Location: Llangollen to Chirk
Event: 10mile paddle over Pontcysyllte Aqueduct + Chirk Aqueduct, Whitehouse canal tunnel and Chirk castle aqueduct.
The Crews:
Canadian canoes: Rob and Jacqui, Ted and Phil, Rachel and Steve
Plastics: Julie, Lynne, Nick, Andy, Helen
K1: Caroline
K2: Rebecca and Paul, Jo and Richard
Surprising factoid: We paddled to England!
Report by Julie Raworth
Photos and videos by various members
After a fab cooked brekkie from Paul and Lynne the first stage of faffing started as working out boats:people:cars ratios ensued. I opted to stay out of this one for sanity’s sake! According to Richards faffing scale I think the start of this trip scores rather exceeded the hike because we not only had to coordinate bodies and cars but also boats to all be found at a point different to the start.
Having felt satisfied that I was not the only one whose sat nav tried to take an unsuitable load over the mountain (Phil with the trailer had to do a tight turnaround followed by the convoy) we reached the start point at Horseshoe falls. Rather than trying to find out how to access the bottom car park it was somehow decided it would be much more fun to clamber all the boats down 3 flights of iron stairs. Again, avoiding all the faffing I got mine down and stayed there on dog poo duty (ensuring nobody put their boat in it) while having my camera handy for a very near drop of a canoe straight down into the canal from the bridge.
Given the range of boats, thus speeds, we had to split the starts so we hopefully all ended up over the aqueduct together. In the plastics, myself, Nick and Lynne started off first with Rachel and Steve in the Canadian. Quite amazingly they never fell out the whole trip! I thought it was going to be a nice gentle paddle as they negotiated their steering (Rachel is more used to a K1 and being in control), but they soon got a rhythm which meant we had to start working to keep up with them.
We began at the start on the Llangollen canal, where the horseshoe falls were manmade to siphon off the river into the canal. It was fairly narrow which made it tricky at times when the horsedrawn canal boats came the other way, where the usual rules of keeping right were exempt or you may get garrotted by the tow rope! Unfortunately this left Caroline taking a dip early on as she had nowhere to hold onto. There were patches of canal that opened up wider with lovely plush greenery and views over the valley alongside us.
Gradually the K boats came speeding past us, Richard and Jo first, followed by Jacqui and Rob in a Canadian. Caroline also caught us up in her K1. With pain kicking in the naughtiness of Rob kicked me up a gear to overtake and beat them to the aqueduct.
Lunch, and lots of chocolate muffins, was had at the basin as a few members got themselves prepared for the crossing by walking over the aqueduct and checking out the immense view. As we basked in the sunshine, Ted and Phil eventually turned up having stopped off for coffee and cake on the way!
By then we were about to head off again! Caroline got herself into some dry clothes thanks to Phil. Having been observing things for a while we considered that if we didn’t take the next opportunity to cross it may be some time before we had another chance. There were no traffic lights and so took courtesy and respect (and a build up each end) to negotiate turns. The basin was full of ‘Virgin’ non-paddlers who have paid for the privilege but had no idea how to steer or paddle a canoe! So, along with the canal boats it was going to take some skill and patience, especially for poor Caroline who could barely get up enough speed to stay upright.
Feeling like being on the log flume at Thorpe Park there was certainly plenty of time to take photos, and those who were previously concerned about their vertigo didn’t know what they had been worrying about. Coming out the other end was bedlum with a sharp bend and swing bridge to portage, and our superior skills were required to get ourselves around the meandering non-paddlers.
I was concerned that having already done 4.5 miles I would never last another 5.5 miles but I was insistent I would go over the aqueduct. Then I heard that we still had 2 tunnels and another aqueduct to do which perked me up. Again turn taking required respect down the narrow tunnels. As precaution, Rebecca and Paul guided the group through the tunnel. Caroline caught a lift with Rob and Jacqui as the disorientation in a dark tunnel was very real…as I soon found when your visual senses have to rapidly shift to feel.
Having paddled Chirk aqueduct we all gently meandered our way to the Pheasant pub where miraculously all the faffing paid off and all cars were there to take us back to site…after a quick refreshment in the pub for most of course.
The trip built a great team spirit and a lot of fun and laughs were had along the way. We supported each other as we each had our lulls of energy driving us all to do what was probably the longest paddle most have done before.
To track our route take a look at Nicks great Relive video