6 hours ago
The beautiful Welsh canal that's fighting closure
Setting off in a hired narrowboat, there is a choice of two directions: left or right. From Beacon Park Boats, on the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal near Llangattock, one direction – according to the company's illustrated map – promises 'a totally relaxed, stress-free and lock-free weekend'. The sales pitch for the other direction (north) read: 'Tackle the Llangyndir lock-flight'. There are few weekends during which I enjoy any kind of tackling. But that is the direction we chose. Meanwhile, a group of youngsters – first-time boaters, unlike our party – headed south with copious bottles of alcohol cooling in an ice-box on their back deck.
It started well. In the company of Sam, a member of staff from whom we learnt the ropes, we cruised past historic lime kilns, around bends and under old stone bridges. A flat-topped mountain and escarpments rose high above us. We moored opposite a sloping field of bleating sheep and frothy hawthorn blossom; fluffy ducklings cheeped on petal-strewn, glittering water. We wandered down to a village pub. Surely this direction promised a relaxing weekend too?
The next day, the stress began. It wasn't the five locks that were the problem (volunteer lock keepers on duty made them easy work) it was the depth – or lack of it – of the water. This isolated 35-mile canal has always been shallow – 'it was built on the cheap,' said one lock keeper – and, as a result, has a notional speed limit of 2mph, half that of other canals. We were also in the biggest boat in the Beacon Park Boats fleet: Drake, 60ft 12 in long and 8ft 6 in wide. This meant lots of twists and turns.
Each of Beacon Park's boats is unique, designed by owner Alasdair Kirkpatrick, inspired by his love of fancy yachts. One vessel has a four-poster bed, another has a hot-tub on the front deck. With touches such as complimentary decanters of Welsh Penderyn whisky, they are the most expensive canal boats to hire in the country. Three nights in June on Drake costs over £2,000. What would those early boatmen who laboured with cargoes of coal and limestone think?
With its interior of highly varnished red cherry wood and ash stripes, the boat brought to mind a circus tent. This proved apt. Before long, we found ourselves in the middle of a five-boat log-jam all going aground in the shallow canal. Passers-by on the towpath stopped to enjoy the spectacle. Barge poles flailed everywhere. Skippers shouted advice over the growl of engines. Hulls scraped over stones.
One hiker offered to help, so we threw him our bow rope and he heaved like a horse. An old man on a bike stopped to yell insults. Some laughed, some cried. Eventually, just as I was wondering whether someone would start a trapeze act from the towering trees overhead, the log-jam began to shift and one by one the boats freed themselves and continued on their way. Skippers smiled and cheered.
Our northward journey that day – a grand total of seven miles and five locks – took nine hours. On any other canal, you would estimate a journey time of about four hours. Turning around in the silted-up winding hole was a challenge. Again, people stopped to enjoy the entertainment.
While it is true that this canal has always been shallow, there were boaters who said they thought it was more shallow than usual. 'We didn't have any problems last time we came, but we've been truly stuck this time. We had to ask for help,' said Helen Thurber who, with her husband Bob, had flown in from their home in the US. This was their third time to cruise on the Monmouthshire and Brecon.
The long dry spring which has resulted in the closure of some inland waterways, such as the Rochdale Canal, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the Pocklington Canal, nearly saw the closure of this one too. Lack of rain and new legislation designed to protect the ecology of the River Usk that feeds the canal, meant the 'Mon & Brec', which is estimated to bring in £25 million to the local economy, faced the prospect of closing to navigation.
An emergency stop-gap solution has now been agreed, with the Canal & River Trust (CRT) paying Welsh Water for supplies. Richard Parry, chief Executive of the CRT, says this could cost as much as £100,000 a week if the dry spell continues. Kirkpatrick is concerned about the implications. 'This canal is too important to fail, so CRT will pay Welsh Water silly money to keep it open and the rest of the canal network will suffer,' he says. ' Lack of rain in Wales – yes, surprising – will mean funding cuts across the rest of the inland waterways.'
The youngsters who had headed south returned to base a few hours after us, their ice-box of drinks now empty. 'How was it?' I asked.
'We got stuck for two and a half hours!' said one of the party, Joe Richardson, from Essex.
It wasn't the shallow water that was their undoing. They had tried to turn in a winding hole that was too short for their boat. Then they had to reverse for an hour and a half to get back to the winding hole they should have used. It sounded anything but 'relaxed and stress-free'. Despite this, Joe was upbeat. 'We'd definitely come back. We loved the scenery and the boat,' he said. 'Although next time we might choose a smaller one.'
The beauty of this isolated canal, with its views of mountains glimpsed through trees, is unsurpassed. In the spring sunshine it was glorious. As well as two long days cruising, we found time for hikes: over a sheep-grazed hill with far-reaching views, and to the top of the escarpments above Llangattock. A cuckoo called, lambs bleated, the air was full of the scent of hawthorn. Mercifully, just as we were leaving, it began to rain.
