Mooching down the Monty

It was time to go down the Montgomery Canal and we were very excited to leave the busy Llangollen for a while. Originally stretching 32 miles to Aberbechan near Newtown in Wales, 'the Monty', as it's known, eventually closed in 1944

but now the 8 miles to Crickheath is open, with further in-water sections to the south and more restoration under way. Largely designed for agricultural use, it also transported limestone, as we would find out.

Only a limited number of boats are allowed on at any one time, but we'd already booked our passage down Frankton Locks, which are only open in the mornings. A friendly lockie helped us down the staircase locks, then after a couple more locks (where a historic dry dock was once found) it was a short chug to the disused Weston Arm - a beautifully peaceful spot where we enjoyed our first barbeque of the year whilst watching a small plane doing impressive aerial acrobatics. Oh - and we rescued a toad who'd got trapped in the services block!

For my birthday the next day we drove to Old Oswestry and explored the iron age hill fort with its black Hebridean sheep and stunning views before heading into Oswestry itself for a coffee and a wander around the lovely market town with it's castle mound and links with war poet, Wilfred Owen. Then it was a short drive back to the canal at Maesbury Marsh where we enjoyed the most amazing Sunday lunch at the Navigation Inn.

The Monty was a welcome respite after the busy main canal, and as well as meeting some friendly boaters we loved seeing all the swallows and swifts, but sadly no owls. One evening we battled our way along a very overgrown towpath to get to the Narrowboat Inn at Whittington Wharf and met up with friends Gaynor and Tony who we'd not seen since they popped in for tea with us in Stratford last summer.

After moving on to Maesbury Marsh we got our engine serviced before cruising to the end of the current navigable stretch at Crickheath, a beautiful spot which is great for bat-spotting! From there we were able to walk down the part that's currently under restoration, complete with new bridge, and get to the in-water section near Llanymynech wharf, with its little visitor centre and trip boat.

We'd seen a tempting sign about a heritage area so we went off to explore and found some fascinating remains of the limestone industry there, including a restored Hoffman Kiln and chimney. We then walked up the remains of an incredibly steep inclined plane where the limestone from the quarries above were taken down brake-controlled 'gravity-balanced' tramways (not always without mishap...). After reaching the quarries, now full of plants and wildlife, we then carried on climbing to the top and were rewarded with wonderful views.

Before our return journey we managed to get to what was Pennygarreg Halt and walked to Llynclys South on the Cambrian Heritage Railway along the (currently unused) track, seeing some lovely old engines and carriages.

On the summer solstice I explored the lovely Aston Lock Nature Reserve with its unique Otters Holt Hide and beautiful

orchids before returning to the Weston Arm and having a lovely barbie (despite the weather) with our 'dry dock' buddies, Colin, Michelle and Flo. Whilst enjoying a cuppa onboard Jasmine afterwards we even ended up lighting the fire - brrrrrr!

Then sadly our 14 days on the Monty were up. We retraced our steps back up the locks to Frankton Junction, hearing en route how the lockie was heading off to a worm-charming championship after his shift. As it turned out he was going to the original one at Willaston County Primary School which started in 1980 and is where the current world record was established in 2009 by 10-year-old Sophie Smith who raised 567 worms! The next day we found out that he hadn't managed to get there in time sadly, but I did enjoy researching it!

We stayed for a few days at the junction, enjoying walks across beautiful oat fields and spotting hares before heading eastwards to Tetchill where we had a lovely surprise one morning. As we were having breakfast, who should pass by our window on their new boat but Tony and Sally, who we'd not seen for 2 years. They quickly pulled in and we had a great time catching up over a coffee. That's boat life for you - always an unexpected treat around each bend!

This is going to be the last blog for a little while. We've got a busy summer with a trip to France where Rob's eldest son is getting married and we're making a bit of a trip of it, heading down by car, doing a bit of exploring and hoping our rusty French doesn't let us down! Normal service will be resumed in the autumn.

Until then, have a lovely summer folks and don't forget that you can help support these blogs by visiting my Ko-fi page at: https://ko-fi.com/travelswithjasmine  Thanks so much :-)

Evening falls at Crickheath, Montgomery Canal