Chirk  (Llangollen Canal) to Nantwich (Shropshire Union) VIA Llangollen Basin and the Pontycysyllte Aqueduct.

This trip will start from Chirk Bank – probably the Poachers Pocket pub (as they are quite chilled out about a car being left in their car park) … Alternatively, we can start at the Western Entrance to Chirk tunnel for an easy walk from the train station which is a few hundred yards away.​

Guests will arrive approximately 1.30pm on day one and after an introductory blah blah (and most probably glass of something fizzy) we’ll chug off to begin our adventure. We can either try and moor on the tight stretch before the Pontycysyllte aqueduct OR if folks are up for a later night, press on right up to Llangollen and moor in the Basin (if there’s room).  If we have made it all the way, it’ll be a late tea but we can then spend 2 nights moored in Llangollen to allow time to explore the town, Horseshoe falls or take a walk up to the Castle Ruins to appreciate the spectacular views.

Next morning we'll begin our journey down from Llangollen toward Trevor basin. It can be quite a busy stretch and at times is VERY narrow... with that in mind, it makes sense to send someone ahead (with a walkie talkie ) to check the coast is clear and/or ask any opposing traffic to hold water at a wide point where we can pass.

Once safely through the narrows, we'll take a right turn and chug over the World Heritage Site that is the Pontcysyllte  (no I still can't pronounce it either) Aqueduct. We’ll continue our journey – first passing through the Whitehouse Tunnel (191 yards) then Chirk Tunnel (459 yards) and Chirk Aqueduct. We'll suggest stopping for a while a Chirk bank to facilitate a visit to the beautiful Chirk Castle possibly staying overnight night but it'll depend on where we can get tied up.

Next stop will probably be Whitchurch for the night. It is a reasonable walk back to Whitchurh  from the mainline but it's quite a pretty town so well worth the effort.

​

The remainder of the trip can be quite fluid – we do have to bear in mind the (CRT controlled) staircase at Grindley Brook can become a bottleneck but we can explore the area at our (relative) leisure. As usual, we'll be on the look out for water/ refuse disposal points and we also need to bear in mind due to the local topography, 4g phone/internet and TV signals are very sporadic...ergo, if folk want to be able to watch tv or send an email etc. we may have a few attempts at finding the perfect end of day mooring... it's all part of the adventure!

​

Our last night together will be spent on the visitor moorings approaching Nantwich aqueduct or if there isn't space, the other side of the aqueduct where we expect our guests to depart after breakfast the following morning.

​

This trip consists of 47 miles of canal and 21 locks . There are 10 moveable bridges 4 small aqueducts or underbridges and 3 tunnels (Whitehouse Tunnel (191 yards long), Chirk Tunnel (459 yards long) and Ellesmere Tunnel (87 yards long)) – and 2 major aqueducts (Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Chirk Aqueduct).

NB - It is quite a walk from the canal to the train station in Nantwich so for some guests, it might be worth their while arranging a taxi in advance.