14 October 2023

Oh what a beautiful morning!!!!

Oh what a beautiful day!!!! For now!!!!

Our goal was in sight! Not literally, yet. But we should reach Pontcysyllte Aqueduct today!!

We had an early start as the excitement and anticipation mounted.

The countryside was gorgeous and there were a couple of locks to negotiate before the real fun began.

We still had to use our wet weather gear, for the occasional sun shower but we didn’t mind because it helped keep us warm. There is a definite chill in the air now!

It was about now that the results of the referendum came through and of course we are so disappointed. Maybe that was that dark dark cloud we saw earlier. Shameful!!!

The people living along the canal often keep us entertained with their canal side decorations and today they were in particularly fine form.

It was such a stunning morning and the countryside just sparkled.

It’s Saturday today and there is a noticeable increase in people out walking and running along the towpath. Some were even canoeing the canal.

We approached the impressive Chirk Aqueduct with a train viaduct running parallel. It was stunning! And it r#*ned!

And then things really got interesting. We had just officially entered Wales and we were also entering the Chirk Tunnel.

Once again we were in a line of three barges heading through the 421 metre tunnel. All started out well until about half way through. Judi had delivered us a hot cup of tea and we’d just taken our first sip.

The front barge “broke down” with about 150 m to go, and stopped. This obviously stopped our progress too. (In the middle of the tunnel in the dark! ) While the crew of the first boat were trying to get started again, a lady on the second became quite hysterical, screaming that we’d have to back out the tunnel the way we’d come. Her husband got off his boat (there was a tow path) and tried to calm her down, slipping and almost falling in the canal. This only set hysterical lady off all over again. Meanwhile John and I had disembarked and walked along the tow path to see what was happening. John and I ended up helping tow / drag the first barge calmly through to the other side and everyone emerged from the tunnel in one piece. Poor old hysterical woman was still carrying on, so we waved, wished them well, and took off, happy to overtake them. What a drama!!

Wales looked very pretty! And green!!

Another smaller tunnel, “Whitehouse Tunnel” was negotiated without mishap. And we had left Hysterical Woman well and truly in our wake!

The view as we approached Pontcysyllte was wonderful. The railway viaduct stood out in the distance and we knew we were close to our “ holy grail”.

Just one more little road bridge to open and close and we were there. Ahead of us was the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. We had made it. After four years of planning and a few major and minor mishaps, our turn had come and we crossed over the narrow and very very high Canal to the busy village of Pontcysyllte.

The aqueduct itself is 307 m long, 3.7 m wide and towers 38 metres above the river Dee! It is a Grade 1 listed building and is a UNESCO world Heritage Site!! (Wikipedia)

It was hard to get a photo that truly shows the magnificence, the height, and the narrowness of this water trail in the sky. But I tried.

The other side was a bustling mess of tourists, pedestrians, canoeists, barges, tourist boats. We had no choice but take the sharp turn left and head further down the canal towards Llangollen.

This part of the canal was beautiful too. And very peaceful. We travelled further until we found a Winding Hole (turning circle).

There were plenty of canoeists on this section and by the looks of their technique, many were absolute newbies. No wonder they clung to the edge while we passed by.

Our shortened time frame meant we couldn’t go all the way to Llangollen itself. But we had come to cross the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and we had! …… So we did it again. Twice in one day!!! Yay Us!!!

The return to the aqueduct was tricky. If it was busier at that little sharp turn. It was now mayhem.

Boats were crossing the aqueduct, boats were waiting on our side to cross, canoeists were also waiting and helping to clog up the intersection. Add into the mix all the day trippers walking over the aqueduct and chaos ensued.

We waited patiently behind another boat for about 20 minutes before the canal was clear of oncoming boats and we were off on our return crossing.

We passed back through the car bridge, the Whitehouse and Chirk Tunnel and over the beautiful Chirk aqueduct arriving back in England where we found a mooring for the night. No dramas or mishaps this time!! Although we did seem to pick up a stowaway!!

And before we knew it we were back in England!

Of course any good mooring is near a pub and tonight’s pub was the Bridge Inn “ The Last in England” (or the first, I guess).

Judi had the forethought to pop in and book a table for dinner as we walked up to the village to purchase supplies for the next few days. In our haste to make it to Pontcysyllte, we haven’t had time to go shopping, but now we were almost back on schedule and a restock was imperative. (We were out of wine!!! )

Provisions unloaded, we first enjoyed the view from the beer garden before entering a jam packed little country inn absolutely chokers with Welsh rugby fans cheering on their team in the Rugby World Cup. It was standing room only. Having checked our nationalities and determined that we were Australian and not New Zealanders we were welcomed in with open arms. Obviously we were not a threat!!!

The publican , Paul Jones (of course) , living on the English side of the river, but with a Welsh postcode, was very keen to tell us about his pub and it’s nickname as “The Trap”. Back in the day, pubs in Wales weren’t allowed to open on Sundays but English ones could!!! Bus loads of thirsty Welshman would head to the nearest English pub. Once they arrived, you couldn’t get rid of them! Hence “The Trap”!!

Sadly the game didn’t go the Welsh way. Argentina won and the pub cleared to a more acceptable level of patronage. We made it to our dinner table and enjoyed yet another pub meal before heading back to Ellie.

Judi and I had a Euchre win, a flogging actually!! Cumulative score now stands at John: 5, Grahame: 3 and Jenny:4, Judi :2

What a great day!!! And we, mostly, stayed dry!!! We still can’t pronounce Pontcysyllte, but we’ve now been there and done that, the need isn’t quite the same!