Llangollen Canal - Day 3

Right then. Day 3. Awake with the birds, again, but our body clocks tell us it's 7.30am. Time to get out of bed and get dressed as fast as we can and get the kettle on! This morning we cooked a big breakfast and ate it at the picnic table on the bank alongside the boat. Doesn't everything taste better in the outdoors?!

Cast off about 9am, weather was overcast but not overly cold. [Martin: which was probably just as well. Although Lucy had central heating (hydronic) we discovered on our first night that the radiators quickly cooled down as soon as the engine was turned off. The system uses stored heat from the engine and then uses batteries to keep the water hot when the engine is off. We called the Marina in the morning and they reasoned that the battery was not properly charged. Needing a simply swap out we arranged to meet a service chap at midday at the Platt Land bridge. Unfortunately - this wasn't the be the end of the story...]

Cruising along with not too many mishaps we moored at Platt Lane and walked the half-mile to the Waggoner's Inn pub for lunch. We resolved this would be the main meal of the day as the friendly owners plied our outdoor table with food and James had his (almost) favourite food, Yorkshire Pudding! Marty always likes a local ale and I settled for a lager and Mum (the Lush!), enjoyed her gin and tonic in the sunshine. Groaning, we sauntered back the tiny single-lane road to the boat. It was an odd experience to be returning to a boat - rather than a car!

We knew what was ahead of us - the Grindley Locks Staircase. More groaning. Being new at this lock caper we, Mum and I, were somewhat terrified about guiding Lucy through 3 locks descending one after the other but the kindly 'Lockie' had experienced our type before (just how many blondes does it take?) and we smoothly and confidently made it through Phew! This, however, was followed by 3 separate locks immediately downstream so we walked between them, about half a mile in all. Mum is also now a fully-fledged Lift Bridge operator, having lifted and closed all 4 of them today. What a trooper! [Martin: By this time we had worked out how to slow Lucy and manoeuvre her close to the mooring point to offload Merrilyn & Lynne. That way, we could operate the lock or bridge without having to bother actually to tie/un-tie Lucy. The lift bridges are counter-balanced and operate using a sort of hydraulic assisted winch. It's a manual job - with some a little harder going than others. Poor Lynne!]

We truly deserved our dinner at the Willeymoor Lock Pub...WHAT?!Another pub meal after that lunch? Yes, we did! Martin and James went to explore the playground while Mum and I got stuck into the wine whilst admiring the Toby jugs and twee teapots adorning every last inch of space inside. It was lovely in a cosy old traditional sort of way. The waitress called the boys in from the garden when dinner was served. Now that's a first! It was a fine meal and not too far to walk back to Lucy and snuggle down for the night.

Photos are here.