Meandering back and forth over the border of Wales and England, the 45-mile-long Llangollen canal is, as YouTube channel Machine Thinking describes, “truly one of the waterway treasures of the UK. Not only beautiful, but it also boasts some amazing engineering feats of the 1790s.”
Those feats include 21 locks and the incredible Chirk Aqueduct and the UNESCO World Heritage-honored Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. From Narrowboating for Beginners:
A boat trip on the Llangollen will appeal to almost any taste. If you like quaint, you will melt at the sight of the picturesque town for which the canal is named. If you like thrills, you can look out over the edge of your boat as you cross the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
If you like history, you can enjoy exploring Chirk Castle and if you like a country walk, then you can enjoy the hike up to that castle while smelling chocolate wafting from the Cadbury plant. And if you like serene, you can enjoy the early morning mist as you pass through a bridge and see a field where sheep may safely graze (and occasionally butt heads).
Related exploration: Visual examples of moveable bridges.
Watch these boat, travel, canal, aqueduct, and engineering videos next on TKSST:
• From Rotterdam to Amsterdam by boat, a time-lapse video
• Construct a Roman aqueduct, a DIY engineering activity
• The physics & engineering of windmills in The Netherlands
• How does a watermill work?
• Atlanterhavsveien (The Atlantic Ocean Road) in Norway
• Two months in 5 mins: Breaking ice on an icebreaker boat
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