We have left the Llangollen Canal to spend a few days on the Montgomery Canal. This canal built in the late 1700s originally stretched some 35 miles into the countryside of east Wales from Frankton Locks near Ellesmere through Welshpool to Newtown but it fell into disuse and was finally abandoned in 1944 following a catastrophic breach near Frankton in the 1930s. In recent years thanks to the efforts of the Inland Waterways Association the first 7 miles have been restored and work continues on the rest. Since closure it became an important nature reserve and for that reason boat access is limited to 12 boats in and 12 boats out each day. This requires boat passage through the Frankton Locks to be booked in advance.
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| Help with descending the Frankton Locks |
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| Densie moored in the Weston Arm |
Our booking was for 12:00 today so we left Ellesmere after turning around at the bottom of the arm and headed along the very winding Llangollen Canal to arrive at Frankton at 11:45. Almost immediately a helpful lock keeper confirmed our booking and assisted us through the initial 2-staircase locks keaving us to complete the remaining 2 individual locks on our own. We moored in the short section of the disused Weston Arm at 12:45 and had lunch. Soon afterwards it started raining and so we decided not to move further today - very wise as the rain has continued all afternoon.
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