Soggy picnic in the park concert in Chirk Castle

I'm sure you remember what the weather was like on Sunday (12th) - it rained all day without stopping.  This was of course the day of the open air concert in Chirk Castle billed as "The picnic in the park", and featuring Stuart & David Kempster, and Froncysyllte Male Voice Choir.
[Newspaper article]  Of course I didn't take my camera, so you'll have to try & imagine the scene of hundreds of umbrellas of various size and colour trying to keep the masses of wellie wearers dry from the rain.  I volunteered to be the driver for the night - somehow the appeal of "picnic in the park" with a rain diluted pinot grigio didn't have the same allure as it would do on a balmy spring evening.  The performers were fantastic but the concert was unfortunately marred by the sound system which was rubbish and nowhere near loud enough.   http://www.fronchoir.com/Photo/2011/Chirk3.htm  Despite the rain we still had a lovely time.

Went for a fantastic walk today, from the top of Froncysyllte, accross the tops to Llangollen.  makes a pleasant change from walking on the flat along the canal.  The views were breathtaking .....

 You can make out the ridge of Beeston Castle many miles away & Peckforton hill

 looking down on Cefn Viaduct & the A482 Newbridge Bypass bridge to the right

 The Aqueduct & Trevor

 Looking towards Llangollen.  The white blob in the centre is the eisteddfod pavilion

 Dinas Bran

 The intrepid walkers

Must be a record breaking day for boats

On Tuesday (30th May) we had a total of 104 boats go past us.  Yes, I know, we must get out more, but as we were here all day and the previous few days had seemed rather busy for boats, and Tuesdays are always the busiest day of the week, we counted each boat that went past.  The majority of these boats were going to Llangollen, so today Wednesday, they're all coming back down.  I doubt there were any moorings free in Llangollen on Tuesday night, which - rumour has it - will be increasing the mooring fee from £6 per night to £10 per night from next year.  Whichever way you look at it, 104 boat movements is rather alot.  We hope that this year will be similar to last year - everyone comes up the Llangollen canal in spring to avoid the "busy" time of the summer, so the summer isn't really as bad as people like to make out.  We haven't even been hit this week - yet - (I shouldn't have written that statement down).

Well we're now into June and the BW Visitor Information Centre at Trevor Basin remains closed.  Surprisingly the army of volunteers hasn't materialised ........

I'm able to blog again after ditching Vodafone and switching to Orange.  This was after downloading "improvement software" from Vodafone corrupted all sorts of files on my computer and rendered it useless.  Vodafone said it wasn't their problem, & PC World didn't want to know either, despite paying them £8 per month to fix any problems.  So it was back and to between the two shops, getting more and more frustrated.  PC World eventually agreed to fix the problem - but only after bumping into an old friend who happened to work there!  I think we'll do the same with the mobile phones as the signal strength for Vodafone is hit and miss here in Fron.  So now the computer is working again, here's a few random photos I wanted to publish but couldn't:

 Above:  Royal Wedding Day and here's the Queen, Prince Phillip, Kate Middleton and two corgies aboard the hire boat Romantic Lady.

 This duck roamed back and forth collecting ducklings as she went - she ended up with 28 of varying sizes.

 Beefur with Llangollen moorings to ourselves - before the season started.

 Having a glass of ribena with Graham & Jill on Matilda Rose when they visited back in April.

We met up with MR again two weeks later down the Monty - the weather had changed for the worse by then, with rain coming down like stair rods.  Luckily for me, it was Dave's turn to drive the boat.  It's still beautiful down there - whatever the weather.

Moorers Outing to Llangollen

We decided to join in the bank holiday weekend chaos fun, and have a moorers outing and go for a pint in the Corn Mill.  I took Beefur up to Llangollen on Saturday morning, while Dave was working - which is the best time of the week to travel there as there's not many boats about, and he joined me when he finished work at 6pm (he was busy sending Chirk hire boats this way). Tip: avoid Tues & Wed.  Rick & Hazel on NB Tipsy Toad and Dai with the huge ex FMC workingboat Fern, arrived on Sunday.  The weather kept fine enough for us to sit outside on the decking of the Corn Mill, watching the dippers on the river, and steam trains puffing in and out of the station. 

L-R:  Rick, Hazel, Dai, Sue & Dave

Beefur, Fern and Tipsy Toad in Llangollen moorings, with Black Prince boat Eva with a lovely couple from Australia on it who joined in with the boaty banter and a glass of wine (or two). 

As usual, we waited for the trip boat Thomas Telford to depart from Llangollen, and tucked in behind him - he then carved a path through, but was soon out of sight!  Another tip - let him go first!  Trevor Basin was entertaining on a Bank Holiday Monday & with us three boats turning up at the same time added to the free spectacle for the gongoozlers.  We luckily found space to moor for a pie and a pint in The Telford before returning to our moorings.  Great weekend.   

Good news - we now have a village pub again.  The Aqueduct Inn has reopened for business, positive feedback so far, but we need a couple of days to dry out before giving it a go.