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A winter’s walk around Llangollen and Chirk, north Wales

A winter's walk around Llangollen and Chirk, north Wales

The recent announcement of the untimely demise of the wonderful Wrexham & Shropshire railway prompted me to look up some photos from my last trip with them.

Back in late 2008, the urban75 walking massive met up at London Marylebone and hopped on a W&S train up to Chirk.

The journey was delightful, and things got even better when we got to walk from our remote bunkhouse into the lovely town of Llangollen.

Waking over windy hills into Llangollen.

Llagollen railway station.

Closed in 1965, with goods traffic following in 1968, the station was saved by the Llangollen Railway Society who now operate steam trains over some eight miles of track, with ambitious plans to expand east and west.

A very, very wet walk.

Chirk and Pontcysyllte Aqueducts
Old and new combine here, with the railway running above the famous 70 feet high aqueduct, built between 1796 and 1801 by Thomas Telford and William Jessop.

A morning walk along the canal.

We had hoped to make the massively impressive Pontcysyllte Aqueduct at Froncysyllte, but time was against us and we had to turn around to catch our train back to London.

Taking 10 years to build the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct was opened in 1805, with each stone pier rising to a height of 116ft. The tapered support piers start at 27ft in width at the bottom and 17ft at the top, with a total of 19 cast iron arches (each with a 45ft span supporting the bridgework).

See more photos from our North Wales trip

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