I decided to make a photographic excursion to north Wales, when we got the serious heatwave towards the end of June. It was more than 30 degrees on my trip, which limited my walking a little (Puh…). My very first stop was the Llangollen Canal and the aqueduct that allowed the narrowboats to cross the river Dee and the vale of Llangollen in northeast Wales (just across the border from England).
Llangollen Canal is 41 miles long and runs from Llantysilio just west of Llangollen (a small town in Wales) to Hurleston Junction in Cheshire, where it connects to the Shropshire Union Canal. So you can travel by one of those canal boats all the way from northeast Wales to the Midlands and further on to London passing more than 150 locks on the way to London.
I began my little visit at Trevor Basin, a harbour for the narrow boats traversing the canal system. I am not sure that a deep-sea sailor like myself use the right terminology here calling it a “harbour”, but that is what it looked like.
Not far from Trevor Basin is the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct that brings the canal across the river Dee and across the valley of Llangollen. The aqueduct is the longest aqueduct in Great Britain (307 metres) and at 38 metres above River Dee it is also the highest canal aqueduct in the world. But the whole bridge is only 3.6 metres wide and part of that width is occupied by a towpath. Originally the towpaths were of course used for horses that drew the canal boats along the canal. Now, when all canal boats carry an engine, the towpaths offer a nice walking path among the trees or across the canal and exhilarating views over the countryside from the aqueduct.
