Exploring more of the Montgomery Canal

After a peaceful night at Maesbury Marsh we set off to go to the current limit of navigation, which we had heard was now extended a little beyond Gronwen Bridge 82.

We cruised in tickover through the bridge and entered new territory. The channel seemed deep and remarkably weed-free.

A lift bridge (unnumbered) was open ...

... and after considerably more "new" canal than I was expecting we arrived at the new limit at Redwith Bridge 83.

The string across the bridge hole wasn't the only thing preventing further progress; stop planks were installed so that the next section of canal could be lowered.

Immediately beyond the next bridge (84) the Shropshire Union Canal Society was working on replacing a collapsed culvert and putting in an offside mooring.

It was great to have covered a bit more of the network - I wasn't expecting to encounter any "new" bits this year. I am looking forward one day to being able to do the full Monty. To get back to the winding hole at Bridge 82 we had to reverse, of course. This went remarkably smoothly. Then we had lunch while at the services at Maesbury Marsh and returned to the bottom of Frankton Locks. It rained a bit on and off, but nothing too heavy.

As we approached Graham Palmer Lock Jan spotted that a kingfisher was perching on the bottom gate. Can you see it?

Here.

We had very little internet signal last night so this post is a bit late.