Narrow Boat

We saw so many interesting things today, but I can only blip one. Before describing this, I must mention our visit to Erdigg House, a National Trust property, kindly gifted to the Trust by the owner (in the 1950s, I think). We noticed that you could see a colliery winding tower from one of the windows, and some poking about on the internet showed it to be that of the former Bersham Colliery (now proposed as a mining museum though early days yet). Some more research showed that the owner had gifted it to the NT after the house had suffered damage caused by subsidence due to Bersham's underground workings. Very generous of him!

The event that had most impact on me was our trip along the historic Llangollen Canal, built to transport coal and timber. We crossed the impressive Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, some 120 feet over the river below. I hadn't been on a narrow boat before, and was glad to have the opportunity to stand outside by the skipper, rather than be cooped up in the cabin below. The scenery is lovely, and the sense of cameraderie between boat skippers was fascinating, coloured with the muttered comments of our skipper about the skill levels of some others.