On Sunday, we drove to Llangollen, where my resolve to overcome my fear of heights was to be severely tested ...... but first there were good things! I had arranged to meet Emily for a cuppa, and we spent a very pleasant hour chatting and sorting out her knitting (she was vey impressed with Malcolm's knitting knowledge!) Then we walked up to the canal, for a very enjoyable stroll in the early afternoon sun. We knew that our destination was four miles away - but as I am used to doing a hilly three mile walk every morning, four miles on the flat was no problem! There were lots of boats on the canal - here are a few of them
We had recently watched a programme on tv about the canal, so we knew that this funny looking bridge is to allow the farmer access between his fields on either side of the canal
There were also several wonderful stone bridges
Suddenly, we came out of the trees, and in the distance saw our destination - the Pontcysyllte aqueduct
The structure doesn't look very high in the photo - but if you click on the link, you will find out just how high it is! When we reached the start of the aqueduct, we were amazed at how many people were walking across ....... and how narrow the footpath was! In the end, I was more worried about falling into the canal as we passed people, than I was about the height!! If you look closely at the photo, you can see that the woman bending over is looking at a duckling, frantically swimming in front of the boat
Because it was so busy, it was hard to take photos, but I did manage to take a couple of the views
When we got to the other side, there was a path which took us slightly below the level of the aqueduct, and we could see what a massive structure it is
Of course, having walked across, I had to walk back again, but as it wasn't so busy, I relaxed a bit and managed to appreciate the experience of being on a structure which was built more than 200 hundred years ago!! We also had a chuckle at this canal boat having to back up to allow the man in the canoe room to paddle off the aqueduct, as he had the right of way!!
When we got back to the other side, we sat in the sun and had an icecream and a cold drink, before setting off back the four miles to town. We knew from the tv programmme that there are horse-drawn boats on the canal, and were disappointd not to see any ...... but when we got back to town, we discovered why - they go in the other direction! We were just in time to see this horse walking to his stable, having left the boat behind him
We were going to go out for dinner on Sunday evening ....... but our legs were so weary, we settled for a bar supper in the hotel!