Llangollen Canal 

Travelling the roads of the country in a vintage car allows one to take in the scenery mainly because of the lower speed but for a truly different perspective I decided to hire a narrow boat and travel what is reputedly one of the countries most pretty canals, the Llangollen on the Shropshire/Welsh border. This canal is famous for the engineering wonder of the Pontcysyllte and Chirk Aqueducts.

The canal is some 44 miles in length from its junction with the Shropshire Union at Hurleston, to Llangollen, with a branch off at Frankton Junction onto the Montgomery canal which is partly open and under restoration.

My particular craft was hired from Anglo Welsh Waterways at Trevor, some 4½ miles east of Llangollen and upon leaving the basin heading away from Llangollen you immediately cross the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, some 1,007 feet in length and 126 feet above the river Dee. You soon find out if you have a head for heights, the left hand side has a tow path with widely spaced railings but to your right it is completely unprotected from about 12 inches above the water level. The side of your craft is within a few inches of the cast iron trough side which is probably no more that a foot in width (I was not too keen to lean over and measure it!) and standing at the tiller you can look straight over the side and down to the river over 120 feet below.

This engineering feat is generally considered to have been built by Thomas Telford, it took ten years to build and was opened in 1805 at a cost of £47,018. The masonry joints of the piers were bonded by a mortar made of a mixture of lime and ox blood and the joints of the cast iron troughs sealed with a combination of Welsh flannel and lead dipped in boiling sugar.

On crossing the River Dee you come to the little village of Froncysylite and then passing along pleasant countryside to the next highlight, Chirk Tunnel, some 459 yards in length and with a tow path to one side, on exiting the tunnel into bright sunlight you find yourself in a passing basin and again immediately on leaving this you are on the smaller Chirk Aqueduct, opened in 1801 it is a fine massive brick and stone structure topped with a narrow cast iron trough, this crosses the River Ceiriog some 70 feet below and you are also now leaving Wales and entering England. To your right and slightly higher is the splendid railway viaduct. You then approach a very pretty area called Chirk Bank where we decided to moor for the night.

The next morning we continued along canal eastwards through quiet green countryside to the two locks at New Marton, again we continued through open country to Lower Frankton, the junction with the Montgomery Canal and on to Ellesmere. We decided to stop at this point and explore the 18th century market town with narrow winding streets.

Back on the canal we then travelled on through some very remote and unpopulated country, passing no villages for what seemed like miles and passing over Whixall Moss, the canal being carried on an embankment, the main route then turns to the left with a junction leading off to Dobsons Bridge with a turning bay and onto the Prees Nature Reserve. We decided to make this our overnight stop.

On continuing next morning we travelled through some very pretty countryside to Whitchurch, the main canal goes off to the left but we turned onto the short arm leading into the town. You have to walk the last ½ mile as alas the canal was filled in many years ago but there are now plans afoot to take it back into the town. Half a day was spend exploring the town as we wished to get under way again by mid-afternoon so that we had time to travel back the way we had come (some 20 odd miles) over the aqueduct to Trevor and then on up the 4½ miles to Llangollen where we wish to spend at least a couple of days looking around.

This part of the canal is absolutely fantastic with wonderful scenery as the waterway wends it way around the hillsides, the navigation is both shallow and narrow and on approaching Llangollen there is a 500 yard section which is single track with a rock face on one side, interesting if you meet another craft coming in the opposite direction!

Llangollen itself is the end of the navigable section but the canal carries on for about one and a half miles to Llantysilio and the Horseshoe Falls where there is a large semi-circular weir across the River Dee, built by Telford and this provides water which constantly passes into the canal - some 12 million gallons each day. A consequence of this is that there is always a noticeable flow of water eastwards.

Llangollen is well known for its musical Eisteddford held each July, for the steam enthusiast there is the Llangollen Railway operating over 8 miles of track towards Corwen and the motoring fraternity are catered for by a fine Museum set out as a village garage at a former slate cutting works on the feeder section of the canal.

The 48ft narrow boat hired from Anglo-Welsh Waterways was beautifully fitted out with everything you could wish for including gas central heating and the staff at Trevor were most helpful and efficient and I would recommend this firm without any hesitation.

I think I have now got the "narrow boat" bug and planning is well in hand for my next trip!