Day 20 we had hoped to get over the aqueduct early to miss the main traffic and this seemed to work well to start with as we had no one in front of us and one following us.

It all went a bit pear shaped as we were about 15 minutes too early; we hadn’t allowed for the Anglo Welsh returning boats who where coming down from Llangollen and trying to reverse into the boat yard just beyond the end of the aqueduct, this and a boat waiting to go the other way made the area a little crowded. As we were waiting to turn left we nearly got rammed from behind by the following boat. The same boat followed too close for most of the way to Llangollen, I couldn’t help laughing when they worked out why we were going so slowly the hard way when a late Anglo Welsh boat came fast down towards the base and they had a coming together. The last part of the Llangollen has some very narrow sections where you cannot pass but you cannot see whether someone is coming the other way, so J did a power walk through the narrow sections (about two miles) with our walkie talkies to check the way was clear and stopped one boat coming the other way. Moored in the basin and met some of the other boats we have seen earlier in our travels.

Huge shop in the early afternoon using our trusty trolley, only problem is that the canal is quite high above the town and the hill up is quite steep so it was quite a pull. Short walk to the horseshoe falls in the afternoon. Went to local wine bar / restaurant for supper (Gales) which we would recommend.

Day 21 we stayed in Llangollen visiting Newydd Plas in the morning, amazing “cottage” which has been enhanced by the addition of huge amounts of carved wood. Was the home of two Irish ladies who became famous for their cottage and garden in the 18th century and were visited by the great and good of their day.

Rest of the day spent doing domestic tasks, reading the paper in the “conservatory” i.e. in the bow under the cratch.

The Llangollen is fed from the Dee river starting at the horseshoe falls; you cannot get there by boat, hence the walk yesterday, but you can get close if you take a horse drawn boat trip. Even if you don’t take the trip they make a picturesque addition to the scene.