Cribyn & N escarpment
from Pen y Fan100 The Great Outdoors July 2019
and highest aqueduct in the
country. There are 18 piers
supporting it, the central
ones being a staggering 38m
above the Dee. The canal
runs through an iron trough,
just wide enough for a single
narrow boat and a towpath.
Although there are railings
on one side, crossing the
aqueduct towpath on foot is
an airy experience and needs
a head for heights (it isn’t for
everyone!) ‘It’s much easier in a
boat,’ comments the woman at
the tourist information centre,
and indeed that’s how I first
crossed it a few decades ago as
a teenager on a family barge
holiday. The next occasion was
on foot while hiking the Offa’s
Dyke Path, but I was keen to
experience it again.
It was the week of
the annual Llangollen
International Eisteddfod, and
the town was duly buzzing. A
large field behind the Pavilion
car park had been opened up
to provide extra parking, so I
was able to find a spot there. A
short walk along the towpath
past the colourful canal boats
brought me to Llangollen
Wharf, where I left the canal
to head up to the picturesque
ruins of Castell Dinas Bran, a
medieval castle sited within an
Iron Age hill fort.
For such modest exertion
you are rewarded with
wonderful views encompassing
Llangollen and the Dee Valley,
the Llantysilio range, Berwyn
Mountains and Eglwyseg
escarpment. Down the far
side of the hill I joined the
Offa’s Dyke Path, initially
along a lane, aptly named the
Panorama Walk, then through
woodland and back down to
the canal again and Trevor
Basin, where more colourful
canal boats were moored.The sun appeared briefly
and I made it onto the
aqueduct just in time to snap
a photogenic barge crossing
the canal. No need to grip the
railings all the way across, as
I’m told some prone to vertigo
do (if they cross at all), but all
the same I wouldn’t dare cycle
across in the dark and fog, as
a 78-year-old cyclist I’d met
earlier had told me he’d done.
“Very disorientating,”
he admitted.
Having re-crossed the Dee
by the much lower road bridge,
the final leg of the route was a
very pleasant canalside walk
back to Llangollen, by which
time I’d learned that some of
the locals refer to the aqueduct
as Ponty. Much easier to
pronounce, but if you want to
impress, get practising the full
name. All together now: Pont-
cy-syll-te. Wasn’t that hard,
was it?Further information
Maps: OS 1:50,000
Landranger sheet 117
(Chester & Wrexham) or
1:25,000 Explorer sheet 256
(Wrexham & Llangollen)Transport: T3 bus from
Wrexham to Barmouth via
Llangollen, Lloyds Coaches
(01654 702100). Trains to
Wrexham. Traveline (0871 200
2233) traveline.infoi
Information: Llangollen
TIC (01978 860828)
visitwales.com[Captions clockwise from top]
Crossing the Pontcysyllte
Aqueduct; View from Castell
Dinas Bran; Llangollen Canal
towpath