Llangollen Canal 10 May 2025

England is all covered with navigable canals. In the last century, when roads were scarce, this was the main means of moving goods around the country. Now things have changed, but the canals remain. Boats still sail them, but only for pleasure. The Llangollen Canal was built between England and Wales. In the early 19th century an aqueduct was built over the River Dee (Pontcysyllte Aqueduct). It is an amazing structure from an engineering point of view. The canal runs 38 meters above the river. The length of the bridge is 307 meters. Further downstream, the canal passes through two tunnels and another aqueduct over Afon Ceiriog. We kayaked this section of the canal and then walked around Castell Dinas Bran.

The blue and red lines show our track along the Llangollen canal and around the castle. Shift-click the track link to open it in nakarte.me.

Llangollen canal

Vitya dropped us off with the kayak near the aqueduct, parked the car at Chirk and cycled back. The weather was just right for a kayak trip: warm and sunny. The aqueduct is only 3.7 meters wide, so big boats can only go in one direction at a time. But even two small boats can hardly fit side by side. It's easier not to paddle, but to pull the kayak along by hand. There is a footpath on one side and an abyss on the other.

A view of the River Dee under the aqueduct and the railway bridge in the distance.

We pushed our kayak slowly down the aqueduct and admired the views.

We were the only ones in an inflatable kayak.

After the aqueduct, the canal widens and can be sailed in both directions. Some boats were moored, and some sailed in the opposite direction. A path runs along the canal. It is also possible to ride a bicycle on it.

The first tunnel. It's one-way traffic here.

We put on our headtorches and the boats turned their lights on. You can see them from a distance.

Here the canal runs along the railway line. In total we paddled about 8 kilometres in a couple of hours. Quite an interesting adventure.

Castell Dinas Bran

On our way home we went for a walk round the ruins of the 13th century Dinas Bran Castle. In English it is also called Crow Castle (now we understand why there was a black crow sitting on the gate).

The Dee River valley. Our aqueduct can be seen in the distance.

Very little remains of the castle - a few walls and arches, and the moat beneath them, which was used both as a quarry for building and as a defence against enemies.

The views from the top of the hill are mesmerising: green fields, century-old trees and rolling hills. The town of Llangollen on the river bank.

The remaining fragments of the wall.

Vitya steps across the horizon.	I missed you.

A limestone hill, like in the Yorkshire Dales. Several different geological layers meet here.

A view of the castle from the neighbouring hill...

...which we certainly didn't miss.

We had a very active day, with Sonya having an athletics competition in the morning, then a kayak trip on the canal, and towards the end a walk around the castle with stunning views of springtime Wales.