來到北威爾斯Llangollen小鎮和英國友人一年聚會一次,威爾斯山勢起伏河道多,風光秀麗。知道小鎮有名列UNESCO 的運河,可以沿河步行看風景,那時沒有細看有什麼特別之處。
運河建於十八世紀,有近二百五十年歷史,較歐洲的窄身,只能用瘦長的船行走,以前是用以運送煤、木材等,走了一會才見到有兩段運河建在高橋上,越過峽谷,當地的古老形容是有四個半雙層巴士的高度。看到運河船在半空中行走,真的有點古怪。
約五十年後,蒸氣火車出現,以運河作運輸開始息微,現在是遊人的玩樂地方。第二段架空運河,隔鄰就是架空火車,建得高一些,用以突顯優越。
Came over to Wales via car ferry to have once a year meet up with friends living in UK. Chosen to stay near Llangollen this year as it is not too far for both parties to drive to. On top, Wales countryside is pretty and there is are a few interesting sites and hiking there.
Llangollen town is very pretty with roaring river Dee right in the middle. The old part has a few well maintained 17c wood beam houses, some have beautiful door knockers.
The town is bordered by a canal that run to the sea. Built in the late 18c to transport wood, coal and lime down to the coast.
What makes this canal to be on the UNESCO list is that being a hilly area with valleys in between, there are 2 sections of the canal being built on top of aqueducts, to cross the valleys. It was an important engineering project in that era. They proved to be a sound design as they are still standing and in use, by tourists rather than for transport now.
Roughly 50 years after the construction of the canal, steam trains arrived and quickly proved to be more efficient than canal. One aqueduct has a viaduct next to it, for train, and intentionally built a few more metres higher up to show the domination of train travel.









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