Previous Year : 2000 The Bona Boater's Trips Following Year : 2002

2001 - The Llangollen Canal.

Crew : John & Chris, Ernie & Jennifer, Pete, Dave, Colin, Stan.

Boat : Cleethorpes

From : Anglowelsh, New Mills.

Route : Trevor > Llangollen [w] > Chirk > Ellesmere > Whitchurch [w] > Marbury/Wrenbury > Barbridge > Middlewich > Rode Heath > Kidsgrove > Bollington > Whaley Bridge [w] > New Mills.

Coverage : 105 Miles and 69 Locks.

Notes : This was a one-way trip between Trevor and New Mills, and as usual, we would not find out which way we would be going until about a week before. Wherever the boat was, we would have to travel to New Mills. If it was in Trevor, would then be taken by bus from New Mills to Trevor to collect the boat. We visited the Doctor Who exhibition and the The Llangollen Railway. This was also the year of the serious Foot & Mouth outbreak. The government imposed some movement restrictions which meant that we often had to stay on the boat between locks, and had to walk through soggy sponges soaked in disinfectant. Pete said his sandals and feet had never been so sterile.

Saturday 19th May

Lunch : New Mills. Pete & Dave arrived early in New Mills. The crew had arranged to meet in The Queens Arms, but this was still shut when they arrived so they walked to The Swan Hotel and had a pint there. They then walked back to The Queens Arms which by now was open. Eventually, everyone met up and we had a couple more pints. We went to the boatyard and had to wait for a bus to take us to Trevor where the boat was. Once we arrived in Trevor, we loaded up the boat and set off for Llangollen.

Evening : Llangollen. We set off for Llangollen, and we reckoned it should only take us a couple of hours. At Llangollen, we winded at the end of the canal, and moored up. We went in a couple of pubs in Llangollen. The Bridge End Hotel first, and we finished up in The Sun where we ate.

Sunday 20th May

Morning / Lunch : Llangollen. As we had a bit of spare time, we did the touristy bit in Llangollen. We visited The Llangollen Railway and The Doctor Who Experience. We finally left Llangollen early/mid afternoon. We crossed the Pontcysyllte aqueduct, heading for Chirk in the evening.

The Doctor Who Exhibition, Llangollen.

Davros.

The Doctor Who Exhibition, Llangollen .

Bessie

Evening : Chirk. After leaving Llangollen mid afternoon, we crossed the both the Pontcysyllte and Chirk Aqueducts before eventually stopping at Chirk, where we went to The Bridge Inn for food and some beer.

The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.

Back a bit Dave.. a bit more.. a bit more..

Crossing The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.

Chirk Aqueduct with the railway viaduct behind.

Monday 21st May

Morning. Frankton Junction. We left Chirk and stopped briefly at Frankton Junction, where we walked down Frankton Locks to The Montgomery Canal. We could not cruise the canal at this time as it had limited opening times, but it was pencilled-in for a future trip. We did not know it at the time, but it would another eleven years [ 2012 ] until we would finally get to cruise "The Monty".

Lunch : Ellesmere. We left Frankton Junction and went on to Ellesmere for lunch. We moored at Ellesmere town wharf, where Pete W forgot The Token. In accordance with Token Operation Instructions, he was first made to buy the round then sent back to the boat to get The Token.

Evening : Whitchurch. The old Whitchurch Arm used to go right into the centre of the town, but has long since been built on and obliterated. As the canal now stops quite some distance from the town, we had to walk a long way through an estate to get into the town centre. Once there, we had some difficulty finding a decent pub to eat in. We got into The Old Town Hall Vaults, but they told us that they were just about to stop doing food. They did take our order only for the chef to appear a short while later to tell us he wasn't going to do it after all, so we left and went for a curry. After the curry, we had some difficulty finding another decent pub, in fact no one can remember where we went, or indeed whether we went anywhere else at all.

Tuesday 22nd May

Lunch : Marbury or Wrenbury. No one can remember.

Evening : Barbridge Junction. No one remembers exactly where we went. I seem to recall we that didn't go to the The Old Barbridge inn. Did Stan take us to a pub that somehow proved disappointing.. The Jolly Tar maybe ?

Wednesday 23rd May

Lunch : Middlewich. We stopped at The King's Lock pub by King's Lock.

Evening : Rode Heath. We stopped at The Broughton Arms. This pub has since become known as "The Ernie's Teeth pub", see 1995

Thursday 24th May

Lunch : Kidsgrove. We went to The Red Bull at Hardings Wood..

Evening : Bollington. We first went to The Meridian (see 1995) but it had since been changed into a Thai or some similar restaurant. It did still serve some real ale in the form of rather poor Marston's Pedigree. We decided not to eat there and we went instead to The Church House Inn, where we had an excellent meal along with a good range of beers. Again, they were about to stop serving food, but unlike the pub in Whitchurch, they chose to serve us, and got plenty of cash in their till in return. On the way back to the boat, we met John Portlock again, who told us about the decent beer in The Conservative club.

Friday 25th May

Lunch : Marple. We stopped at Marple, where we went to The Hatters Arms for some Robinson's Mild and bought curry pies from the local butcher on the way back to the boat.

Evening : Whaley Bridge. We stopped at the entrance to Bugsworth Basin. The basin had been restored since our last visit in 1995 but was currently drained due to a leak. We went into The Navigation - the pub once owned by Pat Phoenix aka Elsie Tanner from Coronation Street. Pete thinks we ate there, but he can't remember whether we stayed there all night or whether went into Whalley Bridge for some more beer.

Saturday 26th May

Morning : We made the short run back to New Mills, where, unlike in 1995, we successfully moored the boat without anyone falling in. (see 1995)

The Previous Year : 2000 The Bona Boater's Trips Following Year : 2002