Day Trip on the Llangollen Railway and Visit to the Horseshoe Falls

Friday 28^th June

Llangollen Station

Engine in the Station

At the Station

Today we are off on the Llangollen Railway on the steam train.  It runs for 10 miles following the river Dee to the town of Corwen although today it was only running to Carrog a few miles before Corwen.  We boarded the train and off we went.  The first station was Berwyn Station which is near to the horseshoe falls and we are going to get off here on the way back.

Smoky Carriage!

Carrog Station

We then went through a tunnel and for some reason the carriages filled up with smoke, we have been on many steam trains and that has never happened before, it was quite funny seeing it come down the carriage and everyone start coughing, good job the tunnel wasn't too long otherwise it might have been murder on the Llangollen Railway!!

Chain Bridge and Hotel

Llantysilio Church

Inside the Church

We travelled on down the line following the River Dee and there was amazing views of the hills and valleys.  We stopped at Glyndyfrdwy Station then chugged on to Carrog.  We had a 40 minute lay over here so we had a wander around and bought an ice cream which was local and was called Chilly Cow and was delicious.  We then got back on the train and got off at Berwyn.

Memorial Plaque

Right opposite the station is the Chain Bridge Hotel with a chain bridge going across the River Dee from the Station to the hotel although we didn’t realise that at first and so walked the long way around down the road over the bridge, up the road and down the steps, we always go the long way first!.

Me at Horseshoe Falls

Cheeky Robin

Glistening Horseshoe Falls

We walked along the towpath and soon came to the Horseshoe Falls, it is so lovely there, a beautiful and tranquil place.  The horseshoe falls is where the Llangollen canal begins.  Thomas Telford designed this weir to draw water from the River Dee into the canal.  Today, around 12 million gallons of water are drawn into the canal each day from the River Dee to supply water to the canals, and to help supply South Cheshire with drinking water.  Originally, wooden planks would have been inserted to raise or lower the levels, but in 1947 the Meter House was built to measure how much water was taken.  The use of the canal as a water feeder ensured that it survived when other canals fell into disrepair.

Here comes the train

We walked up the path to Llantysilio Parish Church.  It is a lovely small church and is dedicated to St Tysilio who lived about 500-580 A.D.  He was the son of Ysgythrog, a local Prince, and founded 8 other churches, mostly in N. Wales.  Most Welsh place names beginning with “Llan,” meaning Church or Parish, have the name of the Saint to which they are dedicated as the second part of the name e.g. Llan-tysilio the Church of St Tysilio.

J R Hartley Fly Fishing

The present building was erected in 1180.  It was open and we went inside.  It was small but lovely.  There is a memorial plaque to English poet Robert Browning.  He worshipped regularly in the church in 1886.

Sat at the Chain Bridge Hotel

We then walked back to the falls and sat on the rocks by the water and had our picnic lunch, it was a great lunch spot.  After lunch we walked up to the Chain Bridge Hotel.  It is a lovely hotel right by the River Dee and there is a chain bridge going across the river.

Chain Bridge

Info Board at Chain Bridge

Lovely Views

The chain Bridge is a footbridge over the River Dee at Berwyn, Llangollen. A pathway from Berwyn railway station, now part of the Llangollen Railway, leads under a subway and down to the bridge and then across to the Chain Bridge Hotel on the other side. It was one of the first chain bridges in the world.

Lovely views at Berwyn Station

It was originally built in 1813 by local coal merchant, Exuperius Pickering to open up a transport route for coal, lime and stone from the Shropshire Union Canal across the River Dee, to Telford's recently completed London to Holyhead road ( A5.) The bridge allowed Pickering to bypass the Llangollen toll bridge further downstream and transfer coal from his mines near Acrefair up the canal towards Corwen

Train coming into Berwyn Station

Here comes the train

It was later rebuilt using the existing chains by Henry Robertson a railway engineer and industrialist in 1876 and later by his son Sir Henry Beyer Robertson who was the head of Brymbo Steelworks in 1929, who rebuilt the suspension bridge we see today, reusing the old chain links as suspension cables. It has recently been completely restored after years of closure using HLF funding and is now a popular link for tourist who can travel by train from Llangollen to Berwyn station, hop off and cross this marvelous suspension bridge, meet the canal at the other side and take a stroll to Horseshoe Falls, where the World Heritage Site begins.

We sat on the terrace at the hotel and had coffee and scones then I had a gin and Kev had a beer.  We then walked across the chain bridge, it was a bit wobbly so I walked very quickly and we went back up to the station and got the train back to Carrog and then back to Llangollen. 

We then walked back to the boat.  It was a great day out on the train and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Horseshoe Falls