Llangollen Part 2

We went off on a steam train this morning

following the River Dee and the canal up the Dee valley.  

Lots of sheep of course

and yes a tea shop at the end in the whistle stop of Carrog.

We returned to town and on the platform waiting for the next train were a whole boat load of children.  They were coming out of the WC in typical child fashion many with there little skirts not quite pulled down.  Mind you there were only 3 stalls in the WC and I swear 30 children came out at once.  They were just the cutest.

Back to Llangollen and on to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.  Engineered byThomas Telford in 1805, it is 11 miles long and the tallest canal boat crossing in the world.  The Aqueduct reaches a height of 126 feet from the river bed and to this day is the highest navigable aqueduct in the world. It's still there and we crossed it in a barge.  

 

The canal was used to carry slate and lime from the nearby quarries to the growing cities of England. We then drove to the bottom so you could see how high up we were.   

We had to cross this big wide bridge to get to a place to take the above picture.  

Having successfully made our way across and back without scraping anything, we returned to town and walked  around, seeing the Church of St Collen, where the famous ladies of Llangollen are buried.  

According to the story, Miss Sarah Ponsonby and Lady Eleanor Butler were both of aristocratic Irish descent.  They met when Sarah, aged 13 became a pupil at the boarding school where Lady Eleanor, aged 29 was a teacher.  Having formed a deep attachment, and after two attempts to elope together, they started a new life in Llangollen in1778 together with their maid Mary.  The ladies eccentricity captured the imagination of Regency society and they were visited by many famous personalities of the era including the Duke of Wellington, William Wordsworth and Sir Walter Scott, thus making Llangollen famous.  Their maid and housekeeper Mary died first in1809 and the ladies one in 1829 and the other in1831. They are all  buried at St Collen's Cemetery.  The church itself is lovely with some beautiful stained glass windows.

It is a lovely town and we have enjoyed our stay.  Tomorrow we are off to Edinburgh, Scotland