Nantwich to Llangollen
(Shroppshire Union Canal & Llangollen Canal)
£1250pp (£2500 per charter)
Trip 16 – 28th August to 4th September (7 nights)
This trip is now fully booked
Nantwich (Shropshire Union Canal) to Llangollen (Llangollen Canal)
Total distance is 47 miles, 21 locks and 10 moveable bridges
We’ll depart Nantwich after a couple of days in Nantwich to prepare the boat, we’ll expect our guests to arrive about 1.30pm on day 1 and after an introductory blah blah (and most probably a glass of something fizzy) we’ll chug off and aim to tie up for the night somewhere around Hurleston Junction (either the top or bottom depending on queues This stretch will be quite remote and pretty but can also be very busy.
The next morning (after a simple DIY breakfast), we’ll head off and Swanley will be our next settlement, where we’ll pass through another 2 locks and then 3 more in Baddiley.
Baddiley Hall may be of interest and perhaps warrant a brief stop. We’ll aim to moor in Wrenbury for the evening - once we’ve tackled a couple of lift bridges that is.
Next morning, we continue along remote countryside, penning through the occasional lock until we arrive at Grindleybrook – where we’ll encounter 6 locks… the first 3 being single and the last 3 being in a stair case. Our suggested mooring for the evening is Whitchurch – with around a half mile walk into town, we may be able to visit a couple of the numerous pubs… just to be sociable of course.
Leaving Whitchurch, we travel onwards as the canal becomes ever more rural and away from populated areas – passing through the occasional lift bridge. Our journey continues on a scenic route, uninterrupted by locks for quite some time before we approach several attractive meres/lakes. We’ll aim to pass through Ellesmere Tunnel (87 yards) – hopefully mooring in Ellesmere .
We should be able to spend a couple of nights in Ellesmere, before casting off and re-joining the countryside once more. On route today will be Frankton Junction (Montgomery canal) and New Marton Locks and one more which will be the last lock we encounter before reaching our destination of Chirk for tonight’s mooring but not until we’ve transversed Chirk Aqueduct (with the railway bridge alongside) and Chirk Tunnel (459 yards) . We’ll moor in this area and spend a night so as to give a walking/photographic opportunity down into the Dee Valley .
Continuing, we pass through Whitehouse Tunnel (191 yards) and a small aqueduct in our approach to the world famous, Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (neither of us can pronounce it). Once over the aqueduct and the stunning views over the edge of the channel we’ll turn left at the basin and carry on to Llangollen and moor for our final evening so as our guests can take a walk up to Horseshoe falls. We expect our guests to depart after breakfast the following morning.
Despite what’s written, due to the time of year, the days may end up LONGER or SHORTER (to avoid bottlenecks) so it’s pretty much a suck it and see trip. If guests would prefer (and there’s room) we can aim to spend the last 2 nights mooring in Llangollen Basin to allow time to walk to Horseshoe falls, enjoy the town or even Hike up to the Castle.
This trip consists of 47 miles of canal and 21 locks . There are 10 moveable bridges 4 small aqueducts or underbridges and 3 tunnels (Whitehouses Tunnel (191 yards long), Chirk Tunnel (459 yards long) and Ellesmere Tunnel (87 yards long)) – and 2 major aqueducts (Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Chirk Aqueduct).
