Martin L wrote: > We took Fulbourne to Llangollen in 1995, and to Trevor > (because we didn't have time to go further) in 2003. We're > something like 3ft draught, but had to shift some ballast > forward reduce it by a couple of inches to get through a > shallow bridgehole not far short of Chirk.
On the 1995 trip the length from Trevor to Llangollen was easier than the preceding bit. This section, although narrow, is all vertical sided concrete channel and I recall we pottered up at tickover without any groundings. I can't say if it has silted up since then. Below Trevor the problem was always just downstream of the bridges. It seems the water flow through the narrowest section of the bridge scours the channel, with a silt bar building up as the channel widens on the downstream side. Knocking the revs off as the stern of the boat approaches the worst bit can help the stern lift over the bar. Or drop you right on top of it if you get the timing wrong! The worst location we encountered was the bridge at the Poachers Pocket pub, where we enlisted several drinkers to haul on the bow rope to get us through. David Mack
