Chirk cutting

With the aqueduct closed there wasn't so much to keep us at Froncysyllte. The weather has thankfully become drier so we chugged on, through the Whitehouse Tunnel and over the Chirk Aqueduct into England. From here the canal course leads through a deep cutting before plunging once underground once again. We moored just before the entrance to the Chirk Tunnel, with the town just 10 minutes away.

We needed to stock up, so walked in that afternoon. Chirk has a Spar and a smattering of small shops including a gorgeous quilting and embroidery shop, a proper greengrocers and a pet foods store. About a mile away from our mooring there was a small Co-op and a fish n chip shop that we got takeaway from. The shopkeepers seemed particularly friendly and happy to chat. The pet store owner recommended a visit to Chirk Castle and even gave us an out of date Chirk calendar with photos of the local area.

A well signed path took us over muddy fields up the hill to Chirk Castle, a National Trust property 1.5 miles away. The gardens were open for anyone to view and it really lifted our spirirts to find a few roses and snowdrops in flower. We don't know whether the castle rooms were open but we enjoy the outdoors more so didn't enquire.

Although Chirk cutting was an impressive spot, with tall trees arching over its steep slopes. However, it was wet and dark. The towpath was covered in thick mud and decaying leaf litter meaning the dogs didn't want to go out and Leo was up all night each night barking at the owls. Unfortunately the bad outweighed the bad here so we moved on.Read more