Let your cares float off
Ben Mitchell and family travel through time and nature on their first canal holiday
Icall out from our narrowboat to a man on a mobility scooter who is overtaking us on the towpath: “Is that the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct ahead?”
“Yes, don’t worry,” he replies. “There’s a pub on the other side!”
As I edge on to the magnificent bridge, barely wider than our boat with no barrier to my left, I look down over the 126ft drop to the River Dee below and feel the butterflies gathering in my stomach. I quickly realise this daredevil crossing is enough to turn even a teetotaller to drink.
“Straighten up, you’re going to hit the side,” my panicked partner shrieks at me while my daughter laughs with glee, although I notice she’s standing on the side next to the towpath so she could easily step off if a calamity should occur.
We edge forward across the 1,007ftlong aqueduct which, built in 1795, is the highest and longest in the UK and is now a World Heritage Site, until we finally reach the canal basin of Trevor and I feel palpably relieved.
But if I thought this was time to relax, of course I was wrong; despite crawling along at an average speed of 3mph, there is always a challenge ahead when narrow-boating.
I am now faced with a 90-degree turn to go under a bridge with only inches to spare on either side, which requires me to utilise my hitherto unused – by unused I mean nonexistent – reversing skills to manoeuvre and line-up into position, and move forward into the impossible-looking gap. We (somehow) make
it and, as I adjust the tiller to prevent the rear end scraping the bridge walls, I allow a moment of pride to bubble up inside me. I feel I am gradually getting the hang of steering Amelie, our 62ft long narrowboat.
Just two days earlier, I had stepped onboard a canal boat for the first time and despite a thorough briefing from Paul, one of Chirk Marina’s enthusiastic
and highly expert team, I had set out with a huge feeling of trepidation.
I soon learnt that you should not steer more than a gentle push, as it will easily send you veering off, requiring you urgently to correct your course – and narrowboats do not do ‘urgently’.
Surprisingly quickly, though, I start to get a feel for it and begin to relax and take in the beautiful views; at every bend I am taken aback at how picturesque the countryside is.
The canal not only cuts a line through the countryside, it feels like it cuts a line through time, transporting you into a different dimension, away from the roads and hustle of modern life – the prison of lockdown quickly forgotten.
It brings you within brushing distance of cows dipping their nose in the water, sheep nursing their lambs, herons standing statuesque on the bank.
We set off from Chirk, just across the border into Wales, for this new High Life route planned by Black Prince Holidays, which takes us along the Llangollen Canal to Ellesmere, before retracing our path and up to Llangollen itself.
We successfully pass through the only two locks on the route with the help of a couple of live-aboard boaters and my daughter’s energetic enthusiasm for turning the windlasses to raise the paddles .
I had never imagined that a short canal boat trip could take me to such remote and different locations, from the rustic farmland of Shropshire to the rugged Welsh hills of Llangollen, and the huge bonus is because you are fully-equipped on board, you can moor up wherever you want – close to a pub or as far from one as you like.
Our boat comes complete with two bedrooms, shower, two toilets, lounge and fullyequipped kitchen, as well as central heating and hot water, allowing us to enjoy the dying light over the still waters as we eat our homecooked dinner.
■ Black-prince.com offers four nights midweek from Chirk from £989.