HOW FAR CAN YOU WALK IN A DAY

 It turns out it’s pretty far when you’re in a new place with lots of interesting places to discover, and you’re living on a boat. The day began with some housekeeping…collecting up our laundry and walking up to town to the laundromat, a bit of exploring around town, coffee in a cafe, then back to the boat for lunch. One of the most interesting shops in town is the Riverside Taxidermy Studio, filled with taxidermied birds and animals.


In the afternoon we wanted to see the Horseshoe Falls, a manmade horseshoe shaped weir on the Dee River that controls the water levels at the beginning of the Llangollen Canal. Despite water being siphoned off for the canal, the river still has a swift flow and several rapids where kayakers were trying their luck.




Originally narrowboats were towed along the canals by draught horses, using the towpaths that exist even today as footpaths along all the canals. In Llangollen you can still take a ride in a horse-drawn narrowboat, along the upper reaches of the Llangollen canal.




From the boat basin where we are moored, the walk to Horseshoe Falls is almost 2 miles, then from there we walked on up to the quaint 15th century Llantysilio Parish church which sits above the river and is surrounded by ancient graves. 





From there Val and I walked up and over the hills to the ruins of the Valle Crusis abbey, another 1 ½ miles of quite steep ups and downs. Wales is definitely a place of hills and valleys. Along the way we found this natural garland of berries.




The Valle Crisis (Valley of the Cross) medieval abbey, founded in 1201, is quite  an atmospheric place, and as you wander around, you have to wonder what is actually holding up some of the well preserved remaining walls. The monastery was dissolved in 1537 during the dissolution of the monasteries and is now a ruin. There is so much history in this country.




After exploring the ruins for a while and eating a scrumptious ice cream made with local organic milk, we then walked back to the boat, through the fields and along the canal side, to where are moored in the boat basin in Llangollen. All up we walked over 12 km today, so we decided we needed a rest tonight and gently suggested the boys should cook dinner for us. 

Comments

  1. Jackie BOctober 1, 2025 at 12:28 AM

    Hi everyone, the photos are incredible, I love all the places you have been to, it was a good choice. Love to you all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Neville CannOctober 1, 2025 at 6:01 AM

      What an adventure you are having and good to see you are getting some walking exercise ( that’s not in straight lines) Certainly you are surrounded by history stretching way back in time. Tunnel walking seemingly requires some courage. Well done. Well we are off to gym to get our exercise ( much less exciting) Cheers again and thanks for the blog.

      Delete
  2. Europe Trip 2025October 1, 2025 at 1:50 PM

    Thanks Jackie and Neville ! It's good that someone is reading my 'homework ' lol 😆

    ReplyDelete
  3. Emmy & PaulOctober 6, 2025 at 9:02 AM

    Beautiful pics, looks like you're having a wonderful time!

    ReplyDelete

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