Kelpie is on her travels again.

[haggis]

Great to hear about pubs with food you are all recommending. We will be in Ellesmere tomorrow night and as well as stocking up at Tesco's and that super delicatessen, we will be eating out. Perhaps Thai or Indian. Where is recommended? 

[Hudds Lad]

2 minutes ago, haggis said:

The Willeymoor was open when we past but we don't usually do lunch so will make a point of catching it on our way back. 

We only went in the Willeymoor once, as usually we passed it near lunchtime too, and we tend to have a sandwich on the go as we cruise and moor early for the evening to get a good spot somewhere. All i recall is it had a lot of Toby jugs on display, and food was fine as long as you wanted something fried  

[haggis]

Just now, Hudds Lad said:

We only went in the Willeymoor once, as usually we passed it near lunchtime too, and we tend to have a sandwich on the go as we cruise and moor early for the evening to get a good spot somewhere. All i recall is it had a lot of Toby jugs on display, and food was fine as long as you wanted something fried  

The last time we were there I had a beef pie ( not something I often choose in a pub) and it was scrumptious 😄.

[IanD]

4 minutes ago, haggis said:

Great to hear about pubs with food you are all recommending. We will be in Ellesmere tomorrow night and as well as stocking up at Tesco's and that super delicatessen, we will be eating out. Perhaps Thai or Indian. Where is recommended? 

Not sure which way you're going, you may have passed them already but if not the Bridge Inn at Chirk Bank was good for food and beer -- as was the Aqueduct, we only drank there but the food looked good...

1 minute ago, haggis said:

The last time we were there I had a beef pie ( not something I often choose in a pub) and it was scrumptious 😄.

As did we -- and with some of the best chips I've had in some time, which backs up what @Hudds Lad said... 😉

Edited October 2, 2023 by IanD

[ditchcrawler]

Are you going down the Mont, we had a nice meal at the Navigation near the terminus, But check the opening times

[adam1uk]

1 minute ago, ditchcrawler said:

Are you going down the Mont, we had a nice meal at the Navigation near the terminus, But check the opening times

We’re just back from the Llangollen and Monty, and the Navigation is only open Thursday to Sunday now.  We had a perfectly good Sunday roast there — although it wasn’t as good as I remembered from thirteen years ago (and the owners are still the same).  Of course it’s not as near the terminus any more, as the terminus has moved to Crickheath Wharf,where there is nothing apart from some moorings, a big winding hole, and a pet food factory.  It’s good to do the extra mile though.

 

The place we really liked was the Black Bear in Whitchurch.  It’s in town, so about 20 mins walk from the moorings on the arm, but excellent food and several local beers too.

[Rob-M]

We had Sunday roast at the Queen's Head on the Monty, it was very good.  Need to book though as it was full if wanting to go there.

[haggis]

37 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Are you going down the Mont, we had a nice meal at the Navigation near the terminus, But check the opening times

Thank you. That's where we are heading 

[PCSB]

1 hour ago, haggis said:

Great to hear about pubs with food you are all recommending. We will be in Ellesmere tomorrow night and as well as stocking up at Tesco's and that super delicatessen, we will be eating out. Perhaps Thai or Indian. Where is recommended? 

We had a meal earlier this year in the Willeymoor, it was dreadful sad to say. The beer was decent.

 

The Black Lion is one to avoid, it closed when we were there, apparently it was some sort of den of inequity ... 

 

In Ellesmere Moolah's is pleaseant if a bit fussy, they do great coffee and hot chocolate though. Asian Spices is fairly good, I believe the Thai is closed.

 

The chippy there, Shropshire Fish bar is pretty good too. 

 

ETA: If you are there from Wednesday the the Vaults is worth a visit, they do food but very, very basic, it is more to do with how quirky it is rather than enything else.

Edited October 2, 2023 by PCSB

[Mike Todd]

2 hours ago, haggis said:

Day 4. It happened again ! Just as we got to the bottom of a flight of locks it started to rain but unlike yesterday it didn't last long. We got another hour or  so boating before it rained in earnest and we moored up ( wild) at that point. 

Canal was quite busy today with mostly private boats and we had to wait a few times for boats coming down a lock. Good practice for me as an apprentice lock driver 😄. I wonder why so many boaters take so long to come out of a lock. Some were even slower than " brick counters ". 

We complain down here about canal stoppages but I have just read that Scottish Canals will close the Crinan canal from early October to mid May to replace lock gates on the sea lock at Crinan. Seems unbelievable.

I know what you mean about coming out slowly and I have oft pondered on it. Like passing boats speed, we humans are often poor at judging actual speed, as distinct from relative speed. That said, I do think there is something about the observation. My - tentative - conclusion is that boats tend to wait at the end of the lock ehichbus about to open. They then cannot start to move until the gates are fully open, and so you first see them as they start to accelerate,  which takes a while. When I think about it  I try to be as dar back as possible and then time the move forward to be up to speed when starting to pass the gates. A flying start, as if were. But it I'd not good if you misjudge !

[Alan de Enfield]

2 hours ago, haggis said:

We will be in Ellesmere tomorrow night

 

There is (was) a great Pizza place in Ellesmere that did delivery - just don't tell them you are (say) the '5th boat down' in the wharf - if a boat moves out, or another one squeezes in  someone gets a free Pizza.

 

DAMHIK !

[Cheshire cat]

The aquaduct pub does decent food and the beer is excellent too.

[Rob-M]

1 hour ago, Mike Todd said:

I try to be as dar back as possible and then time the move forward to be up to speed when starting to pass the gates. A flying start, as if were. But it I'd not good if you misjudge !

That's how I spent a bit of time wedged in the bottom gate of one of the Walsall flight just after 10pm as I expected to get through the fully open gate but unfortunately it hit something solid and failed to open right back but I didn't have enough time to stop the boat.

[PeterScott]

4 hours ago, haggis said:

... We will be in Ellesmere tomorrow night ..., we will be eating out. Perhaps Thai or Indian. Where is recommended? 

Last week we eat at Asian Spice. Particularly liked the rice.

Surprising lack of open eating places, and lots of potemtial custom in the moored boats. 

[haggis]

Day 5. The Gods were with us today! The sun shone and although we were soon in a slow convoy of 4 boats they fell by the wayside ( stopped to walk dogs etc) and we could travel at our own speed. We stopped briefly at the marina and this proved to be providential as the mooring in the Ellesmere arm were full but we met a boat ( fortunately the same size as KELPIE) coming out  and we shoe horned into their space just one boat away from the end.

Stocking up the cupboards then a lazy afternoon.

[haggis]

After all the helpful advice we ended up having a nice meal in the Red Lion. I remembered finding a good pub the last time we were here and after some head scratching we remembered that it was the Red Lion . Apparently it is the only pub with a kitchen now.  Even on a mid week night it was busy.

[haggis]

Day 6. An earlier start today as we had a booking to go down Frankton locks. Having sort of mastered driving through locks going up, this was my first attempt of going down .

It is many years since we have been on the Monty but we both enjoyed cruising slowly along between big trees on both sides. That must be fun when they drop their leaves into the canal 😄. We both remembered the speed restriction signs with white poles to help you monitor your speed. No sign of them now. 

We moored at Queens head although it is not as we remembered. Maybe we are thinking of somewhere else ...

Mooring wild on the Monty is definitely not an option with the overgrown bankings. 

Looking forward to having a leisurely few days down here.

[haggis]

Day 7. We try to boat on a new to us bit of water every year and we achieved that today by going to the end of the navigable part of the Monty. It was raining but that didn't affect our enjoyment at being able to travel on this part of the canal which is so unlike the rest. Instead of lots of trees and SSSIs we had views over flat farmland to hills in the distance. 

The hard work which has gone onto the restoration was evident and we admired the lovely stonework at the edge of the canal. 

[Mike55]

Last time we were on the Monty (2 years ago) we referred to it as 'Jungle Boating' due to the rampant vegetation brushing both sides of the boat at the same time. Obviously this was not on the newly opened section to Crickheath. We walked there instead. As it's now open we'll have to go back!

[haggis]

Yes, the first bit of the Monty from Frankton is like boating in the jungle. Huge trees on both sides and the edges very overgrown. It gives the canal a feeling of being different from other canals though 😄

[Cheshire cat]

We walked the whole length last year and it didn't feel like a jungle

[haggis]

14 hours ago, Cheshire cat said:

We walked the whole length last year and it didn't feel like a jungle

The big trees on both sides seem to have grown a lot since we were here last and with the canopies leaning over the canal it does feel a bit enclosed in places. Jungle was probably not the right word 😄

[haggis]

Day 8. A leisurely trip back to the bottom

of the Frankton locks ready for our booking tomorrow. Sanded, washed and painted the bit between the port side gunwale and rubbing strake. 

We have enjoyed our short trip on the Monty with the more relaxed and leisurely boating .

[haggis]

Days 9 and 10. Back up onto the Golly and had a quick shopping trip in Ellesmere - moored across the end of the arm 😄. Moored above Grindley overnight .

What a beautiful day Sunday is ! Wall to wall sunshine . Iain felt he had to support the Willeymoor pub and had a pint while he worked a few boats through. Nice to chat to the owners of Border Riever, fellow Scots at the foot of the staircase. 

Mooring in Wrenbury ,- again ,!

It would have been nice to go up to o Llangollen but have to get back for  rmore blood tests and iain possibly has a couple of RYA  courses to run 

[Tracy D'arth]

Don't rush, Stanthorne lock will be closed for a while yet and there is a large Q.