Return to the Montgomery Canal – Lower Frankton

We have enjoyed so many canal side walks over the years in both Shropshire and neighbouring Powys the next door county just into Wales.

Today we decided to wander along a section in north Shropshire starting at the village of Lower Frankton where the canal joins the much larger and busier Llangollen Canal. The carpark was not easy to find with no sign posts anywhere! It was over the other side of an ultra steep humpback bridge over the canal where at the half way point we could see nothing but sky!

As we began our wanderings we were amazed by just how bright and green the area looked.

After enjoying the first of many patches of wildflowers we soon reached Frankton Locks an impressive series of five very deep serious -looking locks. They looked a real challenge to the narrow boat owners slowly enjoying this peaceful stretch of Shropshire by canal. We did wonder how some solo bargemen managed on their own.

A real delight of all canal towpath wanderings is the collection of wildflowers always present and this path certainly did not disappoint!

It wasn’t just us enjoying the wildflowers, members of the insect world were attracted to them for nutrition. We were particularly pleased to spot this unusually coloured Damsel Fly, but equally enjoyed seeing so many Orange-tipped Butterflies both male and female.

The trees aligning the canal-sides were in full fresh leaf and several in flower. Most noticeable of all were the Hawthorns with boughs heavy with blossom, startlingly white in the sunshine and heavily scented strong and sweet. Willows were constantly releasing their pollen with each puff of wind.

As we reached the place where we were intending to turn back we noticed in the distance that clumps of alders had been blown over. As we approached closer we could see what had actually happened – gusts of wind during recent storms had ripped the trees from the canal bank exposing the structure holding the refurbished bank side open.

There is always so much to discover when walking a canal towpath so I thought we would finish this post with a small gallery of a handful or so of photos.

We are determined to return to this place where we have a choice of canal walks to explore.