After our trip down to Oswestry the next day we were on the move again towards the present head of navigation of the Montgomery Canal.
We were straight a way into the three Aston Locks. They are a bit spaced out but easily accomplished and got our limbs moving again.
All finished and now on our way.
You have to book to head down the Montgomery Canal, not only to go through the staircase lock at the head, but mainly to limit the number of boats on the canal as it has a very special habitat after having had no boats on it for decades. At the foot of the Aston Locks a new freshwater habitat that is linked to the canal has been established. This has lots of benefits for water storage etc I suppose the main object is that the flora and fauna of the canal can establish itself out of the canal as well as in it, so that the disturbance of species that don't like it will be okay. In the end that will mean that more boats will be allowed down the canal.
We had the company of helicopters flying in formation for some of our trip. These were from RAF Hawbury that was a a WWI air base and from 1950 was the school for Air Traffic Controllers and since 1976 also is home to the helicopter pilots school.
Just outside Maesbury Marsh is this old factory that started out as a lead smelting business in the 1800's, using local lead. It then became a fertilizer factory in 1860 where cow and horse bones were boiled down to get gelatine for glue and the rest for fertiliser. There was an even bigger chimney until 1892!
In Maesbury is this warehouse building. It may have been but in 1896 it had seven stables for boat horses and ten rooms for their handlers.
A little further and we are nearly there, just the Croft's Mill lift bridge to negotiate.
Here we are at the current end of the line, Gronwyn Bridge. The little basin on the right has boats in it and is the winding hole. Many heads were poking out as I spun round to head back to Maesbury. I think much to their surprise I didn't touch any of them!
We later went for a pint at the Navigation in Maesbury Marsh. Right by the canal. In fact the rear of the building, (to the right) is the warehouse, cum stable cum accommodation from the previous photo. It looks like three buildings in one to me. There was a pub and a shop, or home and then the warehouse.
It is 5 minutes walk from the visitor moorings and on a sunny Friday night it was quite busy. There was only one person at the bar and one in the galley. They started to get a bit fractious with each other! There were three hand pulls on the little bar. There were several room and dining areas to chose from all quiet chintzy
Two of the beers on were from a local, only 2 miles away towards Oswestry, brewery, Stonehouse. They were set up in 2007 by the Parrs along with the in laws the Reids and have been going from strength to strength. They have added larger and cider to their portfolio and have a 10bbl plant that can brew around 29000 pints a week if they need too. They do sell bottle far and wide but their cask outlets are usually no more than 30 miles from the brewery. They have a brewery tap at the brewery too.
I had a pint of the Cambrian Gold, 4.2%. The head was a bit thin and the pale yellow colour but it wasn't too bad on a beautiful warm evening. There were no really intense flavours.
This session beer had a very pale colour and this head. The brewer is from Australia New Zealand. I would like to try some of their bitters or dark beers to see how they compared. Not a bad pint, but not standing out to me. Both cost £3-50.
No comments:
Post a Comment