Abandoned Canal: Maesbury to Welshpool

[@mjallenuk]

Fascinating .... there's so much possibility there!

[@thatonenaturesong]

Very interesting Dan, it's good to know there are people out there trying their best to get it restored. It's going to take a few quid I should imagine. I hope you have a great Sunday. Su x

[@spijkerpoes]

can't wait till the M1 looks like that!

[@SortOfInteresting]

Haha, the way the world is going right now that may be sooner than we think!

[@quadq6598]

Used to go swimming in the late 1960s in the old Montgomery Canal at Maesbury where my gran lived, 70's & 80's it filled up with junk & debris now partly restored (2023)

[@paula8544]

hey Dan that's you and CC both done a video with unused or partially used canals due to been overgrown. Amazing how mother nature reclaims.

[@arnoldromppai5395]

that's right unless it is up kept mother nature will reclaim everything, same thing with our forests the tree huggers cry when bush is cut, they rather see it die and a huge fire danger, you can log the forest today and in 5 years its growing like mad, on my own land I had it logged and had a big D8 dozer come in and strip the land of all the stumps and cut 6 to 8 feet of dirt cut down to fill in a valley, 10 years ago, today it is all bush again, were they came from being every root was cut away, but its growing thicker then ever

[@bsgotsoul]

Hi Dan, although it looks derelict often the most tricky bits are restoring locks, bridges and other structures. Also removing obstructions. Restoring canal bed can be one of the more easy tasks and involves scrub bashing and relining. All a question of money and time :)

[@SortOfInteresting]

Yes, that is very important to remember I suppose! Unfortunately in the last two years very little progress has been made around here and as mentioned, the last bit that was restored is now effectively dry after leaking!

[@bsgotsoul]

Sort Of Interesting yeah leaks aren't good on a canal! :)

[@IJ_uk]

Sort Of Interesting where was it leaking? Was it obvious where it was?

[@willfriar8054]

i wish florida has completed the cross florida barge canal. it would have been beautiful like this. save these treasures england see what you made by hand cherish grandfathers hard work

[@NatSatFat]

Very interesting vid, I was talking about this bit of canal a few years ago, with a chap who lives in a bungalow on a good bit! he was telling me money was the only issue for restoring the link to Newtown, Wales they had done some rebuilding then (a few years ago) but stopped because they had run out of cash? , they were hoping to get some from the National Lottery??? but were totally interested in thew full restoration, it is not forgotten he said.

[@whitecompany18]

And to think they get so funny about listed buildings but they let real history like that slip away, great vid and document of it Dan .

[@SortOfInteresting]

Yes, it is incredible how they actively destroyed some of the old canals in the past, even filling in the locks with cement in some places!

[@stephencrowther524]

I think that there IS some chance that at least part of the rest of the canal will be restored at some stage. The canal system is now a great earner for many and I feel that the demand can only increase. Never say never !

[@SortOfInteresting]

Yes, it is a slow process but at least some will hopefully be restored. I just couldn't believe how completely "gone" it was in some places, especially the grassy field!

[@hmallett]

Bridge 82A isn't an old wooden lift bridge. It's a new wooden lift bridge! I believe it was put in when that length of canal was restored around 2007.

[@annarboriter]

I don't see whether there was ever a stone or brick walls on these dry sections. Is it possible that the materials were robbed? I also don't understand how these canals are not part of a general drainage system that requires maintenance for agriculture and storm water runoff

[@urgulp1554]

Such a shame. We have an amazing canal route from Newtown that goes all the way to Oswestry I believe? Sadly much of it is no longer in use but it makes for some lovely long walks.

[@ncplantdoctor]

Perhaps someday in your lifetime, you will be able to "connect the dots" as the two watered areas of the canal get joined. At least you have documented the state of the canal today and some day someone will be able to compare this footage with the canal watered end to end, one might hope.

[@arnoldromppai5395]

that's the worlds problem to day. people just hope, know one will stand up to them ,,, you have to get everyone together and make lots of noise, the river trust is paid millions to look after this but they do nothing, not even cut the grass, the city tax dollars pays that

[@scopex2749]

This is very sad as i have been a fan of canals since I first new what they were, i did a school project when i was about 8 about the decline of the waterways! I got a gold star! Dont be so worried, in my town i have watched a whole PARK get levelled, foundations dug out and shops and cinemas appear in EIGHT MONTHS! IF the lottery heritage fund would donate maybe a million pounds, with a few gangs of ‘navvies’ and 10 excavators they could clear this whole reach in under a month.......TRUST ME.....😉 If they actually ‘unplugged’ one end and deliberately flood the section this allows the water to find its level. Then dam it again and the ground witll be lovely and soft and muddy, scoop it out with JCB,s and diggers and there we go! Im just looking at boats to live on having lived in a small caravan for 5 years! Then back into a house , now fancy the canal life and moorings are so hard to find so PLEASE LOTTERY FUND.........get some diggers in here......the WHOLE UK CANAL NETWORK used to be interlinked........lets see that happen again? 😃

[@patriciabowman8693]

Dan, have you ever considered photography for your career or a hobby? Your quite good at it.

[@Ron-Lfc10-163]

Cheers👍

[@taffythegreat1986]

Sad to see this ☹️☹️

[@simonnewton122]

I can't believe they let it get like that, something needs to change

[@remotedarren]

Sad to see, and in another 5/10 years, you'll not even know a canal was once there, which is a real shame. I suspect it'll cost a lot of money to get it back to its original state.

[@SortOfInteresting]

Yes, as they try to restore one small stretch the years keep wearing away and making it harder to salvage the next few hundred metres!!

[@arnoldromppai5395]

its noth that hard, I have built many large ponds over the years, all that need to be down is dig it out down to the clay liner and bed it in clay again, clay seals itt up no mater what, kind of ground it iis, that's how the canals were made, dug up and a heavy clay liner, 2 machines with good operators and half a brine can do a half mile a day

[@PhilPage227]

Welshpool in 10 years?

[@SortOfInteresting]

Depends how long those ten years are! Haha in all seriousness I really do think it is a very big job, some optimism is needed but there may be a little bit of wishful thinking mixed in with the projects optimism!

[@andrewwilliams3032]

👍👍

[@melissascott4823]

Ah. What a shame. 😊

[@adj63]

this WAS a canal

[@kenlynch6332]

Sad to see; but all good things come to an end sometime (unfortunately)

[@SortOfInteresting]

Indeed, it is a sad sight to see, especially knowing that there was once 28 miles of canal to explore rather than a few hundred feet from Maesbury!

[@arnoldromppai5395]

but yet they turn hundreds away a year, saying no room

Most of it isn't as bad as it's looks, just needs digging out.

[@arnoldromppai5395]

last video I seen of yours, you gave up boat life, I thought you were gone, I followed you all the time up till then as no videos for a long time,, from what I hear from people I know in the uk, boaters pay good money to the canal and river trust for up keep and repairs and development, but they don't do anything at all but take your money and fine you if you don't pay, its left to people donating there time equipment, fuel to fix the rivers and canals, even reopening old filled it birthing forks, and the canals are headed to a thing of the past what's left, even the very unsafe locks lift bridges that if were here in Canada would be demolished and left do to legalities, my understanding from many, even were there is water in the canal they are not passable as they have not been dredged out in many years, they take your money and the top heads line there own pockets, its similar here with the high fees we have to pay for hunting and fishing licenses, they say it is to up keep the bush roads and trails, and to improve animal habitat, but the MNR don't spent one dime on any of it, all the licensing funds go into a general pot account that is use to do wasted full projects, hand over millions to the natives year after year, but the natives still cry they need more, but funds they were given never go to what they were demanding the funds for in the first place, you fly up to any remote reserve, and you find huge piles of new equipment still in there factory crates bull dozed in the bush, you go see a big school that local contractors from town flew up for all most a year to build that school and 2 years later its disrobed ripped a part.. and closed down, and there protesting for more of out tax dollars to repair it,, like wtf, yet the disabled and old age people live with next to nothing, and government gives no help to them

[@QUIX4U]

It's amazing - but in the TWO + years since you uploaded this - you STILL haven't explained what ? THE means in "join" (on the Mont-go-mery) [quote] ... before restoration takes place? The join me on the Montgomery! ... [unquote] The JOIN "you" ?

[@stephenjames59]

It's a typo. It should read "Then join me", just missed out the n.

[@jiggyfun807]

Who gave this a thumbs down, the canal itself, (yo I'm not rundown)

[@SortOfInteresting]

Haha, the important thing to remember is that looks aren't everything... although any muddy ditch that ends at a place called "Pant" has the right to be self conscious!

[@ralph601]

My question is. Why was it left to become unusable? Our President is going to build a wall, maybe he can fix this as well.

[@arnoldromppai5395]

oh no he wasted billons on that wall is more important don't you know,, fn bs, since when has government ever fixed anything