Telstar17

For my money yes - hiking gear typically is cut for movement and is comfortable in this environments. As I said some cycling equipment is good too, I’ve seen plent of people in workwear hi-vis stuff too the tricky thing is getting stuff filthy - nothing works as well as it should when dirty. If I were you now I’d buy a really good waterproof jacket in darker colour that won’t show the dirt - a cheap pair of hiking pants that have some sort of quick drying /rain shedding properties and a middling pair of waterproof trousers or over trousers.

I never said you would not have a base layer… I always wear them in cold weather and rarely have waterproofs next to bare skin except when it’s very warm. i might not have massive experience of boating but I have plenty of experience hiking. I gave outer waterproof layers as a starting point as they are typically the most important and expensive to procure. I then asked if the OP wanted more details to ask.

speaking from my own experience - the wet weather does not change based on temperature - only the clothes underneath it. my upper outer waterproof is a Berghaus Mera Peak jacket which i got as bargain due to stacking discounts at go outdoors. trousers are either a pair of hiking pants that do shed rain and dry quickly in a light shower or a pair of waterproof trousers in heavy/ prolonged rain. mine are cycling waterproof trousers from Altura which I would recommend - they're cut loose but can be Velcrod in and have never leaked - they also go higher up the back to reduce chance of rain getting in. i have seen a lot of people in ponchos but im 6ft 4 - can't find one that goes past my upper thigh. I always wear a hat - either baseball or bobble hat style (would recommend new era bobble hats - they're fleece lined). work glove on steering hand, other hand gloveless in my pocket. if you'd like more information on clothes underneath, please ask.

It went well thank you for asking - the boat seems is good condition for being 13 years old. unfortunately, their contact from BCBM was unable to make it due to another boat breakdown but we were shown around by another member of staff from the hire boat base that ABC operate at Anderton marina. she was unable to answer the questions they had but they managed to get answers via email from BCBM who have been really good from what I have seen. while they were having a wander i managed to have a look at the handover and issue log which seemed reasonable - the boat maintenance checklist was always filled out and with only minimal issues this year which is reassuring. they have decided to press on with the buying process and may be attending the AGM which is due very shortly! would like to thank everyone for their help and a lot of the discussion here was passed on to my friends who have duly asked BCBM or are ready to ask the owners at the first meeting. would recommend BCBM so far based on my limited experience, but we will really see when they get out on the canal more in Phoenix! and just to add we had lunch in a pub near Anderton called 'the spinner and bergamot' which was fantastic!

ate at the aqueduct inn in september while on our holiday on the llangollen - fantastic food and staff would really recommend.

this is really helpful thank you! I will make sure they ask these questions! thats so much - one of them is able to take holidays whenever so most systems should work for them but will make sure its convenient

I've been invited to go and look at a share boat tomorrow with some people who are thinking of purchasing a share - we've done a few holidays and really enjoyed them. I was wondering if anyone could help me with specific things to look out for such as issues or anything like that? here is the listing BCBM Shared Ownership Boating - Narrowboats if anyone has any advice on shareboating in general or this boat in particular 'Phoenix' I'd really appreciate it!

A second vote for Mechanix - i use the leather ones which are available on amazon but they're all good. I also keep my other hand in my pocket gloveless as i feel warmer that way. as for using ropes when tying i am bare handed but when pulling or initially slowing the boat i like to use gloves.

You're welcome! we really enjoyed it - was our first canal holiday and we are planning more! you could consider the montgomery canal as well which was nice and much more peaceful but would recommend doing thursday/friday/saturday/sunday if you want to - its only a day to the end and back and the pubs we saw only serve food on those days or are just closed except those days.

it was lovely a few weeks ago! we got quite lucky with the weather and only had one day of rain but all the wildlife was still out and about. would recommend the aqueducts at sunrise or just at sun set - was absolutely spectacular with the light

I've done two holidays on the llangollen this year, both 4 nights - one from bunbury to just before ellesmere - one from whixhall to trevor basin also going to the end of the montgomery and back - this one was in the middle of September. I think you'd have very few issues getting at least to trevor basin in 6 nights - and turning there the only thing you're missing is Llangollen itself - you'll have done chirk tunnel and aqueduct, also you'll have done the big aqueduct right before turning. it was very busy at points but we didnt have any massive hold ups. sightseeing wise - ellesmere was very nice for a wander around the shops - we ate in the red lion but there was plenty of options. there are quite a few wildlife preserves along this stretch of canal if youd like to see that. chirk is supposed to be nice too but we didnt stop there just due to the time scale we were on. more importantly : food options willymoor lock tavern was good the horse and jockey at grindley brook - really good the red lion ellesmere the aqueduct inn right by the Pontcysyllte aqueduct - would really recommend this i wrote a post about the trip which is in this sub forum, please have a look! any questions please ask!

I think if the weather is bad it definitely could be as you cant see a huge amount from the canal - but the weather was good and the wildlife was excellent. if it is later in the week im sure the selection of pubs would help too 😀

we thought about the moorings there but they were apparently packed in the morning before we arrived and didn't want to risk not finding a spot - definitely a place id recommend looking for a mooring if you want to be off the Montgomery early! if it was the grey and red boat behind us you have a lovely boat! made us very jealous of your bow thruster as we had to do a little bit of back and forth to make the turn especially due to the other boats moored on the landing there. the insect life was the best I've seen definitely - many many varieties i just wish we could have seen the otters that apparently live around the canal. our plan was to have a look at the restoration but with the delays getting through Frankton we were on a tight schedule knowing we had to be off on Wednesday and had the aqueduct as our main target for the trip - the main reason for our trip down the Monty was to take picture for the silver propeller award!

Do you mean the Queens Head pub in the village of the same name? it was right by the canal with some bollarded moorings? if so the pub is not permanently closed - it was only open Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday which we were very sad about - wed been highly recommended it by people coming off the Montgomery on Tuesday

Hello Everyone, thought I would post a little about our trip that we returned back from on Friday. Day 1 Picked up the boat from Whixall which is a lovely marina with a good Cafe - we were on our way quickly but were happy with the standard of handover from anglowelsh. motored along to Ellesmere with a quick diversion into the town for some tea and sugar (we forgot) and some hand soap (anglowelsh forgot) and made plans to return - all the local shops were shut as it was after 6 but looked nice. the towpath was very busy along here with moored boats including the small arm into ellesmere which had another anglowelsh boat moored in the winding hole being repaired - ironically the one we hired in march but had no problems with - glad we moored up outside and walked in. had BBQ for tea but left no trace on the towpath. incidentally if you want less of walk moor on the llangollen side of ellesmere rather than hurleston but be warned the towpath is much nicer on the hurleston side. Day 2 got to frankton junction at 9am exactly right as the CRT arrived - brilliant we thought. we were 3rd in a queue of 4 but were happy enough wed be through the locks within an hour. however there were no less than 8 boats waiting to come off the montgomery as the locks were closed the day before due to the bank holiday - no boats could be let down until the first 6 had been let up due to the extreme narrowness of the canal at the bottom. we made up our minds to be early in the queue the day after when leaving the monty. we also met a lovely pair of brothers who were in the queue ahead of us along with their dog Lucy. we finally got onto the montgomery at 12 oclock! we went to the end of the monty - its a very pretty canal and the wildlife was the best we saw - i assume this is due to the less used nature of the canal. we turned around and made way to the queens head wharf - we knew the pub was closed but planned to walk to another pub 'the punchbowl' about 15 minutes away. sadly this does not serve food. if you are planning on visiting the Montgomery and visiting pubs along the canal do not visit monday to wednesday - most of the pubs are shut those days and those that are open dont serve food. we motored on and tried to find a mooring close to the locks but had a nightmare as there is no armco or mooring pins for a long way. we ended up mooring on the bottom lock landing of graham palmer lock - someone had already moored on the top and made our emergency curry for tea! day 3 after making bacon for breakfast (some was shared with lucy whose owners were actually the boat on the top landing of graham palmer lock, theyd struggled to find a mooring as well) and pulling a full pair of pants off the prop (we think we picked them up late on tuesday and didnt bother to check then) we managed to go through frankton back onto the llangollen quite early on wednesday and cruised chirk aqueduct and tunnel which were an amazing experience if hard work as the flow through both seemed very very strong. we moored just by the lift bridge before Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and had food and drinks in the aqueduct in which was absolutely fantastic if a bit of an uphill walk. would recommend it to anyone. after our evening meal we traversed the aqueduct which was the perfect time in my opinion - the magic hour of sun set was absolutely superb and the view was spectacular. we planned to turn around in trevor basin however it was completely full of boats. we then had to reverse our 70ft boat out past moored boats and anglowelshes remaining hire fleet at trevor. luckily those moored were very generous and gracious with their help including steering our boat as we have very little experience reversing so far. we managed to wind in the turning off the aqueduct and into the narrows towards llangollen. we made our way back over the aqueduct (much quicker thanks to the flow now helping) and were surrounded by bats which was incredible. we then really struggled to find a mooring as the sides were concrete and we were unable to bang in pins. we managed to find one but it was much later than we had planned and ended up mooring in the pitch black. if going to trevor/llangollen recommend you find a mooring early as the choice was extremely limited. day 4 we cruised back towards new marton when i noticed a vibration in the rudder. while waiting for the first lock i opened the weed hatch and pulled off some more fabric/plastic bags. and then we hit our biggest problem. the boats engine would not start. luckily some CRT staff were on hand - they had a look and also couldn't start it but decided to manually take us through the lock to save the full load of water from the boat coming up which we did - i acted as horse and was absolute beat by the time we'd reached the bottom. luckily after 30 minutes the boats engine magically restarted and we moved on again - we were glad as there was a queue of *12* boats waiting to go up and it would have been a nightmare dragging our boat past all of them. we arrived back at ellesmere around 3 and had a wander around the now open shops - would really recommend this it was a lovely market town with some really good local food shops, delicatessen and bakery. we ate massive steaks in the red lion and returned to the boat to move on a bit closer to whixall before mooring up for the evening which was probably our least dramatic mooring. day 5 the last day started not great as the engine took a while to get going again. we managed to get going eventually and after a quick ring anglowelsh were very understanding and we arrived back at whixall around 10. after telling them about the issues which included a very very leaky stern gland (wed used a full cartridge of grease in 3 days wed had the boat and it was running in by the end of each day, taking 10-15 turns to drop the water) and the engine issues we left and went to Llangollen for the day as we hadnt quite made it in the boat and had a lovely lunch in the Corn Mill! also managed to get some of one of my favourite cheeses 'rock star' from the snowdonia cheese company and few bottles of mead froma lovely delicatessen next to the main car park. if anyone would like some more information please let me know!

I visited in March of this year - please take this with a pinch of salt as none of our party are wheelchair users - but I cannot remember any issues with steps and we moored right outside. we definitely entered through the front door so as far as I can remember you are able to access the road from the canal with no issues.

Apologies I meant recommendations for the Llangollen next week, especially places to eat I’ve really enjoyed reading some of the other members recommendations on previous posts thank you for the link!

Hello everyone, I've lurked on here for a while but finally have a problem with which I hope someone could help! Myself and a group of friends had our first canal holiday in march from Bunbury to Ellesmere and back again - we loved it so much we are going again on Monday from whixall hopefully completing the Llangollen and the navigable section of the Montgomery! we have also planned to go away next march. now to my question - we hope to complete the Llangollen and I was hoping to buy a canal plaque to mark this - I cannot seem to find an online shop that sells them! I've seen a couple on eBay but haven't been able to get one and I would like to support the canal industry directly if possible. can anyone point me in the direction of a place that sells them, either online or on the main route of the Llangollen between whixhall and Llangollen or on the montgomery? also any suggestions for our route would be most welcome!