Canals in wales
 

Someone once told me that a nice experience was a canal trip in Wales. I have not seen any information regarding this. Do any of you know anything about the call trips?

http://www.horsedrawnboats.co.uk
Mind you, if I crossed that aqueduct , I'd have my eyes tightly closed ;-)

The most famous Welsh canal is the Llangollen canal
http://www.canaljunction.com/canal/llangollen.htm
You can either take just a short trip across the aqueduct or hire a boat for a week.

MymsMan, looks like this is a week trip. Also, when you get off in the village you would not have transportation to nearby sites. there are only 2 of us. Is there a similar option to join someone for only part of the trip. I will look at miss prism's recommendations. Have any of you done with of these trips???

I have done trips in Wales in a self-drive narrow boat. We will not do it again, as canal cruising on the inland waterways of France is so much nicer, IME. The canals of Europe are so much more well preserved, and the infrastructure along them is much more available than the canals in England and Wales that we have had a much better experience there.

Many of the canals in Britain were constructed, on the cheap, to transport coal to support the industrial revolution. They are narrow and were mostly abandoned or at least neglected when cheap road transport came in. The inland waterways of the continent were built wider to accommodate larger vessels used to transport a variety of heavy cargo, and they have been maintained very well.

Another factor that is important for someone driving a hire boat is the fact that most of the French locks are automatic, while those in Britain must be cranked by hand. Not a small thing when standing in the cold Welsh rain.

I've done the 45 minute horse drawn trip. It was a lovely day and a pleasant way to wile away some time. We were staying in the area for a week but it wouldn't be top of my list for a short stay in the area.
I've also walked across the aqueduct that MissPrism mentions - I've got a good head for heights and it didn't worry me but my husband was ashen!

Morganatic,I think my husband might be the same. I would be interested in what might be at the top of your list in Wales.

Narrow boats are a great way to see the countryside and most canals go through the centre of towns, so you can walk around straight off the towpath. However, the steering and control point for most hired narrow boats is at the back and is exposed to the elements in the main, some may have a canopy.

As I know very well, you can get awfully wet if the weather is against you.

Tidy
I've been to Wales several times, and in answer to your question we wanted to do some walking, explore some castles and visit some National Trust properties. But top of our list was to ascend Mount Snowdon!

Here's the link to the Snowdon mountain railway.
http://www.snowdonrailway.co.uk/

In 1994 DH and I and 2 friends did a one week self drive narrowboat cruise on the Llangothlan canal. We loved it and would do it again!! We have since done 2 other self drive cruises in England and one in France on the Canal du Midi. I think the English canals are very picturesque and peaceful, with lots of pubs along the way. We drove a hire car to the pick up point inTrevor, left the car there to be picked up and did a one way cruise to Great Haywood, where we picked up another hire car.

Jenmorg, great ideas to ponder.not this May but a year from now we plan to go to France so may repost this later.

I have a trip report somewhere on the France section of this forum. Think it might have been called Canal du Midi and Caunes Minervois.

Thank you.