Montgomery Canal walk: Weshpool to Garthmyl

the Montgomery Canal at Garthmyl

Tuesday was a bit of a washout. It rained on and off all day: the ons were deluges. So we drove to Oswestry and dodged the showers there. We I bought beer in Aldi; we had lunch in Buffers, the restaurant at the (Cambrian Railway) station; I shopped in Wilkinson's and climbed the castle mound - and then we returned to the cottage, where it rained heavily - very heavily - all night. In the morning the car was covered in bits from the sycamore tree it was parked under.

Wednesday, on the other hand, was much drier. We continued our walk along the Montgomery Canal, starting in Welshpool, which is where we started on Monday but going in the opposite direction. Yesterday we left the car in Welshpool and I pushed or rode my bike.

After a mile or so, when I'd taken five photos, my camera said its internal memory was full. Why was it saying that? Because I'd left the memory card in the slot in the laptop back at the cottage. Oops! A walk along a "new" stretch of canal without being able to take photos was unthinkable, so it was a case either of driving the eight miles back to the cottage to retrieve the memory card, or buying a new one in Welshpool. First, though, I had to cycle back to the town, leaving Jan doing the crossword. I opted for the new card, and ended up buying a 2GB SD card (£9.99) from an independent shop.


Here's Jan waiting for me (as you can see, I've just arrived back).

This stretch of the canal is particularly beautiful, with views across the Severn valley to the east, and closer hills to the west.


Brithdir Lock

We stopped for lunch at the Horseshoes pub at Brithdir. I had a very good "minty lamb pie" with loads of new potatoes and veg; Jan had a prawn-filled jacket potato.

A couple of miles further on was Berriew, which we detoured from the towpath to explore. Berriew is full of chocolate box black-and-white timber framed houses; we were just about ready for a cream tea in one of them.



To regain the towpath we passed under Berriew Aqueduct, which also goes over the River Rhiew. The river was fast-flowing and muddy brown after the previous night's rain.


To make sure I didn't miss any of the canal I cycled back to the bridge we'd accessed the village from, before catching up with Jan again. It was on this back-track that I got a phone call to say that Shadow's engine needed some urgent work (a new camshaft), and that we wouldn't be able to use the boat until Tuesday at the earliest. Oh dear. We were hoping to go straight to the boat from the cottage. Fortunately Jan's college friend Jane is able to put us up in the interim.