Day 2 on the Llangollen Canal (July 16th)

 It was time for me to get Captaincy lessons! Mark had the unenviable task of giving the lessons.

Was it just me or did every time I take the helm, a blind turn, passing challenge or ultra-narrow bridge appear?! True story! Perhaps my bad for initially assuming canals were mostly straight and bridges over them, perpendicular.

Today yielded 1000+ pictures of sheep, cows, horses, ducks, geese and views from the canal. 

I mastered hand-cranked locks (with the kind help of some Texan kids!) and steered the boat back over the Chirk Aqueduct and through the 400m Chirk Tunnel. 

Tunnels are unlit if you don't count your little headlamp - which is mainly to alert oncoming traffic rather than illuminate anything! Tunnels, aqueducts and locks are single file. First come, first served with the exception being the person who wastes the least water goes first through the locks if traffic is waiting in both directions.  IE If the water is at your level, you go. Then you empty or fill it to traverse  and oncoming traffic then uses it at that level to go the other way.

We passed the Chirk Marina - now headed for Llangollen - upstreaming it. Then we parked (moored) somewhere peaceful and hiked uphill to Aqueduct Inn Freehouse, for dinner.

Dinner... An event at which you pet strange dogs (because they come to the bar too) and run into other narrowboaters that you may or may not recognize from a day on the water.  Teddy the fox-faced Pomeranian was the first to make friends but Bella the 9 year old rottie was not far behind. We liked their owners and the couple next to us. Her from England and him, Oregan. Getting married in just 2 weeks. Did you know Croatia has a visa to live there almost permanently if you can prove you work remote? The Nomad Visa.  That's how this couple stayed together 18 months during the pandemic when both the US and the UK conspired to keep them apart.

Final thought... It didn't rain at all today. A gorgeous morning gave way to fluffy clouds and overcast skies. The deluge of yesterday never revisited us. Lucky!