Llangollen my thoughts

[haggis]

Having just done the Llangollen and Montgomery here are my thoughts.

There are a lot of hire boats and some of the larger ones are proving a bit difficult for hirers to handle on the narrow twisty bit between Trevor and the end but given time and space they managed  . The worst boat handling we saw was from some private boats and in fact it was sad to see the attitude of some of them to hirers. I took one boater to task for the way he had spoken to a hirer and his response was " they are only a hirer ". Not nice 

We enjoyed our trip despite me having a head cold 😀

[dogless]

We spent five weeks on the Llangollen, leaving mid June.

 

It's always busy as there's so many hire firms.

 

However we travel slowly and walk lots, so the queues don't really affect us.

 

The one bad queue was at New Marton locks as we came back down, as there was an obstruction on a gate holding everyone up. We just moored, went for a walk, and went down early evening when the place was deserted.

 

I don't think anyone should be put off the Llangollen  ...  there's lots of hire and share boats, but they're all happy, smiling, and in holiday mood ... it makes for a lot of fun.

 

Rog

Edited July 6 by dogless

[booke23]

1 hour ago, haggis said:

it was sad to see the attitude of some of them to hirers. I took one boater to task for the way he had spoken to a hirer and his response was " they are only a hirer ". Not nice 

 

I’ve never understood this superior and nasty attitude from some private owners. Goes to show there are always stupid pratts in all walks of life.

[David Mack]

36 minutes ago, booke23 said:

 

I’ve never understood this superior and nasty attitude from some private owners. Goes to show there are always stupid pratts in all walks of life.

Ditto. Many of us owners were hirers once and some of today's hirers will be tomorrow's boat owners.

We have shared locks with some great hirers over the years, most recently two Swedish couples, who were much more likeable than the miserable single hander owner who pushed out from the towpath just in front of us and stole the lock ahead.

[Mike Todd]

4 hours ago, dogless said:

We spent five weeks on the Llangollen, leaving mid June.

 

It's always busy as there's so many hire firms.

 

However we travel slowly and walk lots, so the queues don't really affect us.

 

The one bad queue was at New Marton locks as we came back down, as there was an obstruction on a gate holding everyone up. We just moored, went for a walk, and went down early evening when the place was deserted.

 

I don't think anyone should be put off the Llangollen  ...  there's lots of hire and share boats, but they're all happy, smiling, and in holiday mood ... it makes for a lot of fun.

 

Rog

Seems to be a long queue at New Marton (at least when we go that way!) even though there is no obvious reason. It must be a quiet complicated situation involving hire boat times, popular overnight moorings etc etc. The queue is often much longer than at Grindley Brook.

[john6767]

2 hours ago, Mike Todd said:

Seems to be a long queue at New Marton (at least when we go that way!) even though there is no obvious reason. It must be a quiet complicated situation involving hire boat times, popular overnight moorings etc etc. The queue is often much longer than at Grindley Brook.

My experience is also that there is often a queue at New Marton.  I put it down in part to the fact there are a lot of ABC  hire bases that side of Grindley Brook, and New Marton locks are the only ones they do, and for many on the way out it is the first lock they have every seen, so understandably they take their time.

[Rob-M]

On our last trip up the Llangollen we just planned to get to expected busy points early morning or early evening.  On the way up Grindley Brook after 6pm was deserted and New Marton we probably did around 7:30am.  Coming back down, we left Llangollen just after lunch and nothing else was going in our direction so again new queue at the New Marton locks and we over nighted above Grindley so straight through first thing before the queues started.

[MrsM]

7 hours ago, haggis said:

Having just done the Llangollen and Montgomery here are my thoughts.

There are a lot of hire boats and some of the larger ones are proving a bit difficult for hirers to handle on the narrow twisty bit between Trevor and the end but given time and space they managed  . The worst boat handling we saw was from some private boats and in fact it was sad to see the attitude of some of them to hirers. I took one boater to task for the way he had spoken to a hirer and his response was " they are only a hirer ". Not nice 

We enjoyed our trip despite me having a head cold 😀

Thank you for representing the nicer face of boaters. I used to love meeting and chatting with hirers. As you and Dogless point out, they are always in happy holiday mood and are pleased to pull their weight at locks. 

[booke23]

6 hours ago, David Mack said:

Ditto. Many of us owners were hirers once and some of today's hirers will be tomorrow's boat owners.

We have shared locks with some great hirers over the years, most recently two Swedish couples, who were much more likeable than the miserable single hander owner who pushed out from the towpath just in front of us and stole the lock ahead.

 

Funny enough I had a very similar experience going up Caen hill a few years ago. Approaching the lower Foxhanger lock I noticed a hire boat being held on the centre line about a 1/4 mile before the lock so I stopped next to them and we agreed to share the locks going up. As we approached the lock, a moored boat decided they were going to get into the lock before the hire boat and literally went to action stations to untie.....ropes and gangplanks flying everywhere, and their crew running about and jumping to and from the boat. The hire boat crew were very unimpressed and were going to have it out with them at the lock landing, but I advised against it as we would be stuck in close proximity behind the miserable cretins for at least the next 6 hours.

 

But I had a great chat with the hire boat crew and got to know them quite well by the time we got to the top! Turns out they were going to spend the night at the top and turn around and go straight back down the next morning for the experience.

[David Mack]

In our case we had been following a boat at about 300 yards distance for some way, approaching the bottom of the Buckby flight. We assumed we would share the locks with them. I saw them land crew and start to ready the bottom lock. But before we reached them the aforementioned single hander pushed out from the moored boats on the towpath in front of us and joined them in the lock. By the time they had cleared the lock and we had emptied it again the hire boat with the two Swedish couples had pulled up behind us. They were unsure whether they should wait and let us lock through alone - I suspect they were a bit overawed by an unconverted Large Woolwich - but we invited them in with us and they were good company up the flight.

[Rob-M]

I like sharing wide locks with hirers as they are usually happy to enter the lock alongside when asked rather than having to go in the lock and get a line off to hold the boat against the wall.

[Hudds Lad]

14 hours ago, booke23 said:

...literally went to action stations to untie.....ropes and gangplanks flying everywhere, and their crew running about and jumping to and from the boat.

Had that happen once on the Shroppie approaching Norbury Wharf, bloke and his partner literally running around in a panic to get going in front of us as they thought we were headed to the water point and wanted to get there first. We just laughed at them and carried on.

[Ex Brummie]

I think New Marton causes delays because they are the only locks many hirers encounter, and everyone othe 8 or 10 crew wants a go. And with it being busy in both directions, entry and exit times can get stretched. 

The last time we did this, on the bottom lock we were told there was only one paddle working. I pointed out to the operator that theyshould uss the small hole on the windlass and things moved much quicker.

[Lady M]

Yes and perhaps also some confusion with boats on the waterpoint as to whether they are waiting for the lock.

[PeterF]

And the time we turned up below the lower lock to find several boats in a queue below the lock, the lock full, no boats in sight above the lock and were told they were waiting for a boat to come from the other direction to save water.