Cambridge Centre of English

2 anni fa un lettore ha scritto:

CANAL-BARGE HOLIDAYS

England, Wales and Scotland have over 2000 miles of canals which wend their way through unspoilt countryside and into the hearts of cities like London and Birmingham.

The canals were originally built in the late 17th century and were used for the transport of merchandise up and down the country. In the early days the boats were beautifully painted and the families that owned them lived on them all the time and made their living. Then they were pulled by horse power. Finally in the 1920s diesel engines came into use allowing the barge people to work more efficiently. Occasionally you can still see horse-powered barges used for day trips. By the 1950s most of the canals had fallen into disrepair, but over recent years many dedicated people have spent their free time dredging the canals and mending the locks and now canal-barge holidays are extremely popular. There is nothing more relaxing than chugging down a canal at 3 miles per hour, under bridges, over aqueducts, through tunnels and beautiful countryside.

We hired our boat from Ellesmere in North Wales and travelled the Llangollen Canal, visiting villages and pubs on the way and finally traversing the stupendous Pontycysyllte Acquaduct which is 1000ft long, 120ft up above the Dee River Valley and only 7ft wide, just wide enough to allow one boat over at a time. You look down at the tops of trees with spectacular views all round.

We came back from the holiday totally relaxed. We had been in a different world.

More information from www.maestermyn.co.uk/llangollen