Walks, walks, walks

Llangollen Canal Walk
(from Nantwich to Llangollen)

This is a lovely level walk of 53 miles we did end July 2012. We booked with Byways Breaks who organised the B&B's and our luggage transport. They did a good job and we can recommend them. It is a very easy walk and grants a lot of time to explore places along the way.

We enjoyed the charming market towns Nantwich, Whitchurch, Wrenbury, Ellesmere, Chirk and Llangollen. What made the walk so interesting were the people along and on the canal. The locks are a great place for a break because it is great to see the accomplished boat people and the ones who obviously never have managed a narrowboat.

It is easy to come into contact while helping with the locks or just chatting along while with boat people while we trotted on the tow path. We met the same people for days because the speed of a narrow boat and a walker is not so much different. The encountered dragonflys, butterflies and cows who are really curious about the passing boats.

Problem is that there are too many narrowboats for the canals, so the canals suffer a lot. Ellesmere is a great place to take a rest day.

In Llangollen we visited Plas Newydd, the residence of the famous Ladies of Llangollen. I think their story is inspiring and really interesting - not that we ever have heard of them before.

B & B's I especially would like to mention are Sedgeford House in Whitchurch, Mereside Farm in Ellesmere and Glasgwm in Llangollen. The owners are very kind and extremely helpful.