Llangollen or south down the Shroppie?

[nealeST]

My last hire trip out terminated at Nantwich. Now I plan to start where I left off. I regret not taking the Hurleston flight and going down the Llangollen. They tell me it’s nice down through Audlem though and beyond. I only have 4 days. So which do people vote for and suggest I do…Llangollen or head south of Audlem?

I’m planning my trip mid June…8 hours a day cruising, return to Nantwich.

Edited February 22 by nealeST
Duplicated word

[Arthur Marshall]

Going south you'd lose a couple of half days at least getting through Audlem and Adderley, so you'd get a lot more cruising on the Llangollen.

[Hudds Lad]

Do the Llangollen, and make enough time to nip down the Montgomery.

When we were based at Overwater with the old shareboat we did it five times but never had enough days to go down the Monty and always regretted it.

[mrsmelly]

I found the Llangollen very overrated I would do planb. Routes are a bit like TripAdvisor.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

20 minutes ago, nealeST said:

I regret not taking the Hurleston flight and going down the Llangollen

<pedant>Before you can go down the Llangollen, you first have to go up the Llangollen.</pedant>

The strength and direction of the current on the canal will make this very clear!

[nealeST]

Ah yes the current. In that case I’ll go up in order to come down. Less diesel on the way back then?

 

 

[Arthur Marshall]

Four days is a pretty short trip. Doubt you'd manage the Montgomery, bearing in mind you have to book the locks and they aren't open all the time. You might just make the aquaduct if you don't get held up too long at Grindley. It is quite a short canal and a lot quicker coming back than going up - you almost come to a halt in the bridgeholes going up.

[Hudds Lad]

5 minutes ago, nealeST said:

Ah yes the current. In that case I’ll go up in order to come down. Less diesel on the way back then?

 

 

Can be fun if there's a bit of flow on, one time we had to bowhaul the boat the last few metres out of one of the tunnels (Chirk i think) due to lack of speed and not being able to counteract the water flowing into the tunnel mouth.

Return journey is always quicker  

 

Can get a bit busy at peak times, but just embrace the chaos  

[IanD]

10 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

Can be fun if there's a bit of flow on, one time we had to bowhaul the boat the last few metres out of one of the tunnels (Chirk i think) due to lack of speed and not being able to counteract the water flowing into the tunnel mouth.

Return journey is always quicker  

 

Can get a bit busy at peak times, but just embrace the chaos  

 

Just don't assume the locks at Grindley will be quick, we've had to wait between 1h and 3h to get through... 😞

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

48 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

I found the Llangollen very overrated I would do planb. Routes are a bit like TripAdvisor.

Thinking about it, I kind of agree with you because I’ve not made a return trip along the Llangollen since I went in 2017,

There’s definitely a few things worth seeing though, the Pontycyllte obviously,

I particularly liked Elsemere for the White Hart

and at Chirk there was a pub I think beside the aqueduct but I forget its name,

Blake Mere and Cole Mere were nice places to moor overnight and away from everyone,

And I remember being impressed with a gloomy looking Georgian church but can’t remember which town it was in but remember there’s quite a few boozers there and decent places to eat.

 

 

 

Edited February 22 by beerbeerbeerbeerbeer

[Hudds Lad]

6 minutes ago, IanD said:

 

Just don't assume the locks at Grindley will be quick, we've had to wait between 1h and 3h to get through... 😞

Erm, think you're telling the wrong person here  

 

We always found New Marton on the way back to be the worst delay, guess it depends on your schedule and what time and day you hit certain features.

Also, Grindley used to have the lockie from Bootle who knew what he was about, believe it's volunteers nowadays?

[IanD]

3 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

Erm, think you're telling the wrong person here  

 

We always found New Marton on the way back to be the worst delay, guess it depends on your schedule and what time and day you hit certain features.

Also, Grindley used to have the lockie from Bootle who knew what he was about, believe it's volunteers nowadays?

 

I wasn't telling you, just commenting on your comment for the benefit of the OP... 🙂

 

Agree that New Marton can be bad too. Mind you, the worst (traffic, not stoppage) delay we ever had (more than 4 hours queueing!) was at Hillmorton... 😞

Edited February 22 by IanD

[agg221]

Last October we went up the Llangollen and back from Audlem. Day 1 Audlem to Willeymoor; Day 2 to Ellesmere; Day 3 to Llangollen. Same moorings on the way back. We are deep and hence we’re slow at times and you could knock off 5 or 6 hrs for the Audlem to Nantwich stretch in both directions but you would be hard pressed to do it in four days I think.

 

In my opinion if you are going up there it is well worth going all the way to the end. We didn’t in 1997 and finally rectified that last year.

 

Alec

[Arthur Marshall]

42 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

Erm, think you're telling the wrong person here  

 

We always found New Marton on the way back to be the worst delay, guess it depends on your schedule and what time and day you hit certain features.

Also, Grindley used to have the lockie from Bootle who knew what he was about, believe it's volunteers nowadays?

It is, but mostly they know what they're doing and get the boats through without too much fuss. It's worse when they aren't there - last time I got there before them and boats coming down refused to turn the locks, so about six came down in a row. Bloke at the front of my queue nearly hit the guy on the last one. Luckily the lockie turned up and stopped the flow, much to the aggravation of the seventh at the top.

[davem399]

Or neither of those two options, but a trip to Chester or along the Middlewich branch?

[Arthur Marshall]

28 minutes ago, davem399 said:

Or neither of those two options, but a trip to Chester or along the Middlewich branch?

For a bit of peace and quiet and some lovely bits of scenery, the Middlewich branch is hard to beat. The Chester run is good, too.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Caledonian Canal would be my choice if I were hiring for 4 days, (and had the money)

 

[Stroudwater1]

25 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

For a bit of peace and quiet and some lovely bits of scenery, the Middlewich branch is hard to beat. The Chester run is good, too.

Agree except for the queues for a couple of the locks on the Middlewich branch can be  a difficulty and going up and down over 4 days is perhaps not ideal. It  depends on the time of the week and day (quieter beginning or end of the day usually) 

[FredDrift]

2 hours ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

at Chirk there was a pub I think beside the aqueduct but I forget its name,

That'll be the Bridge Inn at Chirk Bank.

[Paul C]

Is it a hire boat? If not, then you can plan your trip to avoid busy periods, for example (several times) we went up Grindley Brook at sunset and had a straight run through. Or New Marton. Those are the worst congestion areas, although TBH I like the bustle of meeting lots of other boaters.

 

If you are restricting yourself to 8h/day in June then from Nantwich you'll probably only get to Trevor and back - which is good, but misses out the best (IMHO) section which is Trevor - Llangollen Basin. Sure, there's the Ponty aqueduct but also there is the Chirk aqueduct, I don't like heights so prefer Chirk (or none at all).

 

If you've never done it, Llangollen Canal is well worth doing, much better than Shroppie southbound out-back. But Nantwich offers decent cruising opportunities, there's Anderton-rtn and Chester-rtn too. I would rate them:

 

1. Trevor-rtn

2. Chester-rtn

3. Aldersley Jn - rtn (the trip if you go down the Shroppie, then go a little along the Staffs & Worcs then turn at that junction - you could moor then walk up a lock or two of the BCN).

4. Anderton-rtn

 

If you can extend 4 days to a week; or are okay with longer days, each route could be meaningfully extended to Llangollen; Ellesmere Port; Stourton Jn; going on the Weaver respectively. I have lived and have a boat moored in the local area for 10+ years, so have done those trips dozens of times so its coming from (recent) experience.

[nealeST]

56 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

For a bit of peace and quiet and some lovely bits of scenery, the Middlewich branch is hard to beat. The Chester run is good, too.

Yes, it’s lovely along the Middlewich branch but I’ve already covered that from Anderton Marina. It’s a shallow draughted boat so I think we will be fine once on the Llangollen. I plan to buy a deep draughted boat eventually so may well only ever see the Llangollen in a hire boat.

[booke23]

3 hours ago, nealeST said:

My last hire trip out terminated at Nantwich. Now I plan to start where I left off. I regret not taking the Hurleston flight and going down the Llangollen. They tell me it’s nice down through Audlem though and beyond. I only have 4 days. So which do people vote for and suggest I do…Llangollen or head south of Audlem?

I’m planning my trip mid June…8 hours a day cruising, return to Nantwich.

 

Llangollen, although as mentioned you'll be hard pressed to make the aquaduct and back in 4 days. However as it's June and the days are long I'd say it's possible as long as you turn as soon as you cross the aquaduct in the entrance to the Llangollen feeder. You'll have to average 12 hours cruising a day though and ideally have crew for locks.  

Edited February 22 by booke23

[tree monkey]

4 minutes ago, FredDrift said:

That'll be the Bridge Inn at Chirk Bank.

Depends on the aqueduct, there's also the Telford and the aqueduct Inn by the big bridge 

[nealeST]

5 minutes ago, Paul C said:

2. Chester-rtn

Mmm, Chester return is tempting…

2 minutes ago, booke23 said:

you'll be hard pressed to make the aquaduct and back in 4 days.

That’s a shame. I’d happily cruise 12 hours a day. My wife is unlikely to sanction that….

[IanD]

34 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

Depends on the aqueduct, there's also the Telford and the aqueduct Inn by the big bridge 

 

Telford is a bit meh, Bridge Inn had good beer and decent (and cheap!) pub food when we were there, Aqueduct had excellent beer but didn't eat there. Great view though...