Canal Boat Holiday Base Information - Base 19

Base 19 is south of Chester on the Llangollen Canal. It is run by one of the best boat operators in the UK, with a friendly, professional service. It is easily reached by rail or road, and is near Manchester Airport.

The base occupies a delightful wharf on the outskirts of this quiet Cheshire village. It offers you access to the delights of the Llangollen canal, as well as an easy cruise to Chester. Also available is the Four Counties Ring taking in parts of the Trent & Mersey, Staffs & Worcester, Shropshire Union canals and the Wardle cut. Wrenbury has something for everyone and short breaks.

Available Routes
CHESTER AND THE BOAT MUSEUM
Wrenbury to Chester & Return: 46 locks, 22 hours of cruising
Wrenbury to Ellesmere Port & Return: 46 locks, 28 hours cruising In Roman and Medieval times Chester was a thriving port on the River Dee, so journeying there by boat seems an appropriate way of approaching this wonderfully romantic and historic city. Three and a half hours cruising from Wrenbury should see you at Hurleston Junction where you join the Shropshire Union canal. Heading north past Barbridge junction the locks are now wide enough to take two boats, side by side. Suddenly you get your first glimpse of Beeston Castle soaring above the Cheshire Plain on its high sandstone crag. It is open to the public under the aegis of English Heritage.

There are other pleasure ports of call on this stretch of canal; the lockside cottage at Beeston Stone Lock where freshly baked home produce is often obtainable; the little glory hole of a craft shop at Castle Wharf; and the Shady Oak, a convivial canalside pub just made for thirsty and hungry boaters. Arriving at Chester, four locks drop you into the heart of the city, where you can moor within earshot of the cathedral without a traffic warden in sight. Make no mistake, Chester is one of the greatest treasure houses of Europe, and quite the best way to effect an introduction to it is to perambulate its ancient walls. Now gravitate towards the centre, explore famous galleried Rows, and then go and wallow in the hushed peace of the cathedral. Then you can decide where to eat, a choice not made any easier by a proliferation of enchanting looking restaurants, cafes and pubs.

You may find it difficult to tear yourself away from Chester but it is well worth spending a few more hours cruising beyond the city to Ellesmere Port where at the junction of the canal and the Manchester Ship Canal is the splendid Boat Museum. Your modern, comfortable hire boat now rubs shoulders with its cargo carrying ancestors. For a moment, past and present merge inextricably and your holiday on the canal takes on a different, and extremely gratifying, dimension.

LLANGOLLEN CANAL
Wrenbury to Llangollen & Return: 24 locks, 36 hours of cruising. The little grey-slated Welsh town of Llangollen nestles amid the wild charm of the Vale of Llangollen. It seems an unlikely setting for the annual Eisteddfod, a feast of Welsh music and culture that attracts visitors from all over the world. It also seem equally unlikely that a canal should have been built so far into the hills and mountains of Wales. But the canal exists, a monument to the rapidly developing civil engineering skills of its builders in the early 1800s. With its soaring aqueducts and tunnels, this and the splendid scenery make for a potent mixture and a memorable holiday.

Besides its present use as a leisure waterway the canal also serves another essential function. Each day millions of gallons of water are taken from the River Dee, above Llangollen, and are run down the entire length of the canal to the reservoirs at Hurleston from where it is taken for treatment and then becomes drinking water for some towns and cities in the North West. When cruising up this canal, if you think that your progress is slower than expected it is due to a 2mph current caused by the water being run down the canal. At least when you return you will enjoy the benefit of this current and save time. Leaving Wrenbury on your cruise to Llangollen, you only have three locks to negotiate before the six locks at Grindley Brook. The top three locks form a staircase, which can be a considerable bottleneck at busy times during the summer. If you get caught in a queue, just relax and wait your turn, remembering this is a holiday that is not to be rushed.

Soon after Grindley Brook, you pass Whitchurch and there are no more locks for many miles though there are a number of lift bridges to be raised and lowered with the same windlass that you use for operating the locks. After passing the mysteriously remote 'mosses', the canal reaches Shropshire's 'Lake District', skirting several of the charming meres which were formed at the end of the Ice Age. A short tunnel then gives access to Ellesmere, a timeless old town with some particularly good shops specialising in local produce. At Newmarton you pass through the last pair of locks on your way to Wales. A few miles further on you turn a wooded corner and are confronted with an aqueduct and an even higher railway viaduct side by side crossing the valley of the River Ceirog. As you cross on the aqueduct you go from England to Wales and then immediately enter a tunnel. From the far end, it is only a short walk into the little town of Chirk with its shops and 14th century castle. With the Welsh mountains getting closer you arrive at that astonishing feat of canal engineering, the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. You pass 120ft above the River Dee in a cast iron trough not much wider than your boat!

You could be forgiven for thinking that the last lap into Llangollen would be an anti-climax. It is nothing of the sort, as on a shelf above the Vale of Llangollen and surrounded by high limestone ridges, the canal makes for the terminal wharf. You should have plenty of time to explore some of Llangollen's well-known attractions. Take a ride further up the Dee valley on a steam train; visit Plas Newydd, where the Ladies of Llangollen were the centre of gossip in the 18th century; climb up to the ruins of Castell Dinas Bran, over a thousand feet above sea level; visit the canal exhibition centre; take a stroll along the remaining unnavigable two miles of canal to the famous horseshoe falls, from where it derives its water supply; or just wander about the charming streets of the town and be grateful that you haven't got to find a parking space!

SHORT BREAK ROUTES
There are a number of routes that can be taken on three or four night short breaks:

WHITCHURCH AND RETURN
3 Night cruise and 20 locks
ELLESMERE AND RETURN
3 Night cruise and 20 locks
TIVERTON AND RETURN
3 Night cruise and 28 locks
CHIRK AND RETURN
4 Night cruise and 24 locks
EGGBRIDGE AND RETURN
4 Night cruise and 30 locks