I paid the aqueduct a very unplanned visit in January 2008 whilst moving between Dublin and London. An early morning start from London led us to a great winter breakfast at Ironbridge Gorge. A drive further on led me through Llangollen, when suddenly a bell rung in my head that Pontcysyllte Aqueduct was located somewhere nearby. Fortunately a road sign turned up pointing us in the right direction.

As such my experience of this site was rather under researched and quick. I pulled up next to the start of the aqueduct to see that some early risers were readying their barges for the trip across it. I strolled out a short way and saw that it was a rather long way down.

After this I drove down to Horseshoe falls to get a view of the main span of the aqueduct. Unfortunately as I had a ferry to catch this was as much as I was able to see.

The route on to Holyhead (for the Dublin ferry) was fitting as Thomas Telford was instrumental in forging this link between what where then the two main cities of Britain. There are several Telford projects on this route, especially notable are the bridges at Conwy and across the Menai straights, which really add to the understanding of the infrastructure constructed during the industrial revolution.

My visit to Pontcysyllte Aqueduct was very brief and I am sure I will head back up there to appreciate it more in the near future. The major works of the Industrial Revolution are a really worthy of addition to the world heritage list, however I feel that combining it with other major works of Telford may really highlight the overall impact of these major engineering works.