We came across a significant problem at Marbury Lock today. We were making steady progress towards our goal of reaching Grindley Brook by the end of the day. But when we got to Marbury Lock we discovered the complete ground paddle, on the ground!

This made the lock a little tricky to empty. Even with both gate paddles opened the lock refused to empty completely, making it a struggle to open the bottom gates. We managed it, but only just.

The locks, today, have reminded us just how much fun the Llangollen can be. By fun I mean challenging. The canal is fed from the River Dee above Llangollen. A continuous flow is maintained down its complete length, allowing water from the Dee to fill a reservoir at Hurleston. This supplies water to Mid Cheshire. There is a detectable flow through bridge holes. And every lock has a fast-flowing by-wash which disgorges back into the canal, just by the bottom gates. That means that you have to be brave and use a lot of throttle to avoid being pushed sideways into the wall of the lock entrance. Heather is a master at this, showing us all how to “thread the needle” as she calls it. That’s a 15 ton needle traveling at 3 mph.

Pretty lift bridges are a feature of this canal. Unlike the ones on the Oxford, that we are familiar with, that use a simple chain, these ones are hydraulic.

We also passed through the electric operated lift bridge at Wrenbury. Of course it became rush hour as soon as we wanted to get through. We were public spirited and let the traffic through. But there is a small sense of satisfaction of legitimately stopping the traffic for our single boat, only to have another boat arrive as well. It was only a small traffic jam!

We didn’t quite make it to Grindley Brook, so the fun of the staircase locks will have to wait until morning. There are lots of other interesting things to see along this canal. Even the swans are as big as caravans.