The ‘Needs to Know’
Distance: 2.5 miles (4.02km)
Time to walk: Around 1 hour one-way
Difficulty: All on hard surfaces apart from at the Horseshoe Falls at the end which is grass & riverbank. There are no stiles so dog friendly & Lily was ‘off-lead’ all the way along most of the canal path
Parking: Several car parks throughout the town
Public toilets: Cafes etc throughout the town
Map of the route:
This is a short linear walk from Llangollen centre along the canal to the Horseshoe Falls. It’s also possible to follow the canal in the opposite direction for roughly 4.5 miles to reach the spectacular Pontcysyllte Aqueduct – I will give details of this separately at the end of these instructions
Beautiful Llangollen sits on the River Dee, in Denbighshire, Wales. Its riverside location forms the edge of the Berwyn range, & the Dee Valley section of the Clwydian Range & Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
The town takes its name from the Welsh ‘llan’ meaning “a religious settlement” & Saint Collen, a 7th century monk who founded a church beside the river. St Collen is said to have arrived in Llangollen by coracle. St Collen’s Church is the only church in Wales dedicated to St Collen, & he may have had connections with Colan in Cornwall & with Langolen in Brittany
Above the town to the north is Castell Dinas Brân, a stronghold of the Princes of Powys. Beyond the castle is the impressive Lower Carboniferous limestone escarpment known as the Eglwyseg Rocks
Let’s Walk!
1. This walk starts in Llangollen’s Riverside Park which has undergone recent renovations & is just lovely…there’s some fab benches to rest a while
The view back the other way to the mountains is just as good
2. Follow the river passing the Methodist Church with its tall spire…
The current Church building first opened in 1904, as the English Methodist Church & replaced the chapel in Market Street which opened in 1868 & was extended in 1890
Slightly further along is Glanrafon Evangelical Church. ‘Glanrafon’ means ‘beside the river’ in Welsh which is rather lovely
3. At the junction with the signpost bear left…
The large restaurant with the riverside terrace on your left’s the Corn Mill which was built in the 13th century by the Cistercians of nearby Valle Crucis Abbey. It was rebuilt in 1786 & stayed a working mill until 1974. As it was in danger of falling into the river it was leased to a pub company in the 1990s. Go inside…you can still see the water wheel turning behind the bar
4. Pop into the gap & look across the river…
The train station you can see dates back to 1865 & hugs the north bank of the River Dee. It’s the only standard gauge heritage railway in North Wales & runs for almost 10 miles through the Dee Valley
There’s also a great view of the bridge from here
5. On reaching the junction you may wish to turn right & spend some time walking up & down Castle Street where you’ll find the Museum & also Y Capel, the old baptist Chapel which now houses the Tourist Information Office
We however bear left & stop to admire the view of the River Dee from the bridge. Click on the video below…
Known as one of the ‘Seven Wonders of Wales’ it’s alleged the bridge was built in 1345 by Bishop John Trevor, although it appears no-one is really certain. It’s seen several developments since then, not least some widening to allow modern traffic to cross it
The Dee is a salmon river &, in days gone by, locals could be seen here fishing from their Coracles. Today it’s better known for it’s wild water sports
6. Cross the bridge & have a look at the shop ahead of you which is something you don”t see that often these days…a Taxidermist
For over 40 years local man, Doug Coats, has built up this amazing menagerie. All of the animals here have died from natural causes
7. Walk straight ahead up the hill beside the business & follow it round to the left…
At the top of the hill bear left along the canal…
8. The Llangollen Canal crosses the border between England & Wales. The waterway links Llangollen with Hurleston in south Cheshire, via the town of Ellesmere, Shropshire
The Ellesmere Canal was proposed by industrialists at Ruabon & Brymbo, & two disconnected sections were built. The northern section ran from Ellesmere Port on the River Mersey to Chester, where it joined the Chester Canal, & opened in 1795. Work on the southern section began at Frankton, with a line southwards to Llanymynech, & subsequently, a second section was built westwards towards Trevor
This involved crossing the Afon Ceiriog & the River Dee, which was achieved by building two vast aqueducts, using iron troughs to contain the water. The Ceiriog was crossed at Chirk, & Chirk Aqueduct opened in 1801, to exploit local supplies of iron & coal
The canal then passed through Chirk Tunnel & reached the southern end of Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in 1802, which was not completed until 1805. To join the two halves up, a heavily engineered route from Trevor Basin via Ruabon & Brymbo to the River Dee at Chester was planned, but very little of it was built. Instead, the present route from Frankton to Hurleston Junction on the Chester Canal was constructed, & opened in 1805
As the route never reached the water reservoir at Moss Valley, Wrexham (built in 1786), a navigable feeder was built to Llantisilio where the Horseshoe Falls weir was constructed on the River Dee to supply the canal
The Horseshoe Falls are where we are heading
9. What’s quite unique is they offer wonderful horse-drawn canal trips from here. Now it’s simply a case of following this stretch of the canal to the Horseshoe Falls, but there’s lots to see on the way
Pass the bowls club…
…& then on the left’s one of Wales most iconic venues which hosts the annual Eisteddfod. The first International Eisteddfod took place in 1947 & was an unqualified success: groups from 7 foreign countries braved the journey to Llangollen, joining choirs from England, Scotland & Wales: in total 33 choirs performed (27 Adult & 6 Children)
It began with a vision that the ancient Welsh eisteddfod tradition could provide a means of healing the wounds of the Second World War, & help to promote lasting peace.
The next few years saw many more countries participating: by 1953, when Queen Elizabeth II visited the Eisteddfod as part of her post-coronation tour of Wales, singers & dancers of 30 nationalities had competed in Llangollen. A truly international festival had been created, organised & run by volunteers
Llangollen’s place in world music is now immutable. More than 400,000 competitors from over 140 nationalities & cultures have performed enthusiastically on the Llangollen stage
In 1955 a young Luciano Pavarotti sang in the choir from his home town of Modena, conducted by his father. The choir won first prize in the Male voice choir competition. Pavarotti returned for a spectacular concert in 1995
10. If it’s open & you fancy a refreshment stop you could do a lot worse than calling in here…
Pass under the bridge. To visit the Eisteddod venue turn left here
11. Continue along the canal passing through the tunnel. The railway line runs on your left…
There’s a wonderful cottage & garden along here
12. Further on is a sign advertising a museum should you wish to visit…
The path opens up as you pass some rather attractive cottages – their best view is out the back as they look over the River Dee, which you can begin to hear now as there are several rapids
13. At the end of this stretch is a wonderful bridge…
Don’t forget to look back as it’s even better from the other side
14. The canal now enters an interesting, wonderful, & very different section, as it passes through a ‘gorge-like’ part with it’s own climate, created by carved out deep rocks & plants…
This canal was built by navigators or ‘navvies’ of which there were around 50,000 working on this canal at the end of the 18th century. It’s thought that, if the soil was good, 25 men could dig 1 mile of canal in 1 year. What we have here though is deep rock…
15. Continue along the canal to the Chain Bridge Hotel, but don’t pass it…
Instead, just before it, walk onto the terrace to get an amazing view of the bridge. The first chain bridge was built in 1817 by Exuperius Pickering who saw a chance to bypass other toll bridges to transport his coal & lime. By 1876 it was in poor condition & a new one was designed. This second bridge was then replaced in 1929
In the 1980’s it was deemed unsafe but finally, in 2015, it was restored by the Llangollen Town Council & Llantsilio Community Council
16. Continue on the path passing under the road bridge…
The path now enters more of a wooded area. The river to the left still passes across many rapids…stop & sit for a while & listen to its noise
17. Eventually the canal reaches a building which is the Lengthman’s Hut which was used as a store & shelter by workers on the canal. Hand tools & materials would have been stored here
Walk through the gate at the end of the path into the meadow
18. So here we are at the Horseshoe Falls, of which the view from this angle isn’t the best &, on the day we visited a large, felled tree was laying across them
The weir is about 460 feet long & helps create a pool of water which then feeds the Llangollen canal
So that’s the end of this linear walk, but now let’s have a look at what would have happened at Point 7 in this walk if you’d turned right along the canal instead of left
Well the canal path runs for about 4 miles through amazing countryside until it reaches a junction where, if you turn right you cross the incredible Pontcysyllte Aqueduct
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct carries the Llangollen Canal across the River Dee. The 18 arched stone & cast iron structure was completed in 1805 having taken ten years to design & build. It is 12 feet wide & is the longest aqueduct in Great Britain as well as the highest canal aqueduct in the world
The structure is a Grade I listed building & part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Walkers can follow the side with the handrail but, if you’re standing on the back of a narrowboat there’s nothing between you & the side…scary!
Click on the link to see the film I took..
So that’s it…our look at the Llangollen Canal & what a stunning town & area this is
Llangollen’s also great as a base to explore such places as Betws-y-coed & the coastal towns of Conwy, Llandudno & Colwyn Bay – don’t miss walking along the beach at Rhos on Sea
It’s fab & only 2.5 hours from Northampton so….
Go Walk!