Read the latest route blog from a member of the ABC team on this short break from Wrenbury Mill to Whitchurch Marina.
Total cruising time – 11 hours
Locks – 20
It has been a good three years since my last boating adventure and I’ve been waiting all season for an opportunity to have a mini getaway! I’ve enlisted two friends to join me; Becka, who is excited to be taking her first narrowboat holiday, and Chris, who lives on his own boat. Just Becka and I will be collecting the boat, and luckily she doesn’t seem fazed by the idea of me being captain on the first night!
I arrange to finish my day at work a little early (thanks Booking Office team!) so there is plenty of time to get to Wrenbury. It is Friday afternoon though, and I haven’t appreciated how much traffic there will be on the M54. I give Wrenbury a call and Lynn reassures me that as I have previous experience there is no need to worry, we will be able to have our handover and get away before the marina closes!
As expected, Cobbs Wren is beautifully presented. We unload our luggage, have our handover and we are then shown through the boat by our engineer.
We are cruising to Whitchurch which is in the direction of Llangollen, meaning we need to pass under the lift bridge we crossed to reach the marina. As Lynn operates the bridge for us, Martin steers us clear of the fleet of moored ABC boats before jumping off. They both wave us goodbye, and very quickly it all comes back to me. It is exhilarating to meander along in the pouring rain. There is nobody in sight, and after about 20 minutes, Becka is keen to take the helm, she is a natural – some people just are, I feel a bit miffed as I definitely wasn’t!
We see the occasional moored boat but otherwise we have the canal to ourselves, we suspect this is due to the rain but we’re not complaining! After just over an hours cruising we spot a few moored boats and what looks like Marbury Lock ahead of us. We make the decision that if the lock is set in our favour we will continue and if not we’ll moor up below the lock for the evening. I jump off and run ahead… the lock is empty so we’re a go!
I jump back onboard I take the tiller so Becka can have a go at operating her first lock. She opens the bottom gates and I navigate in, calling instructions from the bottom of the lock! There is a lovely stretch to moor up not far from the lock so I pull in and throw Becka the ropes. We take a little time securing the boat to make sure it is done correctly!
We’re feeling pretty pleased with ourselves for managing the first stretch of our trip, a lock and mooring up by ourselves and agree that a drink is definitely in order! Although we are tempted to find the pub just as we are we decide to make a little bit of effort and get changed. Luckily we had checked the map before we left the boat because the signage at the lock is a bit confusing… one side of the sign is pointing in the correct direction and the other is pointing the opposite way!
As we follow the lane into the village we’re quite excited; we did look on the pubs website beforehand but we’re still not sure what to expect.
It may have only been a 15 minute walk but it’s dark by the time we reach the Swan and it looks very pretty from the outside. The inside doesn’t disappoint and we’re greeted by an open fire and the smell of delicious looking food. There is a lovely atmosphere and the pub is busy with locals and I’m guessing a few boaters, we order our drinks and take a seat in front of the fire. The food is delicious and I’ve nearly finished it before I remember I haven’t taken a photo!
Feeling very full and now extremely sleepy we wend our way back to the boat... luckily we’ve remembered the torch! Cobbs Wren is warm and cosy and after a cup of tea we’re ready for bed!
I am definitely a fan of the memory foam mattresses and the wider beds; I’ve had a brilliant nights sleep. Chris and Ellie the dog are joining us this morning and we’ve told him we’ll have breakfast ready for 10am, better get out of bed! Cup of tea before we start cooking though, have to enjoy a view like this… no rain in sight and it is going to be a beautiful day!
We’ve got all the essentials, bacon, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes and toast. Ellie will be happy! With full tummies we set off in the direction of Whitchurch. It isn’t long before we reach our first lock and Becka and Chris (followed closely behind by Ellie!) jump off. Chris has told me about the small weir to the side of the lock and as we approach, I’m careful to steer into it slightly so I go into the lock smoothly.
It's Becka’s turn to drive the boat into the next lock and she’s a bit nervous! There is another weir here and it does send her off course but she manages to make it in and only bounces off the sides a little bit!
Alongside Willymoor Lock is Willymoor Tavern, with lots of outdoor seating I can imagine in the summer months the pub would be heaving. Thankfully there isn’t an audience for us today!
We pass through Povey’s lock and then as we navigate under Grindley Brook Bridge we see the first of the 3 Grindley locks before the staircase. It is a beautiful canal scene which I imagine hasn’t changed an awful lot over the years. We moor up here whilst we wait for a boat to come through the lock and take a look at the curious little shop in the old wharf building.
Whilst we wait we discuss who will drive the boat into the staircase locks and both me and Becka decide it is going to be Chris! The boat has passed us and we carry on through locks 5 and 4. We are surprised to be greeted by a Canal & River Trust volunteer who tells us to wait before the bridge in the approach to the staircase flight – he is on his walkie talkie and will let us know when it is our turn to go ahead. It is a very smooth operation… 3 boats down and then 3 boats up.
We get the all clear to proceed and myself and Becka run ahead, leaving Chris to navigate the boat under the bridge and into the bottom staircase lock. The lock chambers are huge! We join the volunteers at each side of the lock paddle and follow their instructions. There are 3 chambers in total, the gates of the middle lock form the top gate of the bottom lock and the bottom gate of the top lock. As we are going up the flight the middle and top lock need to be full before we can proceed.
Still with me?!
We empty enough water from the middle lock to raise the boat up to the marked level on the middle lock and then move into the middle chamber. We follow the same rule with the top lock and moving into the top chamber. At the top of the flight of locks we can see there are temporary moorings for water points so we decide to moor up and whilst Chris connects the hose pipe, myself and Becka cobble together some lunch.
It is just a short distance from Grindley Brook to where we plan to moor up and with such beautiful weather I’m a little disappointed when I see Whitchurch Arm ahead!
As we approach the arm, there is a bit of a scene… a boat has attempted to make the tight turn without turning in the winding hole first, and is stuck! We hold back as they make many manoeuvres and eventually disappear down the arm. They have left the lift bridge up for us so we continue past the arm and on to the winding hole; there is now a queue of boats behind us so we decide to keep going and use the next turning point just past Whitchurch Marina.
It’s about 2pm and as we pass the marina it is lovely to see all of all of the ABC customers either loading up their boats or midway through their handovers! I wonder if I have booked their holiday for them?
Although I now consider myself a capable boater, the one thing I haven’t been able to successfully do is turn and reverse a boat! As we reach the winding hole we slow down and Chris talks us through taking the boat wide, before steering fully into the opposite side of the canal and then letting the flow of the water take the boat around. A little reverse and we’re pointing in the opposite direction!
We head back past Whitchurch Marina and turn on to the Whitchurch Arm. We pass some lovely private boats, one is selling clothes, another souvenirs and the one we are most interested in is selling coffee! There is a perfect mooring spot for us and I take the boat to the bottom of the arm to turn; managing to not just turn the boat on my own but take it straight into the mooring spot easily! Why can’t I drive a car like this!
We take a walk up to the boat vendors, treat ourselves to a drink and have a little mooch at the quirky items for sale. There are some lovely handmade souvenirs and clothes, very tempting!
Its only 3pm so we decide to get ourselves ready and walk into Whitchurch for a look around and to find somewhere to eat for the evening.
The footpath into Whitchurch follows the course of the disused section of the canal arm, filled in in the 1950’s, the waterway once navigated all the way into the town. The ‘Arm’ is owned by Whitchurch Waterways Trust and there are plans to develop the section from Chemistry Bridge to a new marina, which will be close to the centre of the town. There are plaques along the pathway and its exciting to read about how this section of canal will be brought back to life in the future!
As we get closer to the town centre we can hear music, there is a large crowd and what looks like a procession through the high street! We have stumbled on the ‘Blackberry Fair’, an annual street event which mixes Art and Sustainability. As we make our way up the high street there are market stalls, people dressed up and several stages for live music and entertainment. We loiter and listen to the music outside The Black Bear, before deciding its not really our cup of tea, and then head inside to see if we can book a table for a little later that evening. The pub is heaving but they manage to squeeze us in for 7, so we decide to retreat and have a look around the high street shops.
There are some lovely side streets to explore and we enjoy a couple of hours looking around, as well as a cheeky pint in The White Bear before heading back to The Black Bear (how many bears are there?). The pub is still busy and Ellie decides to sit in a prime position for plenty of fuss and free biscuits! We enjoy a lovely meal and a few drinks and then decide to head back to the boat for a game of scrabble and a nightcap.
It’s another beautiful morning, but it is going to take a few coffees before we get going, we may have stayed up much later than planned last night!
Breakfast consists of everything we didn’t use yesterday, all this fresh air has made us very hungry!
We leave the Whitchurch Arm around 10am, turning left towards the winding hole. Myself and Becka are determined to turn the boat on our own, which is a good job because Chris has disappeared into the boat! We do a fabulous job and Chris appears and gives us a thumbs-up from the front of the boat. We do feel a bit smug!
The lift bridge is down as we arrive back at the arm, so Becka drops me off and I run over the bridge and start to wind it up... It's quite heavy and I need to give it some oomph. There is a boat coming from the opposite direction, so I leave the bridge up and jump back onboard.
It seems like no time at all before we are back at Grindley Brook. I’m feeling confident and decide to navigate the flight as I know they’ll be instruction from the volunteers. When we are given the go ahead I proceed into the first lock before waiting for the levels to be correct and then move into the second. It is quite daunting looking up and seeing how deep the lock chamber is!
As it is only just over 3 hours cruising from the bottom of the Grindley Brook flight to Wrenbury we decide not to stop for lunch but instead to continue cruising and treat ourselves to a meal once we have returned the boat. The canal seems so beautifully quiet, we hardly see another boat all the way back to the marina.
There is one last challenge, as Chris operates the lift bridge, I see that there is just one space left for us in the row of ABC boats and it’s going to need reversing into! I can do this! After many manoeuvres we are lined up next to the other boats and then an engineer finds us and says he needs to move the boat to another spot, typical!
We have had the best weekend on the Llangollen and would definitely recommend Wrenbury to Whitchurch & return as a relaxed short break route with the perfect amount of locks!
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Marina: Wrenbury Mill | Boat: Cobbs Wren |
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