By the time we reach the Welsh town of Llangollen we would have travelled 44 miles and gone through another 17 locks rising us another 109feet. Amongst those 17 are 3 staircase locks at Grindley brook.
A staircase lock is 2 or more locks where the upper gate of one lock serves as the lower gate of the next.
Click HERE to see the video of Grindley staircase locks working.
So on we go the picture shows us in the 1st lock having just risen from the Shropshire Union in the picture above. Jaq is walking on to prepare the next lock while I will bring the boat forward and close the gates behind me.
The original plan was a canal linking the River Mersey via Chester and Wrexham to the River Severn at Shrewsbury. The section from the Mersey to Chester was built as was a section up to Frankton locks(now part of the Montgomery). Finance and land purchase issues stopped the original plan and the canal eventually joined the main canal system here at Hurleston in 1805 where Chester can be reached.