I woke overflowing with joy. Not unusual for me when the sun is shining and the birds are singing and YES, Wales was still not raining on us. Anywho, that meant I was itching to go somewhere... like the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct... for a few pictures in the early morning sun.
Finding it wasn't hard but finding parking, a walk with a view and much else was a bit more challenging. These pics came from the lane under the aqueduct that belonged to some private anglers club.
Then there was the community soccer field. At least we assumed it was open to the community. It does feel like we trespass every other day here. LOL.
Breakfast at the Wynnstay Ruabon was pretty wonderful, then we checked out and made tracks to St Giles church where the bells from the poem were about to be heard. Our Bulgarian greeter was pretty wonderful but really, really not the one to be giving Welsh pronunciation lessons. I wish I had videoed the interaction though.
In Wrexham we picked up groceries and discovered the very reasonable cost of instant coffee, oats, milk, fruit, pasta and veggies over here. Did I mention we bought baby corn? Real fresh little corns in a packet.
In Overton we visited St Mary's Church to see the 2000 year yew tree. And wandered among the ancient gravestones. Fascinating.
It was time to take our sweet selves to Black Prince Holiday Rentals at the Chirk Marina and become Captains of the boat... Caitlin. An Irish name is definitely easier to pronounce than a Welsh one! She's a beauty.
Paul oriented us to Caitlin's bells, whistles, levers, ropes, buttons and switches. All fairly important to cleverly not run out of water, overflow water, work the locks, run the heat and "mascerate" waste in the toilet. Actually there were about 50 reminders to not clog the toilet that ranged from the subtle inquiries about travelers digestive issues to the less tactful warning about being charged £50 for a toilet-fixing call out!
We were going to mess it up! The question was when, and how. Please! Anything but the CILL was my goal. What is the cill? Glad you asked. It's a concrete ledge inside the lock on the high water end. The gates close against it.
When transitioning high to low, you drive in with the cill behind you and stay firmly pressed against the front gates so the back of your boat is not over the cill. As the water level drops, you can get hung up on the cill if you don't. The result is a canceled vacation and off-the-charts humiliation!
Paul's goal for us was anything but the toilet, not surprisingly. And when it was all said (and said again, in regard to the toilet!) we had he Harbor Pilot maneuver us out of the marina, so we could be on our way.
Mark was at the helm and I was in charge of documenting it. Today's goal was just steering and practicing as we headed downstream toward Ellesmere. Rain was expected... and it came softly at first.
Before mooring, we had successfully navigated the Chirk Tunnel and the Chirk Aqueduct. Gratefully dressed in our wet weather gear as the rain settled in heavily, we contemplated a mile long walk to a recommended restaurant - then took the wise advice of some kind boaty strangers and headed for the closest place instead. On an almost-warm but torrential evening, a British pub with calorie-heavy pub-fare seemed quite comforting. Everyone inside the Bridge Inn was wet. The place smelled of fried food, old beer and wet dogs. It was triggering all sorts of memories I had from the late 90's living in the UK. Nice memories!
Caitlin was cool when we returned. The perfect opportunity to try our hand at starting the heat - a 5 step, 5 minute procedure but one that toastied us up nicely, dried our gear and made the little double bed seem that bit more inviting.
Just enough time for hot chocolate and card games by valuable energy-sucking boat light!
Today's Achievements
-Not backseat driving
-Unpacking groceries into a galley
-Finding and reading "open canal" app that I wisely downloaded weeks ago
-Knocking several things off the Wales bucket list already
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