Canals ...

A few blogs ago I wrote about the small town near us who turned lemons into lemonade when they took our noxious blackflies and made them into a super publicity opportunity. Well, in June we'll be off to sample yet another example of that ingenuity. Ray and I will spend 3 weeks in the British Isles, actually two of them in Wales, and for our middle week we have rented a narrow canal boat, and will fulfill one of the things on our 'Must do Before I Die' list.

When we lived in Britain - many, many moons ago - canal boat holidays were popular in one location - The Norfolk Broads - and I vaguely remember hearing about friends who had experienced this, but it wasn't very popular. However, since then, in fact particularly during the last 20 years, canals holidays have become very popular all over Britain. Now, here is definitely another case of taking lemons and making lemonade!

The canal systems of Britain were the highways of the 18th century. They were dug and used to move heavy cargoes of coal, iron ore, grain etc. from the industrial sections of the country to the large docks on the coasts. The narrow boats, or barges, were drawn along by huge Shire horses which trudged along the pathways alongside the canals. When the railways came many of the canals became redundant and fell into disrepair, but a few were still used right up until the second world war.

I wonder which clever entrepreneur came up with the idea of cleaning up all those disused, dirty, unsightly canals, building wonderful new narrow boats, outfitting them with all the amenities people want (toilet, bed, kitchen, shower etc.) and, presto, a wonderful new leisure industry is born! Judging by the difficulty we had in booking one of these floating homes, it must be extremely popular!!

So, Ray and I will pick up our narrow boat - only 7ft 2ins wide and 48 ft long - in northern Wales, and will putter along the Llangollen canal for a full week of a very different kind of life. The Llangollen canal is known to be one of the most scenic (the Caledonian one in Scotland is supposed to trump it!) and of particular interest to Ray is the Pontcysyllte aqueduct. This 1,000 ft. channel of water was designed in 1805 by an engineer named Telford to span the river Dee valley. It has 19 arches and is 120 ft in the air (think I will just close my eyes as Ray navigates us across that one!)

The boat's top speed is only 3 mph, and one veteran boater said, "It's like a walking holiday, except without having to move your legs." Well, maybe he forgot all the exercise involved in wrestling with mooring ropes, fending off other novice boaters (like us!) and particularly running up and down the tow paths to crank open various locks and lift bridges!

Ah, but there's always a friendly pub waiting around the next bend, and you just hammer in your mooring pegs, secure your boat, and pop inside to 'wet your whistle!' At least that's what I'm told ... will tell you if it's true when we return!

Bye, until next time!