A grand day out; stepping back in time on a horseboat trip to Horseshoe Falls, a train ride and a ride on a ‘vintage’ bus like I went to school on!
The weather forecast wasn’t promising but we braved the showers and walked down to the Wharf, via the bridge opposite the Eisteddfod ground where preparations were still going on, and bought tickets for the 11:30 am horse boat trip.
Taff the horse was the motive power and we were off, slipping silently through the waters of the feeder section of the canal.
The trip took just less than an hour and it was interesting to watch our team keep the boat moving as the towrope had to be disconnected to pass through some of the bridges. We could hear the sounds of the Llangollen Railway and A5 nearby but nearly always out of sight.
Our trip halted at the Chain Bridge Hotel where the eponymous bridge has now been restored to usable condition after some years of dereliction.
We had 25 minutes to walk up to The Horseshoe Falls which is a semi-circular weir designed by Telford to divert water into the canal.
On the return trip our steerer and the horse handler? swapped roles which was not a good thing for the young lady as it started to tip down with rain after the first mile and she arrived back at the wharf drenched whilst we only had to dash into the gift shop and shelter until it eased off.
We then popped down to Llangollen Railway Station and was just in time to catch the railcar to Corwen and as it was a Classic Vehicle weekend at Glyndyfrdwy we were able to catch a bus back there from Corwen. By co-incidence it was the exactly the same as the one I went to school on, a 1963 Bristol chassis with double decker Eastern Coachworks ‘Lodekka’ bodywork.
After a wander around the exhibits we repaired to the station bar which had room enough for about six customers. We were then lucky enough to catch a steam train back to Llangollen, hauled by a Large Prairie Tank – 5199 and then had our evening meal, a risotto for me and vegetable stroganoff for Joy at Dee Corner, another Welsh/Italian Bistro, surely the same family?
