Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/250756
; e , e l a n e o . r n "What's the best pub for food?" The man we ask points to the Black Lion. "Best steak and kidney pie anywhere," he promises. "And it's also the biggest." He holds up his hands a foot apart. So the Black Lion it is. The genuinely enormous pie is filled with succulent meat and gravy and comes with dishes of fresh vegetables. Jenny and I split one between us and can hardly finish. Simon eats a whole pie to himself and Jane opts for seafood. Good beer, too. And it doesn't get much better than sticky-toffee pudding for dessert. We roll home to Redwing and sleep very well. From Ellesmere to Llangollen is only 30 km, but it takes us two days. The countryside is lovely, the canal very sinuous, dug into the contours of the Welsh foothills. We seem to hang over meadows dotted with wildflowers. Still, the journey is not without incident. One day, Redwing gets stuck in the roots and reeds of a shallow section and has to be pulled out. It's a tug-of-war – four of us against one boat. Another time, a chicken flies directly into Alfie's mouth at one of the locks; he's so surprised he chomps down on it, ending the poor creature's life. And then there was that impromptu sideshow (see Dear Diary sidebar). At Chirk, Redwing and crew cross the first aqueduct. At 400 metres long, it's lower and shorter than the more famous one that still lies ahead. Running parallel is a taller train viaduct whose high Roman arches mirror those of the aqueduct on which we travel. It is a high and narrow ride above the River Ceiriog, a dramatic crossing into Wales – my mother's homeland. At p28-31_Gliding Wales.indd 31 the end, a Welcome to Wales sign in both official languages greets us at the entrance to the long Chirk Tunnel, 420 metres long and pitch dark. Our headlights throw out a puny beam, only enough to warn oncoming traffic. The canal angles sharply west to the little town of Froncysyllte, gateway to the famous Pontcysyllte (Pont-kuss-ulth-te) aqueduct. We moor for the night opposite Fron, as the community is called, because we want an early-morning clear sailing on this highly popular wonder of the world. We dine on board, feasting on bread, local cheese and Cornish pasties. The town, linked to the towpath by both a high footbridge and a vehicular lift bridge, is famous for its amateur male voice choir, one of the best in Wales. How we would love to hear them sing! Llangollen, the town, is also known for its arts and music festival, the Eisteddfod, held every July. Redwing gets moving in bright sunshine the next day, with frost icing the grass. Known as the Stream in the Sky, the lofty aqueduct with the tongue-twisting name delivers an exhilarating ride. It seems closer to flying than boating as we traverse the deep valley of the rushing River Dee. There is a towpath along one side, but on the other, the boat rides on the edge of the air. On the opposite side in the town of Trevor, where boats for hire are lined up three deep, the Llangollen bends very sharply under the Rhos-y-Coed bridge into a waterway so narrow and so elevated above the valley it's like sailing on a shelf. This is really slow going. Then the canal narrows to one lane only, seemingly chiselled into the mountain where the 13th-century ruins of Castell Dinas Bran loom over us. Our early start has paid off. We are the lead boat all the way and meet no opposition. And we find a mooring right above the town of Llangollen, where the canal ends and where we stay for the rest of the day, tucking into a riverside pub for lunch and, later, another for dinner. Our journey is more than half over. Going back we will have the current from the canalized waters of the River Dee in our favour. Even so, it will be no fast trip – no matter how spiced with laid-back adventure. Canal boating is, after all, hardly a highadrenalin sport. W canal nation The British canal system offers a new U-drive travel experience. Holidays on the canals have recently grown in popularity, with some 35,000 boats now plying the waterways. Many are full- or part-time live-aboards berthed in marinas. Some are itinerant trading boats – 230 of them floating shops and businesses, everything from hairdressers to delis, art galleries and ice-cream parlours. There are also hotel boats – narrowboats expensively outfitted, with skippers, crew and high-end catering thrown in. Most are rental boats, like the Redwing, for hire for as little as a day or as long as a season and accommodating from two to 12 passengers. In high summer, the canals can be choked with traffic, especially at the locks, where boats must take their turn and proceed one by one. Extra-narrow canals (such as the Llangollen) and one-way tunnels and aqueducts pose particular problems. There is, unfortunately, no system of traffic control. However, we travelled at the end of April and experienced little in the way of traffic jams. Spring in England and Wales is lovely, the fields freshly green, the banks studded with primroses and birds in full twitter. We even heard a cuckoo. I'm told that September and October, flaunting their vivid fall colours, are wonderful too. –L.B. ukcanalboating.com, anglowelsh. co.uk, ukboathire.com S p r i n g 2 0 14 | W e s t w o r l d 31 14-01-23 9:42 AM