Sweet Memories of our Canal trip

A new programme showing on TV last night brought back plenty of sweet memories to us.  It is a three part series called “British and Irish Waterways”, showcasing the canals and rivers of Britain and Ireland.  And what did we see first but the Llangollen Canal.  The programme talked about the canal and the world famous aqueducts, built by Thomas Telford, which carries the water high above the landscape of this breathtaking canal trip.

The Chirk Aqueduct at 70 feet high and the adjacent Chirk railway viaduct were an amazing sight.

Robin at the tiller of Gypsy Rover travelling over Chirk Aqueduct

Even more amazing was the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct – 1000 feet long and 127 feet high, supported by 18 stone pillars.   Built 200 years ago, these two aqueducts are outstanding pieces of engineering brilliance, and are still going strong.  The TV programme explained how the aqueducts are drained every 10 years, and each and every nut, bolt, and steel plate are thoroughly inspected.  

Here we come!

There is a tow path on one side, but only the smallest edge of steel keeping us from falling off on the other side.  But we were reassured to note that after 200 years of use, not one single narrow-boat had yet fallen off the aqueduct!

Only this steel plate on the other side

The famous man even has a pub named after him at Trevor.  Of course, we had to try it out, and took our hosts Dot and Derek there for a “thank you” meal of salmon, scampi, and home made steak pie.

Our Llangollen Canal trip was taken on our friends Dot and Derek’s boat Gypsy Rover and we had eight wonderful days criss crossing between England and Wales as we meandered along the canal, definitely the highlight of our UK trip!  It was great to be reminded of our adventures last night relaxing in front of the telly.