Nigel's Personal Account of Canal Boating
(Nigel in the dark glasses!)
Canals, Cream Cakes, And All That!!!
We arrived at the Llangollen canal (Trevor Basin) quite early, which was a surprise to me because normally my carer Gary is always late, ha ha!!! This gave us chance to take in the sounds and smells of the canal and absorb the idyllic atmosphere. I myself am blind, so depend on my carer to describe to me what he see’s, sometimes I think he’s as blind as me. My carer described there was a mass of canal boats and barges in front of me on the water, all moored in lines, he said “there was that many it was a wonder how they managed to fit them all in and that they all were beautifully painted, each had a different name, normally girls names or something pretty like, Sunrise, Mayflower and Little Jenny Wren”. I remember there being a slight musty damp smell, which wasn’t unpleasant, and the slight smell of old diesel engines. Most of all on our arrival I remember the warm sunshine on my skin, I was glad I wore my shorts, although I did offend some of the people that went with us with my milky white legs, but what you cannot see won’t hurt you.
We had to wait a while for the specially adapted boat to return from another trip, I was told that the boat had been adapted for wheelchair users, it had a lift to lower you in to the boat, I was slightly apprehensive about the lift. When the boat turned up down the other end of the canal we realised we were on the wrong side of the water, so we had to rush over to the other side, I suddenly became a human donkey, I was loaded up with bags and a big cooler which carried all the sandwiches and cream cakes, well as soon as someone mentioned that we were going to have cream cakes on our out journey I was quite happy to carry the rather heavy cooler, I don’t think my carer was to happy though having to push me up a very large hill and then stop me wheeling away down the other side.
We arrived at the boat, only to learn that the boat wasn’t going out on any more trips today, suddenly the pub became the only option that day, some swift deal making was made with the captain and we started boarding the boat, I couldn’t see what the lift was like but I remember it was noisy, I had nothing to worry about it was smooth and not difficult to get on to. The boat was very stable and I could only feel a small amount of rocking, the engines started and we moved forward and back, forwards and back, this was described to me because the movement was so smooth I didn’t realise we were moving, until we hit the side for the first time while turning to join the aqueduct, I thought we had hit a rock. Abandon ship! Women and children first! Where’s my life jacket ! But we were fine the boat used the sides of the canal as a steering aid, we moved slowly along the aqueduct. My carer was taking photo’s he described the 150ft drop on one side of the aqueduct, there was railings on the other, he told me how beautiful the scenery was….I was more interested in the faint mention of cream scones from the galley. Soon we were well on our way, occasionally my carer would tell me what he was looking at, sometimes fish, ducks, herons or nice houses on the side of the canal.
Finally the fruits of my earlier labour came to bear, cream cakes, with fresh cream and jam….of course I didn’t turn up to the Trevor Basin just for the cream cakes, but I managed seven! When asked if I wanted another I would simply say “I couldn’t possibly refuse” well I hate to be rude. We continued on our journey up the canal for around an hour until we got to Chirk Marina, where we turned round, at this point I was very relaxed and everything was quiet, including my rather large stomach. The journey back seemed to be over quite quickly, time flies when you’re having fun. Soon we were on the lift and back on the bank. A good relaxing day was had by all, until my carer had to push me back up the big hill. Most of all I enjoyed the slow pace and the peace and quiet and I would suggest it to anyone that hasn’t spent a day on the Llangollen canal. Thank you to Frank and Sue for the company and organising the trip, especially the cream cakes.