Pontcystyllte Aqueduct and Llangollen

 The weather just keeps getting better!

Despite the forecast and locals exclaiming there only see the sun like this for 2 weeks a year, in April, today was so sunny that my camera was having fits about the high contrast shadows and it wasn't even a little bit breezy.

We started the day with a lift bridge - I did the lifting - and soon after, the main reason we came, the Pontcystyllte  Aqueduct. Of course I drove over! It was a 50 and Fabulous Bucket List item!!!

It was easy steering and mentally just not as challenging as tunnels or locks BUT the second one peers over the "non-railing" side, all bets are off. I believe our photos are the luckiest because we had archway shadows in the field below and gorgeous blue skies to lend a magical aura to the whole event.

Exiting the canal sets you up to immediately perform a 90 degree turn into a decidedly narrow tunnel. By narrow I mean 2" each side of the boat. 

The canal going to Llangollen was narrow, then narrower. They even called one section "the narrows". Twisty, single width, no passing areas. I was sent on ahead on foot to see if anyone was oncoming before we started. Everyone was advised to do this.  Yes! 2 boats and a blow-up kayak! Please WAIT!

We moored at Llangollen, slightly out of town. The mooring points all had potable water taps too. It was a short walk down into town, which is gorgeous. Picturesque, quaint, kitchy and all geared up to capitalize on summer tourists, offering opportunities such as horse-drawn boat rides, white water rafting and cake/fudge/ice cream on decks over the river.

Making the most of the sunshine and getting to the point of needing to be cooled, it seemed only right that we'd dip our feet in the Dee River and talk to the ducks for a while as we waited for our reservation time at The Corn Mill - which was fabulous, BTW!

Mark's friends Pete and Julie stopped by for a quick catchup and selfie, after dinner. How lovely!

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!