. Famous for the Llangollen International Music Festival which is held in July, the town invites you to step back to another time with steam train excursions and horse drawn canal boat trips. With lots of inviting shops, there is much to see and do at Llangollen.

Cruising the Llangollen Canal was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and one we would much like to repeat. If you would like to see more of our UK holiday, follow our journey through Britain as we trace our Suffolk roots.