montgomery special

Jeff Buck was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time - on a boat on the

Cruising to Crickheath

After following the progress of the channel lining and rewatering of the Montgomery Canal to Crickheath winding hole, I was keen to visit in its first summer of operation. As you can imagine I was overjoyed to find that the official opening coincided with my 2 weeks out on shared NB Rowington. However, when I found that the official opening had been put back to June, I was rather disappointed, but hopeful that it may still be open to navigation ahead of the official date. After overnighting in Maestermyn, I arrived at the top of Frankton Locks on the morning of 10th May ready for my booked passage. I couldn’t see the lock keeper anywhere, so had a wander down the locks to try to find him, but instead came across a woman who had just rescued a hedgehog from the canal. This was the closest I have ever come to a live hedgehog, which she was carrying in a bucket and about to take home to put somewhere warm to recover.

Having walked back to the top of the locks I found the lock keeper in his cabin, but he was using the door that’s hidden from boaters on their approach, which is why I didn’t spot him initially...

Whilst he was working us through the locks I asked the lock keeper if it was possible to get to Crickheath yet, his response was that he should be removing the boom that afternoon, so things were looking promising. As we approached Aston Locks we saw that there was another boat working down ahead of us, so we had a quick chat with them, a friendly couple whose aim is to complete the work on their boat and then offer ‘liveaboard experiences’. As the lock keeper had not given a 100% commitment to the boom’s removal that afternoon, we decided to moor up by Canal Central in Maesbury and have a wander down to check the lie of the land (so to speak...).

As we started walking down the other