I have been at Wrenbury for the past 5 days waiting for Royal Mail to deliver my post that my daughter in law Bev posted last Thursday and as has happened previously despite 1st class postage it only arrived today(Tues). Never mind it`s a lovely place to moor and i got my first duckling picture and have spent some of the time sitting in the sunshine reading and some time having a pint by the lift bridge watching the boats go by.
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St. Margaret`s church built in red Cheshire Sandstone looks magnificent surrounded on all sides by a very tidy graveyard the grass being kept short around every grave. From the canal a footpath crosses a field full of cows and takes you through church grounds to the Post office/stores and together with 2 pubs this makes up the village of Wrenbury.
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For the single handed boater like myself the Llangollen throws up a few obstacles by way of lift bridges the majority of which are like the one pictured above. As you can see by the moored boats, the towpath is on the left but the bridge lifting mechanism is on the right making getting off the boat a problem with the overgrown vegetation but on your own it is possible although for some reason BW have only put mooring bollards on the far side of this bridge so a handy bush or tree is used to tie the rope on.
This lift bridge at Wrenbury throws up a different problem for the lone sailor as getting off on the right is not an option as there`s a hire base here and that bit where the people are standing is all there is to use. I got over this by putting the boat along the fence front centre and pushed the bow up to the other side. All that did then was walk through the boat wrapped the front rope around the fence where they are standing operated the bridge (this one is electric) and back through the boat to steer through tying on bollards the other side and then lowering the bridge.
Good night.
.JPG)
St. Margaret`s church built in red Cheshire Sandstone looks magnificent surrounded on all sides by a very tidy graveyard the grass being kept short around every grave. From the canal a footpath crosses a field full of cows and takes you through church grounds to the Post office/stores and together with 2 pubs this makes up the village of Wrenbury..JPG)
For the single handed boater like myself the Llangollen throws up a few obstacles by way of lift bridges the majority of which are like the one pictured above. As you can see by the moored boats, the towpath is on the left but the bridge lifting mechanism is on the right making getting off the boat a problem with the overgrown vegetation but on your own it is possible although for some reason BW have only put mooring bollards on the far side of this bridge so a handy bush or tree is used to tie the rope on.
This lift bridge at Wrenbury throws up a different problem for the lone sailor as getting off on the right is not an option as there`s a hire base here and that bit where the people are standing is all there is to use. I got over this by putting the boat along the fence front centre and pushed the bow up to the other side. All that did then was walk through the boat wrapped the front rope around the fence where they are standing operated the bridge (this one is electric) and back through the boat to steer through tying on bollards the other side and then lowering the bridge.
Good night.
4 comments:
Les I have to ask
How do you manage to get the boat through those manual lift bridges because if I remember rightly, you need to stand against some of them to keep them raised?
Wrenbury is lovely, we met the doctor when we were there. My daughter, rather impolitely, asked her how much she had paid for her house!! LOL. To give the doctor her due, she came out of the post office after us and told us then as the ladies behind the counter were having a right nose!! This was in 2001 but she got it for a bargain believe me!!!
carol
Don`t start trying to get me worried, as far as i remember the lift bridges wind up and stay up untill wound down.
Maybe you are thinking of the Sth. Oxford.
I have been told in the past 2 days that one bridge on the Prees branch here has to be opened by a chain that is then hooked to keep it open.
I will check that out as i intend to cruise all 1 mile and 3 lift bridges of this arm.
Oh sorry they must have changed them then because when we got as far as Wrenbury the lift bridge before the villiage had to be actually lifted and I had to stand against it as the boat went through. Fear not. As we didn't get further than Wrenbury then I cannot vouch for the others!! I do remember it had a chain on it but I didn't notice any hooks. Enjoy. Come on, you seem like a man who likes a challenge...
Hi Carol
You could be right about that bridge as the last time i was up here the bridge was not there just a temporary scaffold footbridge so perhaps the original bridge was as you describe.
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