Crossing the World's Highest Navigable Aqueduct in a Kayak

[@TroyTempest0]

Excellent vid yet again Ollie! Great subject and well made - I really loved the drone shots ! Good work and lookin' forward to your next one mate!

[@iansheppard9736]

Walked over this many times as a family. Nearly always called at the pub, before and after. Great views down the Dee valley and other good walks nearby. Highly recommended.

[@Tom_Roberts]

Thoroughly enjoyable. Thanks !

[@MarkJT1000]

".... and then had to cross it a 4th time." That made me chuckle 😂 I've only walked it but I can understand being scared looking over the edge. I've seen YT videos from the viewpoint of narrowboaters stood on the unguarded back of their boats looking over that edge. Ooohh. Just going to push my bollocks back up now.

[@Exisles]

Your vids are not just interesting, they're thoroughly fascinating & engaging. Not a camera fone within eye or earshot; Cheers for that.

[@Andrewjg_89]

That scenery is just so beautiful and incredible 😍

[@nickgreaves3355]

Hi Ollie, excellent video as usual just to add a little known fact about the aqueduct is that it is lined with sheepskins soaked in natural tar to seal the iron bottom and make it altogether waterproof and it’s still working nearly two hundred years later!!!

[@philhawley1219]

Also the joints between each iron trough section is sealed to the next one with molten sugar. So basically it is probably the world 's biggest creme brulee!

[@flatcapfiddle]

I recall seeing a doc a wile back that when boats went through tunnels before tow paths. 1 person would lead the horse off around the hill and the other crew would lie on their backs and "walk" the boat along the tunnel walls. Seen people do it. It looks crazy.

[@taoliu2920]

This is fantastic. Also, makes people feel the sensation - in a pool of flowing water high in the air held by a thin layer of iron.

[@TheWrightLifeTravelChannel]

That aqueduct was so cool! Fantastic drone shots!

[@robertcarter6963]

Ollie- thanks for the video - great work as usual!

[@keithtanner2806]

I very nearly went over the side of that. I was standing on the roof of a boat crossing the aqueduct taking photographs looking down on the opposite side from the towpath when the boat hit the side and I went on one leg and almost over the edge. 🤢🤢🤢🤢 40yrs later I still get the collywobbles just thinking about it.😱😱😱

[@terryalmond8777]

Crossed it many moons ago with the dog when walking Offa's Dyke. Great video .....

[@elliebaskerville3039]

I think you missed my favourite part, the lever at the center to let the water out.

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

LOL! And an interview with the gent whose job it is to retrieve the kayaks/canal boats of the "jumpers"! 🤔🙄😬

[@macaidwin]

Wauw, amazing. Never knew a canal like this existed.

[@bazza5699]

omg you'd never get me up there.. well done for overcoming the fear.

[@bluefish4580]

I lived in Froncysyllte years ago, by the canal and used to take the aqueduct route as a short cut to the supermarket in the village on the other side of it. Weirdest time to cross was at night when it was foggy. I’d canoed across it ten years before I lived by it.

[@ellaisplotting]

You've got nerves of steel, good lord

[@jetsons101]

What a fun watch while providing lots of historical information. Ollie as time goes on your work is better and better.....

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

+1! to all that! 😊 These videos help compensate for the fact that age means that there's never going to be any more personal visits to these beautiful places. Even the sound of the birds takes me back to the countryside in the Old Dart. 👍👍

[@Originalspruce]

Really interesting Ollie and very relevant as 3 mates and myself are booked to cross it next April😀

[@clivegeary4587]

Great video. I live in the area. I did enjoy listening to you try to pronounce some of the place names. If you get back to the area visit Chrik railway station and take a look at the remains of the Glyn Valley Tramway.

[@andyshacks7812]

I’ve walked across that aqueduct and back. I totally bricked myself. It’s very high indeed ! Brilliant video. Thanks 🙏

[@iankynaston-richards883]

You filmed the entrance to the Plas Kynaston Canal at 13:09 but didn't mention it. The canal didn't end here as you said, but continued on to a large basin and the place where materials were managed for the construction of the aqueduct.

[@antonioveritas]

HI Ollie. Just found your channel. Brilliant video, professional standard of filming and presenting. Looking forward to watching your other videos now. 👍

[@lescampbell4196]

Only been on the horse drawn boat down that narrow leg. We used to go to the hot air balloon festival there and camp at Tower Farm nearby. Our daughter has been over the aqueduct on foot though

[@bonnroberts1722]

I used to teach kayaking on the Llangollen canal, did it many times. Then I bought a narrowboat to live on and did it a few more times

[@Pwecko]

I've walked over the aqueduct a few times. 35 metres doesn't sound very high, but it feels enormous.

[@alexday5892]

Excellent vid ! Took my parents narrow boat down the same route many years ago. The drop over that thin edge is breathtaking. Love the editing and drone coverage too. Superb detail added about the history too. Keep up the good work 👏🏻

[@MikeBishop]

Great video. I'd love to see you tackle the Loch Katrine to Glasgow Water Supply in the Trossachs Scotland. A real marvel of engineering.

[@mikeclarke3882]

Another brilliant film Ollie...thanks mate! The quality of your production is first class and so impressive. I'm with you as far as messing about in high places...not my favorite either...so well done!

[@danbonser7781]

That looks so delicate from the drone footage. Can’t believe we steamed a 20 ton narrow boat over it on a holiday a few years ago! Great film as usual 😊

[@Gazshadows]

I came from Acrefair which was the next village along and walked the Aqueduct more than a dozen times. Always a daunting walk when there was alot of people on it 🤣

[@simonfunwithtrains1572]

Well worth your effort with the extra paddling. Josy and I walked across this bridge some years ago, there was a poor lady coming the other way on her hands and knees. The only way Josy could get across is if she just concentrated and looked straight ahead. Best wishes J&S.

[@merseydave1]

Again a top class video ... I am fortunate to know this history, In 2013 I walked from Pontcystlle Aqueduct (like you I am terrible with heights) although I forced myself to walk across it. Then right along the canal through Llangollen and onto the horse show falls. Its all very nice now yet I thought of the navies toil (lives lost) pluss the economic activity now long gone ....All of that area has So Much History

[@thomasfilion9064]

Love your work. I will cross it someday on a narrowboat. You can film me pass out from fear. Lol

[@terryansell6641]

Thank you from New Zealand this was so enjoyable

[@xr6lad]

Excellent. Great architecture

[@rufdymond]

I remember walking over this - I have an intense fear of heights and cannot swim - so I had my two greatest fears on either side of me. I did it, although I don’t think I’ve ever trembled so much in my life.

[@omgitsjesus4505]

I grew up in Chirk (live in Manchester now), so I have many a fond memory of walking off a Sunday lunch over either of these & through the 'Darkie' (...cant call it that though these days 😆) I got married at Llantysilio Church, on the hill overlooking the Horseshoe Falls... 💖

[@simonbradshaw3708]

Thanks for another really enjoyable video. I had our honeymoon on the canal and my new wife banged her head on the boat and I pushed her down inside so that she didn't feel dizzy and went over the side. I believe Telford designed a metal trough bridge prior to the one on the Llangollen canal which is now disused but preserved? Look forward to the next video.

[@andys5359]

Its in the middle of a field near Longdon on Tern, near Shrewsbury

[@eddherring4972]

Did the Llangollen canal on a family narrow boat holiday I drove the narrow boat in both directions over the aqueduct(s) but the feeling you have as a newcomer to aqueducts is that the boat will hit the non towpath side and ride up over those few inches and plummet to the Dee below.

[@ffrancrogowski2192]

A very enjoyable video, Ollie. It's a marvel of civil engineering, being so high as an aqueduct makes it unique. Many thanks for this presentation.

[@kennethsizer6217]

Amazing (and surprising) that the towpath is built over the water. I would have thought the designers would want the waterway to be as narrow as possible (due to the weight of the water). Was the towpath added later?

[@mycroft1905]

Very interesting. Lovely music. TFP

[@SMlFFY85]

I walked across it a few summers ago and it was the most terrifying few minutes of my life, it might not have been so bad had it not been so busy and having to make way for people pushing double prams in the opposite direction.

[@Missiformationflanangan]

I can't go this long without a new upload, hope you are good. :)

[@Alan_Watkin]

ive been over there on a push bike a few times as a kid, and yeah its long way down, i actually felt a little sick when you put the camera over the edge i dont think i could have looked over if i was sat in a kayak, its nice all around that area though isn't it, good vid that i think you did it justice 👏👏👏 well done

[@Davejezz]

Another great video Ollie, keep 'em coming.

[@PhilipMurphy8Extra]

A Bee Here Now upload, This is always interesting.

[@abnormallyfunny]

great vid. bless you for the welsh pronunciation

[@MarkGarth]

Another fascinating video. Love your content, keep them coming 👍

[@chargeriderepeat7024]

Brilliant, the wife went over it last year in a plastic kayak. Exactly the same as you, she wished she hadnt looked over the side.

[@simonballard6413]

Super video,Ollie. I wish I could even attempt to pronounce that aqueduct! I really enjoy your videos.

[@MRoderick89]

I went to another aquaduct in Wales it was amazing

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

Did your GPS get you lost too? 😜

[@adriannorthcott873]

I am not too bad bad with heights but I did feel a little bit unnerved walking across that aqueduct several year's ago. I think you were brave for going over it considering that you don't like heights well done ✔.As always a well presented video thanks for posting it.👍

[@hamshackleton]

Chuckling at your pronunciations of the tongue-tangling Welsh place-names - I can't argue about those, but - Whitefield is a district of Manchester. You meant WIT field (no E)! 🙂 I've 'crossed' the aqueduct several times (on canal-boat vids), but none of them had mentioned that the towpath was suspended, and carefully avoided mentioning the delightful view of the waste-water plant, below!

[@johnhockenhull2819]

I to have crossed many times by boat and never realised that the towpath was suspended. You learn something new every day.

[@derkbruinsma9351]

Keep up the good work ..I greatly enjoyed the video.. top marks

[@alisonwilliams4862]

Oh Hell, no - only about a foot of barrier between you and certain death! It must feel even more scary wobbling about in a kayak and if you were in a canal boat it must be even worse because you surely mustn't even be able to see the barrier! I would have thought that they would have put a railing up, like on the other side!

[@Demun1649]

I didn't mind it when my partner and I did it. It was exciting. It was worth just because we knew that the townies/city-folk were nowhere in sight.

[@huxleypiguk]

Great video and a great pair of structures. Can I ask what drone you use please? Guessing it's a DJI of some sort.

[@paradiselost9946]

here in sydney we have a bridge, "mooney mooney". its a 6 lane freeway though. its about the same height. maybe higher. (looked it up... 75meters! 2.5X higher!) years ago, i made myself a motorised bicycle. strapped a brushcutter engine on the back, and decided, yep... going to test ride it up the coast... and took said bridge in as part of the route. it had a little concrete fence thats about as high as this one is off the water back then... semis flying past doing 110... weeeee! not the brightest thing ive done. made it! duh. yeah... umm. it has a railing about two meters high now :( sigh.

[@stephenbedworth3404]

Been under it in my canoe those piers are massive at the base good Rapids underneath aswell

[@tikkathreebarrels]

Oh bravely done! Talk about confronting your fears.

[@DanJamesJames]

Whitchurch - the first syllable rhymes with 'wit', not with 'white' - pretty much as written, in fact.

[@MabDarogan2]

A genuinely good pronunciation from an Englishman

[@antifugazi]

" Waterway to have a great time " - Alan Partridge

[@alisonwilliams4862]

😄

[@jetsons101]

Long time, no see. How are things?????

[@christopherfranklin972]

Tremendous video,I would have been bricking it without leaning over the edge!

[@jacquelinefilby1842]

Love your music choice👍

[@vickyking3408]

Always l9ve your vlogs

[@BeeHereNowuk]

And I appreciate you watching them 😁

[@DavE-bh8lz]

I have walked the tow path on this aqueduct.

[@Robdutton91]

Ollie I would love to see you do a video on the Runcorn end of the Bridgewater Canal. I’m only just finding out about the town I’ve lived in my whole life and the surprising amount of history and heritage that is (literally) buried here. Shame the place is only known now for its new town…

[@Sorarse]

That looks as if it had railings on the drop side at one time. I'm wondering if they were reclaimed, as so many others were, during WWII to supply the demand for metals.

[@philhawley1219]

Only ever railings on the one side.

[@Sorarse]

@@philhawley1219 That's interesting. Do you know what the holes on that side were for, if not for railings?

[@malthomas987]

@@Sorarse at a guess. So the sections were reversible.

[@ellaisplotting]

@@Sorarse they made the troughs symmetrical essentially so that they could be used in either direction, but never installed railings on the other side- no need for them really.

[@neonskyline1]

Fabulous

[@scouseaussie1638]

Great content thank you.

[@timeast6412]

You are a brave man.I have been over it four times was petrified on each occasion,also I wonder if in one hundred or so years,a historian will be extolling the beauty of the HS 2 viaducts to be built near me in Buckinghamshire?My guess is probably yes.

[@Robdutton91]

I often think this. The old heritage buildings etc from the Industrial Revolution that are now cherished due to their significance and age would at one point surely have been objected to by local people 🤔 I guess the objections of the lower classes would not have been important enough to even make a record of.

[@lynnebarlow9516]

canoeing over this Aqueduct in July for charity wish me luck :)

[@20yearsagotoday1]

I’m kayaking this again tomorrow 👍🏼

[@stevep5408]

If canal tunnels generally didn't have tow paths, how did the boats power their way thru the tunnel?

[@Pwecko]

There were people who lay on the boat and walked along the tunnel walls, pushing the boat along. Later, the boats had engines,of course.

[@sellis1799]

Is there a traffic light system for the canal boats!

[@johnhockenhull2819]

No

[@sellis1799]

Blimey. I wonder if there is ever a stand off between two boats 😂

[@reddevil310]

Hiya , I watch your videos a lot, I'm from Ellesmere, Shropshire. Erm it's WHIT CHURCH , NO e 😳 RU BON ?? RU-A-BON !!

[@Mr80sliveon]

Picked up on that straight away.. and was he trying to pronounce Llan gollan too???

[@garethgriffiths4091]

Drop in at our local for some tips on pronunciation . . . and a beer!

[@Gazshadows]

Hey, got the same name as me haha 👍

[@Channel-os4uk]

Good pronunciation 👍 Ardderchog, in fact

[@JohnTaylor-bf6ll]

Yes, I've heard it's less vertigonous to walk along the towpath than it is to boat across it, because there's no railing of any kind on your side. Anyway, we shall see (I'm doing it next year).

[@davehopkin9502]

crossed it twice in a narrowboat, its buttock clenchingly high when you are standing at the tiller with almost nothing between you and the drop......

[@louithrottler]

Oh wow, you certainly have bated the Welsh pronunciation captains here lad. Come to Wirral more often, mate.

[@vickyking3408]

Kayaked the Dee the town falls

[@terryansell6641]

Amazing to built that all the years ago

[@briancollins2027]

It’s whit as in Whit sunday. Whitchurch, not whitechurch😂

[@johnhockenhull2819]

True. Although Whitchurch (Shropshire) on the Llangollen canal is named for the White Church which is at the highest point in the town.

[@briancollins2027]

@@johnhockenhull2819 it’s still Whitchurch though

[@johnhockenhull2819]

@@briancollins2027 it is now yes

[@briancollins2027]

@@johnhockenhull2819 It has been all my life

[@johnhockenhull2819]

@@briancollins2027 I would hope so. It became Whitchurch in the 11th or 12th century.

[@BeekeeperShrewsbury]

You're braver than me! 🙈

[@xr6lad]

I got sweaty just watching you…

[@TheChipmunk2008]

Never knew the towpath was suspended over the canal, but it does make sense structurally

[@andys5359]

It's so that the bow wave of the passing boats can dissipate, rather than overflowing the side

[@CarlJones14]

You've already gave me a like to an earlier comment. When they emptied the aquaduct for referbishment, they used the original technique of sealing the metal sections with cotton wadding soaked in blood, some sort of bovine blood. Clearly this works, but don't tell Greta, or she'll be demanding it be pulled down. 🤣

[@b43xoit]

They used mules on that towpath?

[@philhawley1219]

No. only horses

[@b43xoit]

Aren't horses afraid of heights?

[@philhawley1219]

@@b43xoit Not if they are blindfolded.

[@grahamjordan1040]

You don’t overcome a fear of heights anyone saying they have are not truly scared I can assure you that is the case I suffer from vertigo and no way could I go on that .

[@b43xoit]

Why a duck?

[@lovemusiceveryday]

Marple aquaduct is 98 feet and 7 men lost there lives building it

[@CarlJones14]

I did this in the late 1970s. 🤔🙄

[@chrismccartney8668]

Mad totally Mad

[@donwright3427]

Selected for terror

[@tensils]

Another cracker , thanks

[@chrisrutter6015]

you could have got someone to help you with the pronunciations. you literally could have just asked a local while you were there. not even an effort made to get close.

[@railfreightdrivergallagherGBRf]

Thought the same. I've lived in Wales for 21 years,and despite my still strong Manc accent, I've learned to pronounce Welsh nanes properly. It isn't difficult at all.

[@markholroyde9412]

You could have got someone to help with your Grammar ...no capital after a full stop, no capital to start the post...and the ever important snowflake word "literally" thrown in for no reason. Glass houses anyone?....fkn idiot

[@declanmurphy6427]

Travelling from one end to the other is NOT crossing the aquaduct.Where did you learn English?

[@dac545j]

How would it be best put in order that it is correctly rendered?

[@declanmurphy6427]

@@AnastasiaPersika" across the road" is going from one side to the other not from one end to the other!

[@christopherfranklin972]

@@declanmurphy6427 So it's incorrect to say "crossing a bridge"?

[@declanmurphy6427]

@@christopherfranklin972 is that a statement or a question?

[@christopherfranklin972]

@@declanmurphy6427 Clearly a question hence the 'question mark'.