Llangollen

Saturday morning was the day we said goodbye to our retreat in the country. We packed up and headed east back towards Shrewsbury and England.

We had one last place to visit, Llangollen, which was on the way. We had passed through this town on our way last Sunday and decided it was somewhere to explore. It was a smallish town nestled in the rolling hills of Northern Wales. The surrounding countryside is very picturesque but what is is notable for is the giant viaduct/aqueduct that straddles the valley and the River Dee below.

The town itself was bulging with tourists and holidaymakers (it was a Bank Holiday weekend) so once we parkedthe car we headed up onto the canal system. We decided on a walk up the canal to see the old Chain Suspension Bridge and the Horseshoe Falls. This was nearly two miles along the tow path and we could have taken a boat trip pulled by a horse, but decided on the walk. The The Chain Suspension Bridge has only just been restored and reopened to the public earlier in the year. In fact I had listened to a podcast from the BBC just a few weeks ago about it. It is a pedestrian bridge only and was built in the early 1800s. Further along the canal was the intake for this major canal system.

 

The viaduct/aqueduct was a further four miles down the road so we continued by car. After enjoying our lunch alongside the canal here in Trevor, we walked out on this amazing structure that takes the canal across the valley. It was designed byThomas Telford and opened in 1805 and at 37m above the river it is the highest aqueduct in the world at the time. Once again you could take a boat trip but we opted to walk. It certainly wasn't for the faint-hearted.

 

 

 

Next stop was Duston, Northampton and we were lucky with the roads and had an easy run all the way back to Jessica and Andrew's.

 

 

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