Christmas in Llangollen

Our final leg of the journey to Llangollen was delayed slightly due to a tree fallen over the canal, but thankfully the CRT worked quickly and put out a notice that was cleared. The sun shone on the steep slopes of Welsh hills, throwing much of our passage through the valleys into chilly shade.

Nearing the town there were two sections of 'narrows' where the channel was only a little bit wider than boats. Vicky and Tiger walked ahead with the radio to check there were no oncoming craft. Past a certain point, all moorings, whether on the towpath or in the basin cost £12 a night, but this included electricity and a water point. We spent the first night on the towath, from where we could look down through bare tree branches to to town. The next day we checked out the basin on foot. It has finger moorings with the potential disadvantage that we'd have boats moored either side of us but the grassy area for the dogs to run and the bright, open aspect with views of nearby hills won us over straight away.

Over the next week we reacquainted ourselves with Llangollen's long mainstreet and lanes off to either side. It has a great many independent stores as well as an Aldi and a Home Sense a short walk out along the Dee. Will picked up his christmas order at the butchers and we enjoyed pastries, including a giant Welsh Oggy from 'The Oggy Shop'. Vicky remembered visiting a craft shop some 15 years previously and was heartened to talk with the lovely couple who were still running it, although now they were winding down stock for a well earned retirement.

Llangollen basin had been many boaters' destination for christmas and it filled a little more each day. There was a wonderful community spirit and a couple of pub meetups organised. Paul, Antony and their elderly dog Dexter from Narrowboat Life Unlocked moored a couple of pontoons down while Rich, Fran and their two dogs from Floating Our Boat chose the towpath.

We were overjoyed that Ali came to celebrate Christmas eve and the big day with us. We kept him busy with a walk beyond the basin along the non navigable stretch of canal to the meter house that siphons water from the River Dee at the Horseshoe Falls wier. On the way we explored the famous 'Chain Bridge' and watched kayakers braving the swollen rapids.

On Christmas Day we hiked up to Castell Dinas Brân, the ruined hill fort above Llangollen. The views were spectacular and the old stone arches framed them beautifully.

Will outdid himself in the galley and produced three delicious wellingtons with far to many trimmings to mention for Christmas dinner.

Ali departed on Boxing Day and we used the last of the good weather to revisit Horseshoe Falls, using the canoe to get there this time. Our final adventure was a 'Mince Pie Special' trip on the Llangollen railway. A steam train chugged along all the way to Corwen. The smell of burning coal, the clunk clunk of wheels turning on the track, the whoosh and whistle as clouds of thick steam shot out the chimney and plumed in quickly evaporating clouds elicited a childhood nostalgia in the passengers and made for a really good journey despite the rain.もっと詳しく