Frankton Locks - up we go

Sunday, 11 April 2010 18:23

But would the rain clear up?

Yes - by the time we were ready to move from the Weston Branch the rain had cleared and it was even feeling warmish! We moved to the bottom of the Frankton Locks about 10.30 and we were the first boat to arrive.

Waiting at the bottom of Frankton Locks

I wandered back to the Weston Branch as we had forgotten to get rid of another bag of rubbish! We have seen a couple of these road signs and chuckled at the warning! This one was before Lockgate Bridge a really humped bridge.

Hump back bridge - watch out "artics"

John chatted to the guys who were recalibrating the lock counter - they explained the workings to him. I took a few photos including this one looking up the locks.

Frankton Locks

Colin has been the Lock Keeper here since the locks were opened. Just before 12:00, John wandered up to speak to him, to save him walking down to give instructions. He asked us to wait for the first narrowboat to come down.

Soon we were off! All these narrowboats were queuing behind us, apparently there were eight coming up! No wonder Colin had the summer season Lock Keeper on duty too.

Narrowboat queue from the bottom lock

I passed another narrowboat coming down in the pound above the bottom lock. He stayed on my starboard (right, contrary to my expectations and normal practice) and it made it a bit difficult to get out and to port. He kept coming and then seemed to panic that I would not turn away in time! But I did - of course

I had a good view of the old dry dock (see the very interesting history of it here - clickety click) and this photo gives a good idea of what it looks like now.

Old dry dock

The two staircase locks were next but it took a long time to fill the bottom lock. We had scraped over the bottom cills in the two previous locks so it seemed that the water level was a bit down. Colin let some water through the top staircase lock (and down the sluice into the pound) and eventually we equalised so I could move through into the top lock.

The IWA/BW plaque on the lock office by top lock

So now we were at the top of Frankton Locks, it was onto the Llangollen Canal and the business of all the narrowboats out for the Easter holidays.

                                     Goodbye Monty, hello Llangollen!

Before we carry on we must recommend a visit to the Monty - hopefully our blog has encouraged you to. There are two other websites that I found invaluable as reference: Pete's Montgomery Canal, photos, news etc. - clickety click and Maesbury's own site - cickety click. The Monty restoration is ongoing and we look forward to cruising it again in the future.

Montgomery Canal, Weston Branch to Frankton Junction with Llangollen Canal

0 hours 59 minutes, 0.61 miles, 4 locks