Ironbridge Gorge and Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Ironbridge Gorge

   An iron bridge does not sound like much until you realise it was the first of its kind. In 1779, over the River Severn in Shropshire, the world's first major cast-iron bridge was completed, spanning thirty metres in a single semicircular arch, assembled with joints borrowed from carpentry. It was designed by Thomas Farnolls Pritchard and built by Abraham Darby III, whose grandfather, Abraham Darby I, had pioneered smelting iron with coke at nearby Coalbrookdale in 1709. That innovation lit the fuse of the Industrial Revolution, and the gorge that holds the works became one of its birthplaces. UNESCO listed the site in 1986.

   Read the complete Ironbridge Gorge write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Ironbridge Gorge is where the day begins. Next is Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal.

2. 2. Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal

   You hear it before you understand it: water running in an iron trough thirty-eight metres above the River Dee, on stone piers so slender they look drawn rather than built. Thomas Telford and William Jessop finished the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in 1805 to carry what is now the Llangollen Canal across the valley, and more than two centuries later narrowboats still glide over it, steered by people trying very hard not to look down. There is a towpath on one side with railings; on the other side there is only the edge of the trough and air. Walk across if you have a head for heights. It is one of the strangest and best ten minutes in Wales.

   Read the complete Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal comes up about 66 km into the recorded legs. Next is Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City.

3. 3. Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City

   Liverpool turned its back on the land and faced the sea, and the waterfront shows it. The Pier Head is dominated by three great buildings, the Royal Liver Building with its two clock towers topped by mythical Liver Birds, the Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building, known as the Three Graces, built in the early twentieth century when the city was one of the richest ports in the world. Behind them the docks, warehouses and merchants' houses of the old town tell the story of a city that grew from trade in cotton, sugar, tobacco and, painfully, enslaved people.

   Read the complete Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 132 km into the recorded legs you reach Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City. Next is back through Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal.

4. 4. back through Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal, late in the day. Next is Ironbridge Gorge.

5. 5. Ironbridge Gorge

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Ironbridge Gorge write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Ironbridge Gorge. That is the ride.