Pontcysyllte Aqueduct
You may have to spend a little time waiting at the Trevor Basin winding hole for clear passage across the bridge, which is only wide enough for a single narrowboat. Once you’re on the bridge, you can’t stop or back up, but you can get off the boat and onto the walkway that’s next to the trough in which your boat is floating. Eighteen piers hold up that cast iron trough, which is 126 feet high over the River Dee. The piers are hollow to save weight and the mortar that binds the stonework is a mixture of ox blood, lime and water. The metal plates that make up the trough were made watertight by strips of flannel dipped in molten lead and hammered into place. Click here to see an animation of the building process.
There’s a railing that protects pedestrians on the walkway but the other side of the trough is unprotected. You can lean out your boat and look straight down at the River Dee below. It really is an unbelievable view and thus the aqueduct’s nickname, The Stream in the Sky.
After crossing the aqueduct you’ll arrive at Froncysyllte, a small town south of the canal. You’ll also find the first lift bridge here that you’ll actually have to move (there’s one in the Vale that’s permanently open). A little further along you’ll see the remains of the limekilns that essentially created the town of Froncysyllte.
Next you’ll encounter the first of two tunnels, the 191-yard long Whitehouse Tunnel, followed by the 460-yard long Chirk Tunnel. Both tunnels have towpaths and are straight so it’s possible to send someone ahead to see if passage through the tunnel is clear (the tunnels are only wide enough for a single narrowboat). Just after the Whitehouse Tunnel you’ll pass Chirk Marina, where the Black Prince, Hire A Canal Boat and Crest boat hires are based.
Your reward for making it through both tunnels is the 237-yard Chirk Aqueduct, which crosses the River Ceiriog and the Wales-England border. Though not as stunning as the Pontcysyllte, the adjacent railway bridge offers nice framing for photographs of the river valley. It’s especially cool if there’s a passing train on the railway bridge as you’re crossing aqueduct.
Chirk
Chirk’s chief attraction is the castle, just to the west of the town. The castle was completed in 1310 for Edward I to guard the entrance to the Ceiriog valley and subdue the Welsh, and it has the usual delightful mix of styles. Click here for a trail map to Chirk Castle.
You can explore several of the five towers and most of the rooms in the curtain walls that define the square footprint of the castle. The towers will give you the strongest medieval flavor, while the long gallery and the saloon are Stuart. Neo Gothic reigns in the library, which is understandable as it was designed by Pugin, one of the designers of the rebuilt Houses of Parliament during the reign of Victoria. The drawing room, however, captures the 1920s and ’30s and you expect to see Bertie Wooster come tripping in for tea. The South Range meanwhile is a Tudor wing and contains the laundry and kitchens.
If you want to visit the castle or the town, you should moor before the north entrance of Chirk Tunnel. It’s about a mile and a half walk to the castle if you cut through the fields (which is allowed). If you don’t like sheep, cows or pasture pies, you can walk the longer route following the road. There’s a shorter route to the castle on the south, but that’s blocked by the impressive Davies gate.
Don’t go directly to the castle; you’ll first need to get your ticket at the complex of buildings just to the northwest of the castle. If you’re lucky, the van driver who shuttles tourists from the ticket building to the castle may agree to return you to the Davies Gate or even into town in exchange for a donation.
If you decide to go into the town of Chirk, there’s really not a lot to see. You can visit the very charming Church of St. Mary. In the church, there are several markers and tombs inside for prominent families in the area, including the Myddeltons who moved into the castle at the end of the 16th century. A convenience for boaters is that there is a small grocery store on the Holyhead Road (B5070) and a tearoom and tandoori restaurant near the church.
After the aqueduct the canal continues its southeasterly course through Chirk Bank, an even smaller town than Chirk. The canal skirts several industrial areas on its path but trees largely shield your view of those. Once you pass under the A5, which runs north-south, the canal becomes quite rural with fewer trees along the banks to block your views of sheep and cows. Two miles after the A5 you’ll encounter the first of the two New Marton locks (shown on the cover of my book).
I really can’t say much more about this stretch of the canal other than that you should sit back and relax. There’s the Jack Mytton Inn at Bridge 11W, the very pretty Bridge 9W (especially in morning mist), and the Maestermyn boat hire and Narrow Boat Inn at Bridge 5W.