Adventure to Europe & UK 2025

  It turns out it’s pretty far when you’re in a new place with lots of interesting places to discover, and you’re living on a boat. The day began with some housekeeping…collecting up our laundry and walking up to town to the laundromat, a bit of exploring around town, coffee in a cafe, then back to the boat for lunch. One of the most interesting shops in town is the Riverside Taxidermy Studio, filled with taxidermied birds and animals. In the afternoon we wanted to see the Horseshoe Falls, a manmade horseshoe shaped weir on the Dee River that controls the water levels at the beginning of the Llangollen Canal. Despite water being siphoned off for the canal, the river still has a swift flow and several rapids where kayakers were trying their luck. Originally narrowboats were towed along the canals by draught horses, using the towpaths that exist even today as footpaths along all the canals. In Llangollen you can still take a ride in a horse-drawn narrowboat, along the upper reaches o...

I know, I can’t pronounce it either. We’ve had several Welsh people try to show us how to shape the words but it seems way beyond us! Nevertheless it is an amazing structure and an awesome experience to cross the bridge that leads into Llangollen high above the river Dee. I got the picture of the aqueduct itself from the internet, because obviously we were on top of it with a completely different view. We left fairly early this morning to try to avoid the crowds, because the canal leading to the aqueduct has several sections   and tunnels that are very narrow and only one 6’10” wide can travel along at a time. This means someone needs to walk ahead to make sure there isn’t someone coming from the other direction, because there is no place to pass or turn around, so you really need to be the only boat on the canal at that time. It takes a lot of concentration on the part of the person steering the boat to navigate the many twists and turns in the narrow sections. We chatted to a you...

I decided to take a walk this morning through the Chirk tunnel and across the aqueduct, to see what it is like when you’re not on a boat. On foot, the tunnel is very, very long and very, very dark.   It’s actually a bit creepy. The path is narrow, with a wet railing on the water side and a rough stone wall that curves above your head on the other. I bumped my head at least once before I turned on the torch on my phone and shone the beam straight down, so that I didn’t dazzle the eyes of the oncoming boats, but at least then I could see where I was putting my feet. It was a good feeling when I reached the exit. The aqueduct is pretty from the pathway, with it’s stone arches, mirrored by the stone arches of the railway viaduct that runs alongside. The aqueduct is actually shorter than it seemed on the boat, but maybe that was just because the tunnel felt very long. I only realised the second viaduct is a railway line when a train trundled across while I was walking.   Once I rea...

We crossed   into Wales today, via our first aqueduct, high above the River Ceiriog, and travelled through the Chirk tunnel, which is 421 metres long, and very, very dark. The tunnel is narrow and only one boat fits in the canal at a time, so if someone is coming towards you, all you can do is wait until they have cleared the tunnel to begin your crossing. You can’t actually see the boats in the tunnel because it is so dark, so everyone needs to have a headlight on the boat for visibility. It was very busy this afternoon, and ended up with a bit of a traffic jam at both ends as there were lots of boats going either way. In the end, four or five would come through one way, then some the other way. Anyhow, people were patient and waited their turn, so it was not a problem. We’ve found a lovely spot right next to the path into town, and this afternoon trekked up to Chirk Castle, a 1.5mile walk, uphill all the way. It was much easier coming back down! Chirk Castle belongs to the Nation...

We had planned to stay in Ellesmere an extra night, but after a morning walk and coffee at our favourite quirky place in town we decided to move on. There was rain forecast, and we had a chicken to roast for dinner, so decided to find a nice little spot all to ourselves somewhere further along the canal, where we could spend a cosy evening. Towards sunset, the sun came out for a while so Val and I walked along the canal to stretch our legs and see what was ahead. It doesn’t seem to matter where you are, there is always something different and interesting to photograph. We’re enjoying watching the leaves on the trees turn autumn colours more and more each day and the canals are bordered by bushes laden with berries of blue, red and orange. So pretty!  

I thought you might like a tour of our narrowboat ‘Southern Cross’, our home for the next three months. Apart from being very long, at 65 feet, she is just 6ft 10in wide, which is the maximum width to fit through the locks. Starting from the stern, there is a small platform with the tiller which steers the boat.     From there, small double doors lead down directly into the galley. The galley has a full size gas stove with grill and oven, small fridge, sink and cupboards. Next to the galley is the dining/sitting area that comprises two bench seats and a table that can be removed.   There is another larger table but we have found the small one is easier to live with. We leave it at the end during the day, and move it into the centre of the seats at dinner time. From the galley there is a passageway past a bathroom with shower, basin and toilet, next is our bedroom, followed by a ‘spare’ room that can be either a sitting area or bedroom, which we have set up as seating, the...