The narrow bits of the Llangollen. What happens there then?

[The Toad in the Hole]

If single handing go up after 19:00, then leave before 07:00 the next day. You are lass likely to meet anyone...and you will almost definitely not find anyone to pay your overnite mooring fee to. It worked for me last May.

The collection of fees has been taken over by the Llangollen Wharfe people - they keep longer hours than the BW/CRT people and seem a little more on the ball

[little duck!]

people not sending anyone ahead or presuming they will see crew of an oncoming boat cause some problems, there are visible signs telling crew to walk on and if both crews decide that they will chance it and they will see crew from the boats in the opposite direction then problems will occur. I actually quite enjoyed my walk in beatiful scenery and was happy that my boat was safe too! We did encounter the trip boat and had to get out of his way, we were fortunate that it was very near the wharf and we were able to get out of his way!

[system 4-50]

What are single hander's supposed to do?

[Ange]

What are single hander's supposed to do?

I did wonder that too. I suppose they either take a chance and hope or wait for a crewed boat to come along to scout ahead for them.

[ditchcrawler]

 

 

worth noting that the trip boat never sends anyone ahead, but he knows where to sit to get a good look down the whole length. He also takes no prisoners!

I have met him

[little duck!]

we followed a single hander down from Trevor to llan, he was quite glad that i went ahead with Radio as he said it made things so much easier, i suppose there is quite a lot of boat traffic on that part so a single hander may not have to wait too long to follow or go just before another boat with more crew. Either that or be prepared to reverse!

[Keeping Up]

I just go, if someone is coming the other way I will see the lookout they sent ahead. If I start before them their lookout will tell them to wait. Same at Rugeley tunnel

 

Exactly what I do.

 

If they have sent a lookout, I'll meet them (and I may choose to reverse if necessary) - and if they haven't sent a lookout they can't complain that I haven't done so either, can they?

[The Toad in the Hole]

 

Exactly what I do.

 

If they have sent a lookout, I'll meet them (and I may choose to reverse if necessary) - and if they haven't sent a lookout they can't complain that I haven't done so either, can they?

Which is fine, except at busy times on the Llan, you tend to get boats bunching up - it becomes a case of boats following each other through the narrows like a train of ducks, so it isn't a case of one boat backing, suddenly its a case of half a dozen boats, most with inexperienced crews, logjamming half a kilometre of ditch. Funny to watch, but I pretty much always make sure someone around me has gone forward first

[Ruth Tesdale]

I crewed on a boat on the Llangollan in September and we had a crew of 6 and we were prepared to send someone ahead but one way or another we actually did not need to do it. Boats coming through told us what boats were or were not behind them but as my husband and I will be travelling it again in March I think we will invest in a set of Wilkie talkies just to be on the safe side.

[tillergirl]

we met a guy whose look out was walking alongside his boat chatting to him.......and he refused to stop even when he was advised there were 3 boats half way through the longest narrow..............he did eventually right at the very last possible bit which made it really hard for the boats coming the other way.

[Ron Knight]

My abiding memory of this canal, which I've done twice, is the rank bad manners of the tourist/trip boats. I've seen them put several hire boats aground in the shallower parts of the canal (of which there are several) by barging (sorry) through claiming they have a timetable to keep.

Edited November 9, 2013 by Ron Knight

[Alway Swilby]

My abiding memory of this canal, which I've done twice, is the rank bad manners of the tourist/trip boats. I've seen them put several hire boats aground in the shallower parts of the canal (of which there are several) by barging (sorry) through claiming they have a timetable to keep.

We sent a lookout walking up ahead who got to the passing place and reported back that the coast was clear so off we went. A few minutes later our look out spotted the trip boat coming the other way and told them there was a boat coming (me) and they would have to wait. The trip boat driver told our lookout that they didn't care and carried on regardless into the narrows. Needles to say it was us that had to reverse out. The trip boat drivers should go on a "How to be nice to other canal users" course.

[comfortably numb]

Referring to Toad In The Hole's comment about boats bunching up reminds me of the time 5 of us were passing through the Chirk Tunnel and as we emerged 4 boats were coming off the aqueduct. It took a while to sort out the resulting chaos as we all tried to squeeze past each other in the small basin between the tunnel and the aqueduct. This wasn't even in the 'high season' so goodness know what it's like then. As for the 2 narrow parts we always time it so we travel through them either early morning or late(ish) evening.

 

We regularly travel that short narrow section at Armitage on the T&M near Rugeley and if travelling south (away from Rugeley) it is possible to see if anyone is coming the opposite way without having to send anyone to look.

[owenk]

There are two stretches which are one boat wide where the signs say send someone ahead.Preferably both lookout and seerer will either have radios or mobile phones to tell the steerer when its clear.. The first stretch is through a recently built concrete channel. This stretch has passing places which are long enough for one boat and are marked by white sticks. On this stretch, if you are in convoy, its best to leave a good gap to the boat in front so that if the front boat pulls into a passing place, you can use the previous passing place. The second stretch is cut through rock without any passing places and is quite a long stretch, it takes me some time to get through here with a 2’ 4” draught boat. Of course, if any boat coming the other way follows the signs, they will send someone ahead and you should see their lookout before you enter this section.

 

Yup this is what we did and it worked fine along with communicating with people doing the same thing the otehr way around (if that makes ssense.)