Criss-Cross Canal

Criss-crossing to Llangollen
Towpath on left or right
Finding out which side to walk
When bridges come in sight
Mile on mile unrolling
As walkers hold their course
Canal a silvery ribbon
Reflecting vibrant gorse
Past junction to Montgomery
Welsh hills come into view
From fields the bleat of new-born lambs
As narrowboats pass through
Buds on branches bursting
Trees clothed in fresh leaf green
Flowers in profusion
The path heads on between
Ahead the long Chirk Tunnel
A quarter mile of gloom
No fun for the faint-hearted
Who fear there waits their doom
A hand rail's placed for safety
At centre it's near black
Even those with head torch find
Once in no turning back
Then on towards Llangollen
Where far above the Dee
There stands the famous aqueduct
Which thousands come to see
Eighteen vast stone arches
One, twenty-six feet high
Another Telford masterpiece
That dominates the sky.