Jump to content

pontcysyllte aqueduct


beerbeerbeerbeerbeer

Featured Posts

We did the aqueduct in 2014. I was fine boating over it as I stood just inside the doors of my trad stern, but after we'd gone back over it & moored up, it was a different story. We walked back to the aqueduct with our 2 dogs to walk across it & to my horror, I found myself physically shaking & had to hand my dog on to the missus in order to continue across! Then I had to do it all over again, hoping it wouldn't be as bad. Not a snowballs, I felt exactly the same.

 

I mean, there's nearly 5' of railing on one side & the canal on the other! How likely is it to have a serious accident!? I couldn't believe it, I'd always known I was aprehensive with heights, but this was ridiculous, I'm not actually scared of heights surely? Well, I was soon to find out.

 

A year later & I was getting my holiday rental in Blaenau Ffestiniog in a fit state to hire out, when my niece who works at Zip World thought it was a good idea to give me a "flight" for my birthday. Great I thought, I've abseiled before, same difference I guess. We got there, got suited up & I was asked how I felt., "fine" I said, are you excited I was asked, "not really" I said, all seemed good, I was calm. Onto the bus to the top of Titan, still feeling OK. At the top, all off the bus, niece in attendance & would be going down with us. To get onto the lines, you have to ascend onto a platform, we were the last group to go down, but as I watched the others go before us, the nerves kicked in - big style! I couldn't even get myself onto the platform. For the first time in my life, I truly understood what "petrified" means, I could not move a muscle. Then the humiliating trip back to base on the bus, despite the consolation of the staff, I was absolutely devastated, especially as the missus, also scared, went down.

 

So, I am scared of heights, so much so, my legs quiver if a verticle drop is shown on TV!

Edited by BargeeSpud
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For some reason, the Edstone on the Stratford gives us both the heebie jeebies, far more so than the Ponty. Think it's because the towpath is below the canal and not in sight when crossing.

That's interesting, because it really took me by surprise how terrifying I found Edstone, and I thought I'd never be able to face Pontcysyllte.

My two scariest boating experiences in sequential threads.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another vote for Edstone being more terrifying, particularly in strong wind. And particularly when hubby says "you're doing fine, we're half way across now" ONLY HALF WAY???!!!!

 

Being stuck scraping against the side is the worst thing, visions of crashing through the side with boat and water still makes me shudder.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We did the aqueduct in 2014. I was fine boating over it as I stood just inside the doors of my trad stern, but after we'd gone back over it & moored up, it was a different story. We walked back to the aqueduct with our 2 dogs to walk across it & to my horror, I found myself physically shaking & had to hand my dog on to the missus in order to continue across! Then I had to do it all over again, hoping it wouldn't be as bad. Not a snowballs, I felt exactly the same.

 

I mean, there's nearly 5' of railing on one side & the canal on the other! How likely is it to have a serious accident!? I couldn't believe it, I'd always known I was aprehensive with heights, but this was ridiculous, I'm not actually scared of heights surely? Well, I was soon to find out.

 

A year later & I was getting my holiday rental in Blaenau Ffestiniog in a fit state to hire out, when my niece who works at Zip World thought it was a good idea to give me a "flight" for my birthday. Great I thought, I've abseiled before, same difference I guess. We got there, got suited up & I was asked how I felt., "fine" I said, are you excited I was asked, "not really" I said, all seemed good, I was calm. Onto the bus to the top of Titan, still feeling OK. At the top, all off the bus, niece in attendance & would be going down with us. To get onto the lines, you have to ascend onto a platform, we were the last group to go down, but as I watched the others go before us, the nerves kicked in - big style! I couldn't even get myself onto the platform. For the first time in my life, I truly understood what "petrified" means, I could not move a muscle. Then the humiliating trip back to base on the bus, despite the consolation of the staff, I was absolutely devastated, especially as the missus, also scared, went down.

 

So, I am scared of heights, so much so, my legs quiver if a verticle drop is shown on TV!

If it helps, it wasn't exactly uncommon to see various stages of panic from death grip and shuffle along the railings to people practically crawling off the bridge.

Heights take me in odd ways, no problem hanging by a rope from the top of a tree but put me at the top of a building and the butterflies start, I think its about the feeling of control

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No

 

Ponty: 307m

Edstone: 145m

 

and then of course, there's this: http://www.amusingplanet.com/2011/04/incredible-magdeburg-water-bridge-in.html

 

nearly 1km long.

You are quite correct. I looked up longest aquaducts and Edstone is the longest in England.

:(

I hold my head in shame.

:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another vote for Edstone being more terrifying, particularly in strong wind. And particularly when hubby says "you're doing fine, we're half way across now" ONLY HALF WAY???!!!!

 

Being stuck scraping against the side is the worst thing, visions of crashing through the side with boat and water still makes me shudder.

Been accross Pony..... 4 times (2 return trips) all in August in nice weather and not really had any problems, even though I would say I am not great with heights. Done Edstone quite a few times as it is local, but one time certainly sticks in my mind with a very strong cross wind that had us pinned to the offside all the way, and that was not nice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We had a strong crosswind blowing us against the non towpath side, made me nervous when we bumped into the side of the trough, took comfort in logic, i.e. we would be the first boat in 200 years to break through and plunge to the ground (with me and the missus screaming all the way down to a violent and bloody death - gulp)

Someone has to be the first... ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You are quite correct. I looked up longest aquaducts and Edstone is the longest in England.

sad.png

I hold my head in shame.

smile.png

and the Avon aqueduct in Scotland on the Glasgow and Edinburgh Union canal is the second longest in the UK at 810 feet with 11 arches.

 

Haggis

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We walked back to the aqueduct with our 2 dogs to walk across it & to my horror, I found myself physically shaking & had to hand my dog on to the missus in order to continue across! Then I had to do it all over again, hoping it wouldn't be as bad.

 

Well you could have walked back along the road instead, then you could have got one of those photos looking up at the aqueduct from below.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

What is the life expectancy of a tower climber?

couldn't tell you but i do know the states have a rather carefree approach towards H&S, much of what i did when i was on the tools was powerline work and they work live on stuff we wouldn't touch without a shutdown and do seem to kill a fair few, apparently there is more litigation for outages over there so the power company's are very very reluctant to switch the power for routine works

Link to comment
Share on other sites

couldn't tell you but i do know the states have a rather carefree approach towards H&S, much of what i did when i was on the tools was powerline work and they work live on stuff we wouldn't touch without a shutdown and do seem to kill a fair few, apparently there is more litigation for outages over there so the power company's are very very reluctant to switch the power for routine works

There oil and gas industry is very similar

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I find the video faintly dissatisfying at the end when they climb onto the very top, because we never find out what maintenance they've gone up there to do, that needs a 30lb bag of tools.

 

Maybe you'll find this one less frustrating:

 

6365_0ce6.gif

Edited by stegra
Link to comment
Share on other sites

er........ morbid to ask....... but has anyone actually ever fallen off??ohmy.png

 

"Do people fall off here often?"..................

 

"No! - Never more than the once!"

Edited by alan_fincher
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.