Only about Severn miles from Chirk where we are staying is a small town called Pontcysyllte. Try saying that after a few beers or even worse try spelling it. Pontcysyllte has aqueduct and I just had to go and see this one as it’s so close. The name means the bridge that connects. It has eighteen arches and carries the Llangollen canal. It’s used by narrow boats daily. It’s stone and cast iron construction was built and designed by Thomas Telford. The same guy that built the Chirk aqueduct. This one took ten years to design and build. Finished in 1805 and stands 38 metres high. Yes it’s high when your stood on top.

Just by the start of the aqueduct is a boatyard full of narrow boats ready for hire. I should imagine in the summer most of them are out on hire, but today there were plenty there. I would think if you had never been on a narrow boat before, to get on one here and then go straight across the aqueduct being 38 metres up in the clouds with nothing on one side of you must be quiet daunting.

All this walking from end to end and back down the road to get a better photo, up and down the boatyard made me hungry. It just so happens there was a really nice old chapel building that had been converted into a cafe. I love the fact that old building are being reused as such.

We only have one more week before we start work. This winter has gone by so fast and we seem to have done a fair bit. I will work out all our facts and figures when we get to our next site where we will be for eight months of work. We will stay here at Chirk until Monday and then drive over there to get set up etc. So my next post will be from Snowdonia.