Friday 25th June day 1
Dropped off at airport by Ros
Arrived Singapore. So far, so good.
Saturday 26th June day 2
Flight delayed initially 1 hr due to engine problems.
1am take off aborted.
5am pilots come out to bravely face a hostile crowd to tell them that the engineers cannot find the problem and they are off on a 10 hr break.
We get ferried to hotel for a few hours.
12 midday awoken by a call telling us we leave to airport at 3pm.
5:30pm flight finally leaves singers.
11:50pm arrive Frankfurt. We are told that there are no connecting flights to London that night but we are booked onto a Lufthansa flight at 8:25 the next morning and are sent to a hotel for the night.
Sunday 27th June day 3
Wake at 5:30 to grab some breakfast and catch the 6:45 shuttle to the airport. Arrive at the Lufthansa counter (after trying to get in the check in queue without a boarding pass and being sent back to the check in machine that didn’t recognise us) where the Nazi told us we are not booked on this flight and will not issue a boarding pass without a ticket and says we must sort it out with Qantas......in the next terminal. So, 7:30 am, Kathy and myself dump the kids with the luggage and catch the sky train to the next terminal to find the Qantas desk unattended. With much frantic scurrying we track down the only Qantas staff on duty and have her hand write a ticket(reluctantly because in her opinion there was not enough time to meet the flight) for the flight which we snatched and sprinted. As luck would have it, we ended up with Eva Braun again who was actually quite pleasant when presented with a ticket (though Kathy still wanted her name, rank and serial no.)
So arrive in London at 9 and race for the tube to Euston and grab tickets to get us to Whitchurch to meet the canal boat before 5pm. We arrive right on 5 and get a run down on the boat operation and safety features which we nodded knowingly through with red rimmed eyes stifling yawns. Blah, blah, blah. Something about running out of Fosters not being an emergency. Smart arse, what would he know!
Quick dash to co-op for provisions then onto the boat. Immediately out of the marina there was a narrow bridge in which I met another boat coming the other way. As I had no idea what i was doing and may have slept through the briefing, I chose to crash into the side of the bridge whilst swearing loudly. A few kms up the canal we decided we had pushed our luck far enough and moored somewhat short of a bridge (thanks Kathy for the 2km walk) that access to a nearby pub. Safely tied up we alighted and made our way to the pub............which we discovered had burnt down in 2008 and not yet rebuilt and apparently had been mentioned to us in the briefing???? We staggered back and passed out.
Daniel handled the swing bridges with flair and aplomb despite choosing not to utilise the safety barriers.
Monday 28th June day 4
Awoke disorientated and don’t really remember much about this day. We went to Ellesmere and had lunch at the black lion??? Motored up a bit more and had dinner at the Narrowboat Inn?? Where we tied up for the night. Morgan lay on the roof of the boat and guided me along the canal and under bridges with vague wavings of her arms and legs.
Tuesday 29th June day 5
Awoke refreshed, ready for the challenge of the locks. Well almost really. There may have been a little trepidation. Kathy, Daniel and myself observed others operating the locks and decided it was easy as. Cruised through and entered some indescribably stunning landscape. We crossed 2 awesome aqueducts and went through 3 tunnels. One of them 451 metres long.
After cruising through miles of narrow canals we came across a quite expansive area where the canal opened up for a short period just before the fontecillyyeyin aqueduct and decided that it was the perfect place to tie up and find some lunch. So, the stakes were hammered in and ropes tied off and we all made ready to leave for lunch at a local pub. It was then we found out we were moored in a tourist longboat cruise turnaround area. We learnt this from the roar outside the window which was the boat under full power trying to negotiate the water area around us. Anyhow, stiff shit it’s a rental, off to the pub for lunch. Lunch was at a pub called the Aqueduct a little way up the side of the valley were we scored an outside deck table where we enjoyed a few pints overlooking a most spectacular view. Also an excellent vantage point to observe the desperate manoeuvrings of the tour boats around our moored vessel.
After lunch, I might have crashed into another boat. It was parked and I don’t think anyone was on board so I think I might have gotten away with it. Anyway, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t my fault and my family are all liars!
In the evening we moored up a few kms short of Llangollen and dined at the Sun Trevor.
Morgan took out the daily prize with an excellent head butt to the keystone of bridge W8 and chose a role that enabled her to remain below deck for the remainder of the day with ice packs applied to her forehead.
Wednesday 30th June day 6
Arced up Hagar and made short work of the 4 or so miles into Llangllogen. Had a bit of a squiz around the town then set out for the castle on top of the hill. The views were spectacular, the climb up there life threatening.
After an hour or so rest, Kathy, Daniel and myself wacked the sandies back on and went looking for the source of the canal. An hour later we found ourselves standing before a man made garden feature they grandly named Horseshoe Falls. As luck would have it, the Chain Bridge Hotel was located nearby and saw us through our disappointment. We arrived back at the canal boat as darkness was descending around 9:30.
Dropped off at airport by Ros
Arrived Singapore. So far, so good.
Saturday 26th June day 2
Flight delayed initially 1 hr due to engine problems.
1am take off aborted.
5am pilots come out to bravely face a hostile crowd to tell them that the engineers cannot find the problem and they are off on a 10 hr break.
We get ferried to hotel for a few hours.
12 midday awoken by a call telling us we leave to airport at 3pm.
5:30pm flight finally leaves singers.
11:50pm arrive Frankfurt. We are told that there are no connecting flights to London that night but we are booked onto a Lufthansa flight at 8:25 the next morning and are sent to a hotel for the night.
Sunday 27th June day 3
Wake at 5:30 to grab some breakfast and catch the 6:45 shuttle to the airport. Arrive at the Lufthansa counter (after trying to get in the check in queue without a boarding pass and being sent back to the check in machine that didn’t recognise us) where the Nazi told us we are not booked on this flight and will not issue a boarding pass without a ticket and says we must sort it out with Qantas......in the next terminal. So, 7:30 am, Kathy and myself dump the kids with the luggage and catch the sky train to the next terminal to find the Qantas desk unattended. With much frantic scurrying we track down the only Qantas staff on duty and have her hand write a ticket(reluctantly because in her opinion there was not enough time to meet the flight) for the flight which we snatched and sprinted. As luck would have it, we ended up with Eva Braun again who was actually quite pleasant when presented with a ticket (though Kathy still wanted her name, rank and serial no.)
So arrive in London at 9 and race for the tube to Euston and grab tickets to get us to Whitchurch to meet the canal boat before 5pm. We arrive right on 5 and get a run down on the boat operation and safety features which we nodded knowingly through with red rimmed eyes stifling yawns. Blah, blah, blah. Something about running out of Fosters not being an emergency. Smart arse, what would he know!
Quick dash to co-op for provisions then onto the boat. Immediately out of the marina there was a narrow bridge in which I met another boat coming the other way. As I had no idea what i was doing and may have slept through the briefing, I chose to crash into the side of the bridge whilst swearing loudly. A few kms up the canal we decided we had pushed our luck far enough and moored somewhat short of a bridge (thanks Kathy for the 2km walk) that access to a nearby pub. Safely tied up we alighted and made our way to the pub............which we discovered had burnt down in 2008 and not yet rebuilt and apparently had been mentioned to us in the briefing???? We staggered back and passed out.
Daniel handled the swing bridges with flair and aplomb despite choosing not to utilise the safety barriers.
Monday 28th June day 4
Awoke disorientated and don’t really remember much about this day. We went to Ellesmere and had lunch at the black lion??? Motored up a bit more and had dinner at the Narrowboat Inn?? Where we tied up for the night. Morgan lay on the roof of the boat and guided me along the canal and under bridges with vague wavings of her arms and legs.
Tuesday 29th June day 5
Awoke refreshed, ready for the challenge of the locks. Well almost really. There may have been a little trepidation. Kathy, Daniel and myself observed others operating the locks and decided it was easy as. Cruised through and entered some indescribably stunning landscape. We crossed 2 awesome aqueducts and went through 3 tunnels. One of them 451 metres long.
After cruising through miles of narrow canals we came across a quite expansive area where the canal opened up for a short period just before the fontecillyyeyin aqueduct and decided that it was the perfect place to tie up and find some lunch. So, the stakes were hammered in and ropes tied off and we all made ready to leave for lunch at a local pub. It was then we found out we were moored in a tourist longboat cruise turnaround area. We learnt this from the roar outside the window which was the boat under full power trying to negotiate the water area around us. Anyhow, stiff shit it’s a rental, off to the pub for lunch. Lunch was at a pub called the Aqueduct a little way up the side of the valley were we scored an outside deck table where we enjoyed a few pints overlooking a most spectacular view. Also an excellent vantage point to observe the desperate manoeuvrings of the tour boats around our moored vessel.
After lunch, I might have crashed into another boat. It was parked and I don’t think anyone was on board so I think I might have gotten away with it. Anyway, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t my fault and my family are all liars!
In the evening we moored up a few kms short of Llangollen and dined at the Sun Trevor.
Morgan took out the daily prize with an excellent head butt to the keystone of bridge W8 and chose a role that enabled her to remain below deck for the remainder of the day with ice packs applied to her forehead.
Wednesday 30th June day 6
Arced up Hagar and made short work of the 4 or so miles into Llangllogen. Had a bit of a squiz around the town then set out for the castle on top of the hill. The views were spectacular, the climb up there life threatening.
After an hour or so rest, Kathy, Daniel and myself wacked the sandies back on and went looking for the source of the canal. An hour later we found ourselves standing before a man made garden feature they grandly named Horseshoe Falls. As luck would have it, the Chain Bridge Hotel was located nearby and saw us through our disappointment. We arrived back at the canal boat as darkness was descending around 9:30.
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