Bartimaeus

The sunny weather continues, but yet again we woke to find that we were in the partial shade of a tree. I may need to get a special mat with a compass in it so that I can locate sunrise.  The boat that had been moored in front of us was gone before I had finished breakfast, so it was an easy matter to use the ropes to pull us forward a couple of boat lengths. Our energy production immediately tripled!

A long-standing issue has been that our barge pole (mostly reserved for not touching things with) overhangs the solar panels at each end.  I’ve always assumed it was best to have it more on one than the other.  Clare prompted me to experiment again.  It turns out that the best position is when it shadows the panels at each end equally.  That wasn’t such a dramatic gain, but it was still nearly 10%.

Tomorrow must be changeover day at the marina in Whitchurch – there was a steady stream of hire boats from there, mingled with some from other places, going that way this morning.  We decided to let them go by as the air gradually warmed though the morning.  We were having lunch when I thought I heard an intruder.  Sure enough a young-looking spaniel had come through the open bow doors.  It realised it had crossed a line when it saw me and scrabbled back the way it came.  The owners were very apologetic when I appeared.  By the time I’d gone back through the boat, Clare had struck up conversation with them at the stern.  We had a pleasant chat in the sunshine.

The line of boats seemed to have calmed down by the time we set off after lunch.  The canal here is extremely rural, winding through gently undulating fields.  I noted a number of places where we might moor on our return – assuming I’m right about where the sun rises.

In the middle of the afternoon we finally reached Wales.  There was nothing on the ground to mark the transition, just a line on the map.

A mile or so later we came to a water point.  It seemed prudent to stop and fill up, so now we have some welsh water on board.  Of course the canal-side taps we have been using for some while are almost certainly filled with water collected in Wales.  We’ve noted a strong flow in the canal – this is is because it supplies the reservoir at Hurleston at the eastern end.  We almost certainly got some of that water when we filled up at Calveley.

With the water tank filled we carried on further.  I was pleased to see a large bank of daffodils at the canal side.  These were definitely Welsh flowers, as were the hills of Eryri (Snowdonia) in the distance.  The nearby field however was in England.

The border is a very strange shape.  After a total distance in Wales of just over two miles we went round the corner and with the same lack of ceremony crossed back in to England.

We keep saying we are travelling the connected canals and rivers of England and Wales, but the proportion that is actually in Wales is surprisingly small – there is still some more to come!

The next section was very pretty with the canal snaking between large meres.  There were a number of attractive moorings, but I was put off by the tree cover.  We continued until just beyond the Ellesmere Tunnel.  This is on the edge of the town of Ellesmere.  We were recently at Ellesmere Port which is over twenty five miles north as the crow flies.  That town grew at the port at the end of the planned Ellesmere Canal.  The canal as originally planned was never completed, and sections that were completed took on other names.

I fear we may still be in the shade in the morning, but we did get full sun until nearly sunset today.  That might help us to decide about moving on in the morning.