Hi Everyone
Since leaving Ellesmere last Thursday and heading down the Montgomery the weather has been absolutely beautiful, as it must have been for you, though as I have always said a bad day on the canal is better than a good day at work. Now the Mongomery canal; it is as stated in the books one of the most peaceful, tranquil and beautiful canals in the country this tranquillity comes at a cost first you have to book a passage through the first lock at present only 12 boats are allowed down in one day and you can only stay 14 days maximum, hire boats only 24 hrs this is obviously to avoid congestion as the canal in places is very very very narrow. We have been down the whole length all 7 miles
Being conservative I have counted about 30 moorings I am talking an average of 54ft boats mine being 60ft I struggle. So in my humble opinion 12 boats a day over a week is 72 boats, surmising none go back thats 40 boats cruising aimlessly looking for a mooring
However all the boaters we have spoken to none have complained and all found a mooring. So something must be working if not my maths
There is a BW sanitary station with pump out a the end of the canal, it is very nice well kept and spotless, tomorrow I will find out if the pump actually works. The winding hole at the end is something of a problem as just before the hole is a lift bridge and when I say just before I mean just before I calculated that once my stern is clear of the bridge my Bow has already passed the winding hole, with two boats moored in the hole tomorrows manoeuvres could be fun. Boaters if you come down bring BW cards with you there are none down here, As we were visiting Tom yesterday by car we had to get ours from Anderton. Having said all that the Mongomery is a very nice place with lots to do, nice people, good pubs and good food what else do boaters want. Whilst here we have had the car with us so Noreen can visit Tom having it here has made exploring easy, as we all know Shropshire is a lovely county and well worth a visit. With the weather being so good and the traffic so quiet there are no funny skits to tell you about I suppose John’s large Eel he caught last night would have made anyone laugh at our antics trying to land it, just beside of us there is a canoe club it would appear our main task on the mooring is to fish the inexperienced canoeist out of the canal???????
The whole point of coming on the Montgomery and having this quiet period was to enable Noreen to do lots of visiting Tom in hospital which has worked our very well the only downside is now we are buying Petrol and Diesel?? I am now getting ready for Matthew and Lorraine coming they are Boat Minding over the bank holiday weekend as on Sat we are driving over to the Crick boat show and are assisting on the Fettlers Wharf stand, I feel proud to be representing them, we are really looking forward to it, I just hope that the hotel room has a bath and not a shower Noreen would be upset. It will be great to catch up with Lorraine Danny Sarah and Wayne plus all the Marina/Canal gossip.
Lets hope for fair weather and a good crowd
Just got back from doing a pump out and filling with water ready for the gang coming
This morning we press ganged Lynne into coming with us, Lynne had never done locks so it was an experience for her. However coming out of the first lock I got quite a lot of weed around the prop, I stopped to clear it all, to get into the weed hatch I have to take the urn off the stern which at the moment is full of coal. The grass had just been cut and made the bank very slippy YES I went Ar*** over T** with the urn finishing up on my now twisted ankle. My roll over the urn on landing must have been spectacular as Lynne thought is was a professional boaters way of disembarking whilst carrying a milk urn full of coal
You would have all been proud of me no cursing, swearing, or oaths of profanity. I just picked myself up dusted myself down and carried on, I must admit though I am now in some considerable pain which I am sure will soon wear off
The winding hole that I was concerned about at the end was not as daunting as I imagined though I did have to reverse into it something I do not like doing the farmer who was waiting to cross the bridge thought it was quite an impressive manoeuvre and so did I as at the time I could only stand on one leg the other by now causing quite a lot of discomfort.
When we arrived back here at Queens Bridge Kath and John had been making quite sure that nobody pinched our mooring, whilst Kath was standing guard John had been polishing his mushrooms so he is now the proud owner of a lovely pair ++of polished Mushrooms ????????
That’s it for this blog my next one will be after the Boat show,
Wish us luck
Speak soon
Big Al
Since leaving Ellesmere last Thursday and heading down the Montgomery the weather has been absolutely beautiful, as it must have been for you, though as I have always said a bad day on the canal is better than a good day at work. Now the Mongomery canal; it is as stated in the books one of the most peaceful, tranquil and beautiful canals in the country this tranquillity comes at a cost first you have to book a passage through the first lock at present only 12 boats are allowed down in one day and you can only stay 14 days maximum, hire boats only 24 hrs this is obviously to avoid congestion as the canal in places is very very very narrow. We have been down the whole length all 7 miles
Being conservative I have counted about 30 moorings I am talking an average of 54ft boats mine being 60ft I struggle. So in my humble opinion 12 boats a day over a week is 72 boats, surmising none go back thats 40 boats cruising aimlessly looking for a mooring
However all the boaters we have spoken to none have complained and all found a mooring. So something must be working if not my maths
There is a BW sanitary station with pump out a the end of the canal, it is very nice well kept and spotless, tomorrow I will find out if the pump actually works. The winding hole at the end is something of a problem as just before the hole is a lift bridge and when I say just before I mean just before I calculated that once my stern is clear of the bridge my Bow has already passed the winding hole, with two boats moored in the hole tomorrows manoeuvres could be fun. Boaters if you come down bring BW cards with you there are none down here, As we were visiting Tom yesterday by car we had to get ours from Anderton. Having said all that the Mongomery is a very nice place with lots to do, nice people, good pubs and good food what else do boaters want. Whilst here we have had the car with us so Noreen can visit Tom having it here has made exploring easy, as we all know Shropshire is a lovely county and well worth a visit. With the weather being so good and the traffic so quiet there are no funny skits to tell you about I suppose John’s large Eel he caught last night would have made anyone laugh at our antics trying to land it, just beside of us there is a canoe club it would appear our main task on the mooring is to fish the inexperienced canoeist out of the canal???????
The whole point of coming on the Montgomery and having this quiet period was to enable Noreen to do lots of visiting Tom in hospital which has worked our very well the only downside is now we are buying Petrol and Diesel?? I am now getting ready for Matthew and Lorraine coming they are Boat Minding over the bank holiday weekend as on Sat we are driving over to the Crick boat show and are assisting on the Fettlers Wharf stand, I feel proud to be representing them, we are really looking forward to it, I just hope that the hotel room has a bath and not a shower Noreen would be upset. It will be great to catch up with Lorraine Danny Sarah and Wayne plus all the Marina/Canal gossip.
Lets hope for fair weather and a good crowd
Just got back from doing a pump out and filling with water ready for the gang coming
This morning we press ganged Lynne into coming with us, Lynne had never done locks so it was an experience for her. However coming out of the first lock I got quite a lot of weed around the prop, I stopped to clear it all, to get into the weed hatch I have to take the urn off the stern which at the moment is full of coal. The grass had just been cut and made the bank very slippy YES I went Ar*** over T** with the urn finishing up on my now twisted ankle. My roll over the urn on landing must have been spectacular as Lynne thought is was a professional boaters way of disembarking whilst carrying a milk urn full of coal
You would have all been proud of me no cursing, swearing, or oaths of profanity. I just picked myself up dusted myself down and carried on, I must admit though I am now in some considerable pain which I am sure will soon wear off
The winding hole that I was concerned about at the end was not as daunting as I imagined though I did have to reverse into it something I do not like doing the farmer who was waiting to cross the bridge thought it was quite an impressive manoeuvre and so did I as at the time I could only stand on one leg the other by now causing quite a lot of discomfort.
When we arrived back here at Queens Bridge Kath and John had been making quite sure that nobody pinched our mooring, whilst Kath was standing guard John had been polishing his mushrooms so he is now the proud owner of a lovely pair ++of polished Mushrooms ????????
That’s it for this blog my next one will be after the Boat show,
Wish us luck
Speak soon
Big Al
1 comment:
What a great time you're having!
Hope you enjoyed the Boat Show and it was prosperous for both of you. That would make it even better.
Save some of that weather for when we get there!
Our Love
From Downunda xx
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