CharnwoodCam
2007 HOLIDAY - DESTINATION: LLANGOLLEN (by boat)
Welcome
to our 2007 Holiday.
Still in the first week here, this is on the Trent & Mersey Canal near Burton-upon-Trent.
on to Stoke - old bottle kilns.
Still
on the T&M - The queue of boats waitIng to go through
Harecastle Tunnel. A boat travelling south is just leaving the tunnel.
Notice on the left of the picture the entrance to the old tunnel now closed
due to subsidence.
Now
it's our turn to go in. The chains hanging down show how low the tunnel
actually gets, so if you don't fit under the chains you won't fit through the
tunnel.
A last view of daylight, they shut the doors behind us.....
....and then they turn on the big noisy ventilation fans...oooeer! Spooky!
The tunnel is 2926 yards long, it takes about 45 mins to reach the other end.
Well
we have negotiated the T&M and the Middlewich Canals,
here we are at Hurleston Locks at the bottom of the Llangollen Canal.
Ellesmere.
Chirk Aqueduct and railway viaduct (plus the entrance to Chirk tunnel in the distance).
And at last.........we cross the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct....
We were here
earlier in the year (although not by boat)
Click
here to see previous pictures.
This
is looking over the side - notice how there's only a piece of metal between
the
gunwail and thin air!
The Aqueduct crosses the River Dee.
The shadow of the aqueduct .... and us!
On the other side of the aqueduct is Trevor.
Sharp left turn and onto the very narrow section up to Llangollen itself.
Beautiful scenery on this stretch.
And eventually, safely installed in the new BW Moorings at Llangollen.
A DAY OUT IN LLANGOLLEN
Horse drawn boat trips.
Motor museum.
A
walk along the canal to Berwyn.
The steam train just arriving will take us back to Llangollen.
The engine at Llangollen preparing for the return journey.
And
unfortunately, that's what we must do - back down the canal to Trevor,
back across the aqueduct
(An arty shot of our tiller pin with the aqueduct and Trevor in the background).
Final shot of the aqueduct.
Heron.
Having
cruised back down the Llangollen Canal, we are now on the
Shropshire Union Canal at Audlem. Here we have to negotiate a flight of 15 locks.
We had intended to do all 15 before we stopped for the night; however, we only
made it past the first four before we tied up and went to the pub!
Yet more locks, this is Tyrley - a very secluded spot.
One of the very tall bridges on the Shroppie which take the road over the deep cuttings.
And here's the famous one with the telegraph pole in it.
From
the Shroppie, we turn onto the Staffs & Worcester Canal which then joins
back onto the Trent & Mersey.
Well,
that's another holiday over.
Nearly home now, on the River Trent near Sawley.