We travelled to the border of England and North Wales to
commence our narrow boat journey on the Ellesmere and Llangollen canals. This
is a world apart from the Queen Mary 11 and whilst it had no grand ballroom,
the scenery was breathtaking and the meals in the canal side pubs provided our
daily shore excursions.
The canal is a world heritage site and the Pontcysyllte
Aqueduct is one of the seven wonders of the waterways. It is the tallest aqueduct in Great Britain
and its 18 arches are held together with oxblood and Welsh flannel. It is 127 feet in the air above the River
Dee.
We travelled over 2 major aqueducts and through 2 long
tunnels, one of which was just on 300 metres, operated locks and swing bridges
and then repeated the journey to travel up to LLangollen . This canal was even narrower and shallow with
a fast current.
It was hard work at times
but a totally enjoyable experience with breathtaking scenery - the boat actually sits above the canal
crossing the aqueducts and there is not even a rail on 1 side. There is a real camaraderie amongst the
boating fraternity which carried on into the pubs where we enjoyed our lunches
and dinners.
The Pontcysllte Aqueduct which opened in 1805.
Entering the tunnel - will we fit? Our boat was 50 feet - 3 inches narrower than the tunnel.
The Chirk Aqueduct with the rail aqueduct next to it.
Rob entering the lock.
In Llangollen.
Our boat - the Hurley.
Gail negotiates her first bridge - we passed under about 100 of them.
Gail working the lock - the lock key was enormous!
2 comments:
I admit I would have had to hide while crossing the aquaduct, it looks really scary! But the rest of the time it looked like magnificent fun of the most Arthur Ransomeish or Noel Streatfeild type!
xoxo
Di
Did you have to lie on your backs on the top of the boat and use your feet to push the boat through the tunnel? ha ha
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