Up the Monty with some intrepid exploring

As I type this we are moored pretty well as far as you can get from the connected canals on the Montgomery Canal which we've never travelled before.  We've been refreshed by a good lunch at the Navigation Inn at Maesbury Marsh, so now is the time to update our blog.

The last posting was from Whitchurch from where Ian caught the train back home to check all was well.  It was.  He came back on Saturday and we carried on up the Llangollen Canal.

Now don't you think that the chap in the hat looks like John Sargeant on 'Barging through Britain'?  No it wasn't him!

On Saturday evening we moored close to Whixall Moss.  The 'Mosses' round here are raised peat bogs which date back to depressions created in the last ice age.  We followed a suggested walk around the Moss.  Helen is next to a pile of peats cut from the Moss, though they don't let you do this any more.

The water table is close to the surface and there are a few pools of standing water like this one, which was said to be home to a very rare spider which walks on the water.










On Sunday we turned off the main route onto the Prees Branch which is now only about a mile long but used to be  much longer.  We moored near the end of the navigable section and walked through very wet vegetation to explore some more of the branch.

The Prees Branch soon becomes narrow and shallow meaning progress is slow.  However there is a large marina at the end.

This is as far as you can now go on a boat.  To the left you can see boats in the marina.  To the right, among the trees, is the continuation of the Prees Branch which we followed on foot.

Here is Boodles Bridge now crossing an overgrown ditch.

Prees Branch, though short, has a couple more lift bridges to keep boaters on their toes.

On Sunday evening we moored in the rain by Blake Mere and this is the view of the lake (Mere = Lake) from Leo.  The three drakes thought they were going to get fed.  It was rather dark and drippy under the  trees, but it would be a lovely spot for some shade on a hot summer's day.






On Monday we cruised on to Ellesmere and spent much of a wet day looking round the town.  We thought this was a delightful place with a canal wharf on one side and another Mere on the other.  The Meres are also a legacy of the last ice age.

We moored on the junction with the arm that leads down to Ellesmere (and a handy Tesco's).  Behind Leo is Beech House, built by Telford as canal offices.  We had endless entertainment watching boats going down the arm, backing out and failing to turn the sharp bend here.

This is both a service block for boaters and a large historic yard for Canal and River Trust.

Up a very steep hill from the town of Ellesmere is what was once a mound with the medieval castle on top.  The top of the mound is now a bowling green which came as a bit of a surprise.  However the mound gives a good view of the church and the Mere behind.

Here is the church seen from the promenade by the Mere.  The church has a superb 14th century carved wooden ceiling to a chapel, a 13th century rood screen and the grave of Sir Francis Kynaston who was cup bearer (and presumably food taster) to Elizabeth I.  The promenade by the Mere was like a Victorian sea front.  The boathouse restaurant provided a good lunch and was very popular.



We had booked ahead to go down the Frankton Locks which take boats down 4 locks at the start of the Montgomery Canal.  This canal used to go 35 miles South to the River Severn at Newtown.  At present there is a break in the canal after 7 miles so you cannot go so far.

The Llangollen Canal is very popular.  We had to wait at this bridge for a convoy of four boats heading the other way.

The Frankton Locks begin with a double staircase, seen here with another boat going between the top and bottom locks of the staircase.

This view looks back at the staircase.  The other two locks are single locks and a short distance beyond these another old branch - the Weston Branch - goes left.   We moored at the entrance to this branch.

The Weston Branch was intended to go to Shrewsbury and meet the River Severn there.  It never got so far but did extend several miles in that direction.  Walking up the Branch now leads to this weedy end in just a hundred yards or so.

From the nearby bridge you can see the Weston Branch heading away from you with Leo moored with another boat.  The route to the Frankton Locks lies to the left.










Yesterday we cruised through four locks and came to the present end of the Monty at Maesbury Marsh.

These water lilies (in fact I think they are yellow globe flowers) were in a winding hole.  The reflections above and below the flowers look to me like an impressionist painting.  This was Helen doing her Monet imitation.

The bridges on the Monty are pretty narrow but some are made even tighter by wooden boards to avoid you hitting concrete mouldings to take stop boards.

Montgomery Canal mile posts are quite distinctive.

With little boating traffic down here the water stays placid and gives some fine reflections.  The Canal goes through a very green corridor and the towpath is overgrown sufficiently to discourage wild mooring, though there is no shortage of visitor moorings at the fleshpots.

This old wharf beyond Maesbury Marsh is now the last point to turn round.  There is a horse drawn boat that does trips beyond the bridge in the background but that can be pulled backwards.  Going further in a powered boat would mean a lot of reversing and is not encouraged.

Croft's Mill Lift Bridge is the last one on the navigable section but gets a lot of use as each boat passing to reach the winding hole then has to come back through it.










Yesterday afternoon was fine to start with so we decided to cycle further along the canal.  Unfortunately we got caught in not one but two torrential downpours.  For the first we sheltered first under trees, then under a canal bridge and then retired to a pub.  For the second we sheltered in a barn where cows came through from the milking parlour; a farm worker, Del, took pity on us and gave us and the Bromptons a lift back to the boat!

This is the bridge you can see beyond the winding hole.  The black notice hiding on the right of the bridge hole says "No entry.  Horse drawn only."  But it is quite inconspicuous.

At the next bridge the water level becomes lower beyond the temporary fence which stands on top of stop planks.

And at the following bridge navigation is definitely out of the question, though you can see that  restoration is very much in progress.

 Further on there is just an overgrown ditch and at one point steps up and down disguise the old canal bed where old tramway workings cross the canal.  Round Pant and Llanymynech limestone and lime were loaded onto canal boats.

Approaching Llanymynech we found navigable water once more as this narrowboat moored there shows.

The Llanymynech road bridge (under which we sheltered) marks the Welsh boundary.  The front wall of the Lion Inn where we warmed and sheltered ourselves before starting our cycle back has the boundary along its front wall.  So you can have a drink in England, but if you step outside you are in Wales.  An Englishman at the bar told us he has to travel through foreign lands to get a drink in his own country!


Today we spent the morning drying out things that had unfortunately got rather wet yesterday including servicing the bikes.  We've been for a couple of short walks but the rain comes and goes and we are staying put today.  We've booked our return through Frankton Locks for Saturday so we shall set out tomorrow back up the Monty which has been very quiet and peaceful after the hustle and bustle of the Llangollen.  We will be trying to dodge the queues of boats once we are back on the Llangollen.  Though we've avoided coming here in school holidays I think it will still be pretty busy.  Perhaps we'll take to cruising in the early mornings and evenings.