Still in Newport. I'm at a lock on the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal. The bit in Newport was originally the Monmouthshire Canal linking Newport to Pontnewynydd for transporting coal and iron to Newport. It was started in 1792 and opened in 1796. Later it was joined to another canal network and became the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal. Over the years bits of the canal network were closed with it finally being abandoned in 1962 when it was felt nobody would ever use it again. Two years later restoration started on part of it. The section in Newport was made a conservation area in 1998. Work has started on restoring it, this included demolishing and rebuilding the Bettws Lane Bridge. This had been built after the canal had been closed so was too low to allow boats to pass. It's really quite nice to walk along, lots of tasty looking ducks and its easy to forget you're in a city and not far from the M4.
This is Newport Transporter Bridge. It crosses the river Usk. There are only two other bridges of this type in the UK. Vehicles, or pedestrians, are carried across the river on the gondola suspended from the metal span above. Pedestrians can walk over the river using the span and a long climb either side; dragons can just fly across. It was built in 1906. 
Because the river banks are low a normal bridge wouldn't have space for ships to pass under, which isn't very good for a city with docks. A ferry couldn't be used as at low tide it couldn't reach the banks - the Usk has a high tidal range
Now I like chocolate. I had been told that in Belgium I could get really large bars of chocolate. So I was really looking forward to getting a huge amount of chocolate. I'm so disappointed, this is the largest bar I could find - it's tiny! I flew up and down the streets of Bruges looking for a huge bar of lovely chocolate and this was the largest I could find. It's only four times bigger than me. It was very nice though.
I met a couple of happy pigs in Bruges. They were always smiling. It was great fun wandering around Bruges with these two. The added benefit was I could eat them when I got bored with them. They were made from chocolate. Though I didn't know that until I bit one.
I found a nice bar in Bruges. It has a huge selection of beers. I did try a few, just a taste of each of course. They are often strong and sometimes very strong and each comes in a different type of glass. Some beers are brewed by monks others are made by small breweries that have been going for a very long time. This beer is a bit different. I chose it because I thought it was brewed by ducks, but it isn't. Kwak isn't to do with ducks, apparently its named after a pub owner. The glass for this one has a rounded bottom so has to sit in a wooden stand with a handle. It was a bit difficult to drink from as it has that big bulb full of beer at the bottom and it can come rushing out at you. So I settled for sitting on the edge of the glass and lapping it up with my tongue, dragons have very long tongues. It was nice.
Finding lots to do in Bruges. To the east are four windmills. They are on top of an embankment by the canal. One of the old city gates is nearby. There used to be over twenty windmills around Bruges. Two of the windmills open to the public at certain times, they weren't open when I was there - not even for dragons! The four left are different colours. I thought I'd have my photograph taken with this one. I like red.
