Today we motored further toward Llangollen passing through Ellesmere (the mere pictured above) and we are now moored about a mile from where I used to work near Oswestry, in a marina attached to the Lion Wharf hotel. Any of you who drive along the A5 past Oswestry will recognise it on the left going south. You can moor for free so long as you eat in the hotel, the food was fine although we won’t visit on the return journey.
I had forgotten that Oswestry is the epicentre of ballooning, quite often on the drive to work I would see a pair of trousers, or a castle or any other object being inflated in the field next to the office. To remind me a balloon went overhead as we were drinking our G&T's this evening.
Now we have been sailing for a couple of weeks it might be a good idea to say a little about the boat and boaters.
Our Boat: It is a bog standard hire narrow boat, the layout is shown above. It is 48ft long and 6ft 8inches wide which allows it to go anywhere on the canals in England. The Bridgewater canal is much wider and there are some fancy wide boats there but they can’t go anywhere else which seems a bit daft unless it is used as a houseboat.
Many hire boats are longer (70ft, more bedrooms) but they all have the same constraints on the design. Somewhere they need to fit three big tanks (fresh water, sewage and fuel), an engine, a central heating boiler and several gas bottles. Once they are accommodated the designers can make the best of a long thin space. At each lock you tend to peer into the other boats to look for any innovations or to quietly criticise their layout.
Ours is fine, the shower is surprisingly good, the kitchen has all you need (Gill doing the cooking) and the bed is a king size, although a squeeze to get past (not as spacious as the drawing above implies).
Boaters: There are several categories of boaters;
1. Hirers – Some complete novices and others like us who have grasped the rudiments of boating but still make stupid mistakes. This category are all good natured, friendly and out to enjoy themselves.
2. Comfortable Boat Owners – This group have a nice boat which they own themselves, it is well looked after, and they enjoy pottering about on the canals. They are friendly to hirers and are also looking to have a good time.
3. “Hippies” - This group are living on their boats which are too small so they overflow onto the banks and the roof with piles of logs, spare parts for the boat which does not seem to move too often if at all, example pictured. They are always cheerful.
4. Neighbourhood Watch – I am afraid a large minority of boat owners hate hirers, they are grumpy, complain about us and begrudge anyone else using “their” canal. They are just plain horrid and you meet three or four every day.
5. Given Ups – Many boat owners of any of category's 2-4 above, after the initial dream has faded just give up, I presume they pay their licence fees each year but the boat becomes more and more dishevelled each year. This probably accounts for 20% of the boats along the canal.
Tomorrow we are on familiar territory as we pass through Chirk, over the amazing viaduct and onto Llangollen.