We planned to meet up with our motorhoming friends, Jeeves and Michelle at Llangollen.
As the weather has been quite wet, Jeeves was concerned that if we stayed on a squelchy field as per our original plan, his Hymer might get stuck, so he suggested staying on the car park of TNR, a firm which offers overnight parking for just £6 per person. This was probably a good shout as we did get a lot of rain over the weekend. Good weather for ducks.
The firm provides outdoor adventure experiences, such as kayaking, and “axe throwing!” (a health and safety nightmare, perhaps). Their car park is right alongside the River Dee, upstream of the town centre.
We arrived first and when Jeeves, Michelle and Layla joined us, we walked the short way into the town centre for a wander around.
Llangollen is a small but busy town which spans the river Dee with a bridge at its heart. A steam heritage railway line, operated by the Llangollen Railway Trust, runs from the town station. The station is right alongside the river with an overhead footbridge from one platform to the other, overhanging the river itself.
A fruitful afternoon’s shopping from the numerous antiques centres and charity shops was followed by a quick beer at The Corn Mill pub, where we were able to sit outside on the terrace overlooking the river and the railway station on the opposite bank.
The following day, we took a ride on the horse-drawn canal barge from Llangollen Wharf, towards Horseshoe Falls, where the Llangollen Canal starts. Horseshoe Falls (not really a waterfall, but a weir), provides the mechanism by which water for the canal is diverted from the River Dee. A surprisingly fast current moves along the canal which after many miles, feeds water into the Shropshire Union Canal.
We decided to return along the road, crossing via the road bridge, along the A5.
Here, the road and railway bridges cross the river Dee adjacent to Berwyn Railway Station and just a little further along there is an old chain suspension footbridge which crosses from the railway station into the hotel grounds. The bridge is the oldest in the world with this construction and was built well before the road bridge. It was reopened after being renovated in 2015.
Normally on a Sunday, there are steam trains running between Llangollen and Corwen, but due to Covid and the repair work being undertaken along the line further on, the end of the line is currently here at Berwyn.
On returning to our “pitch” for the night, we found much activity on the river.
"See-u-Later" 