'What is life if, full of care
We have no time to stand and stare
No time to turn at beauty's glance
and watch her feet and how they dance
A poor life this is if full of care
We have no time to stand and stare'.
No time to turn at beauty's glance
and watch her feet and how they dance
A poor life this is if full of care
We have no time to stand and stare'.
The area is rich in history with its fair share of famous people, wonderful natural and manmade sites so this blog can only be a glimpse of an area full of sharp contrasts.
It's famous people
Thomas Telford, civil engineer by trade, designed and built the Menai Bridge known affectionally to the Welsh as LLanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
and to the English as
The church of St Mary, in a hollow of white hazel, near to a rapid whirlpool and to St Tysilio's church and near to a red cave.
That was not the only bridge he built - also we saw his name on the little stone bridge we walked across at Betwys Coed and the aqueduct we sailed and walked across on the Llangollen Canal in the Dee Valley. The aqueduct in 1805 was initially built to carry slate from the nearby quarries to the English cities. The railways very quickly led to the demise of the canals and the canal companies faced bankruptcy until someone had the clever idea in the 1880s of advertising the first horse drawn pleasure boats - and now it is a real tourist industry but without the horses.
Thomas Telford, civil engineer by trade, designed and built the Menai Bridge known affectionally to the Welsh as LLanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
and to the English as
The church of St Mary, in a hollow of white hazel, near to a rapid whirlpool and to St Tysilio's church and near to a red cave.
That was not the only bridge he built - also we saw his name on the little stone bridge we walked across at Betwys Coed and the aqueduct we sailed and walked across on the Llangollen Canal in the Dee Valley. The aqueduct in 1805 was initially built to carry slate from the nearby quarries to the English cities. The railways very quickly led to the demise of the canals and the canal companies faced bankruptcy until someone had the clever idea in the 1880s of advertising the first horse drawn pleasure boats - and now it is a real tourist industry but without the horses.
Henry Robertson built the railway viaduct in 1800 which ran alongside the aqueduct but we didn't learn much about him except I think he died before it was completed - but worth a mention because the viaduct is quite spectacular standing higher than the aquaduct. The Darby family from Ironbridge were responsible for the industrial revolution, so the local museums state, as Abraham Darby I found cheap ways to make iron by using coke (looking on the internet coke is 'A hard, dry carbon substance produced by heating coal to a very high temperature in the absence of air' and 'Coal is a fossil fuel formed in swamp ecosystems where plant remains were saved by water and mud from oxidization and biodegradation. Coal is a readily combustible black or brownish-black rock' - something else for the quiz night at the pub). The Darby's also when tunnelling for coal found natural bitumen in a tunnel which we wandered through and was used to seal boats and went along way to feeding and clothing the generations of Darby's - which came to four after we went through some museums. Ironbridge is known for its bridge over the River Severn (quite small up in the hills unlike down near Bristol) designed by a Thomas Pritchard and built by Abraham Darby III. The Darby's - well the first few generations anyway - were strong Quakers and there are no portraits of the family as the religion forbade it - so no one can remember what this remarkable family looked like. By the fourth generation some had turned to Anglican and the photos and portraits of those leaving the church now hang in museums. Quakers were denied entry to the clergy, government and law and could not attend universities and as they rejected their career in the army there was not much else for them except industry and commerce. We drove passed their houses where all the Darby kids grew up and although big and multi storied it looked quite austere from the outside.
Water, water everywhereIt did rain alot (August is the gloomiest it has been since records began 100 years ago they say) and many of the rivers were high if not in flood. But during our four days on the narrow boat it rained a little bit at night but not much during the day. There isn't really a lot to write about our trip on the canal as you can imagine it was reasonably relaxing and slow. Harry enjoyed the driving and I had a little go but I certainly wasn't used to sitting doing nothing all day like someone else I know. All joking aside there is quite an art to the steering of a 50 foot long canal boat and Harry did take to it quite naturally. Jan and I awarded him the 'canal boat skipper award' with Caramello coming a close second. Harry learnt how to reverse when meeting another boat in a tunnel or on an aqueduct and Jan and I learnt how to push on poles to get us unstuck from the mud (some areas were less than 2 foot deep, but the depth of mud seemed to be endless), how to operate locks (a seven year old showed us how to do it initially but we got the hang of it quite quickly) and to tie pretty secure knots so we didn't float away at night. We bumped (literally) into some other kiwis and talked to another couple who had come over and bought a boat - there way of seeing the country. One day we came across a barge that had come lose from its moorings (needed Jan and I to tie the knots or a stronger rope I think) and as we pushed it back to shore so we could tie it up we managed to get stuck in the mud and so did the barge. Another couple of boats joined us to help sort out the fiasco offering to tow us - an offer we nearly took advantage of - how embarrassing - until we found that a lot of regulars had ropes especially for that occasion. Another day, some nice canalites rescued a sheep from the water and went everywhere trying to find a place to let it off the boat - from a distance it looked as though they had completely lost control but they were only trying to avoid stinging nettle along the sides of the canal - which incidentally hurts and is very irritating (have I said that before?). Anyway, the sheep can dine out on that one for a while. We didn't venture down the Frankton canal which had 7 locks in 50 metres and was only open between 10 and 2 in the summer to help conserve water. There were lovely blackberries along the canal where we couldn't stop, and when we could the first day we found 7 (Jan had optimistically made us take 2 containers on our walk), and the second day we found 31 (we only had one container to fill that day) and then we gave up as they were somewhat sour (lack of sunshine we concluded). Our theme song was 'slow down you move to fast' theme as 4 miles per hour was too fast when passing moored boats. Not only were there people on the boats of all shapes and sizes but dogs wandering up and down the roof, cats and cockatoos - some boats looked as though they could be home to mice as well. One day we went for a walk and I pointed to the sky and said to Harry 'there is blue sky', 'where' was the answer', 'behind the tree was my reply' - most of the time it was cold but when the sun did come out it was hot and we sat with our faces turned upwards to that big yellow orb in the sky and it occurred to us why some people are sun worhsippers. The Dawdling Dairy boat sold produce such as tea bags and icecreams and the Cheese Boat sold, you guessed it, cheese (we bought a chilli and garlic). The boat was well equipped with everything we needed but the beds were a size best suited for Caramello rather than Harry and I. After deciding a double wasn't big enough for 2 (Jan's double was fine just for her) we moved the beds to make 2 singles. They were so narrow and high we didn't get much sleep and so we ended up moving the mattresses to the lounge floor and got a much better nights sleep. The boats came in all sizes - narrow and long - some with painted jugs and watering cans on their roof, or vegetables and flowers growing - or just the plain old rented ones like ours. We got good at looking ahead for the next obstacle, (eg boats coming the other way on a one way bridge, tunnel or aqueduct) and cruised passed many a cute little house and pub (never when we needed a drink or food though). We watched people reading books, eating, sipping wine, having their hair curled and enjoyed our home cooked meals. Grey water (from showers and dishes) goes straight into canal which didn't stop some boaters from eating the perch they cooked but we stuck to gammon, sausages, pies (from the deli - not quite home cooked but the veges were - we ate a novel one which we don't know the name of but looks and tasted like a cross between a broccoli and a cauliflower). The most memorable thing about the boat is that we weren't time bound - goodbye to watches, hello to are we hungry yet- lets eat, is it getting dark lets stop and moor while we can see.
On to the industry we saw which plays a major role in the economy of the area. The area is known for its iron (we visited an iron museum in Iron Bridge where the first iron bridge was built in the late 1700's by Abraham Darby III). The iron industry soon became the largest in England in the 1700's . The bridge was privately owned by the Darby's and everyone had to pay a toll including the Prince of Wales when he visited in 1979 (I think it was a pretend halfpenny cos we didn't have to pay a toll). There were no exemptions, as Quakers didn't approve of that so all mail coaches, officers and those in uniform and the royal family were required to pay.
At the Iron Museum the tale of Wilkinson (nicknamed 'iron mad' wilkinson) who designed and built the first iron boat was told.'Wilkinson's coffin proved to be very troublesome. At the time of his death in 1808 he had outgrown the coffin he had made and he was temporarily buried in his garden in Cumbria, while a larger one was cast. The second coffin wouldn't fit in the rock-hewn tomb so he was once again reburied in his garden. He was finally buried for the third time with a 20 tonne cast iron obelisk over the top of his gravestone'
Mine owners did provide housing to the workers, but I could only imagine how tired I would feel working in an iron mine 6.00 am -6.00 pm each day and 6.00 am - 3.30 pm on Saturday. Later changes to hours was 6.00-5.30 and 6.00 -1.00 on Saturdays - not sure if that would give me enough rest but I guess every hour helped!!
Some of the Welsh countryside has been made into beautiful surroundings (the Quarry gardens in Shrewsbury is a good example of wonderful flower gardens in what was once a quarry) but in other areas man has left it's mark particularly around Snowdonia. The slate stands high like mountains while the occassional bush attempts to grow. Blaunau Ffestiniog must have been the bleakest town I have ever experienced. Perched on the side of the quarry, with no shopping centre obvious to us, the houses were grey matching the hills of discarded slate, there was little greenery, parks or play areas for the children - but surprisingly the teenagers spoke fluent Welsh. All I could hope was that the houses were warm to compensate for the mist which continually hung around the hills.
There was copper mining in Almwch, coal and clay mining at Ironbridge and pulp and paper at Chirk. Ironbridge was also known for its tile and china creations - well worth a look. The impact of all this industry came home to roost when in 1952 houses slid down the hillside due to the land subsiding after clay mining under the homes - a bit like Waihi in the North Island with gold mines.
Some of the Welsh countryside has been made into beautiful surroundings (the Quarry gardens in Shrewsbury is a good example of wonderful flower gardens in what was once a quarry) but in other areas man has left it's mark particularly around Snowdonia. The slate stands high like mountains while the occassional bush attempts to grow. Blaunau Ffestiniog must have been the bleakest town I have ever experienced. Perched on the side of the quarry, with no shopping centre obvious to us, the houses were grey matching the hills of discarded slate, there was little greenery, parks or play areas for the children - but surprisingly the teenagers spoke fluent Welsh. All I could hope was that the houses were warm to compensate for the mist which continually hung around the hills.
There was copper mining in Almwch, coal and clay mining at Ironbridge and pulp and paper at Chirk. Ironbridge was also known for its tile and china creations - well worth a look. The impact of all this industry came home to roost when in 1952 houses slid down the hillside due to the land subsiding after clay mining under the homes - a bit like Waihi in the North Island with gold mines.
Now on to the natural beauty of the hills and the mountainsI will remember the craggy rocks, rolling hills, flattened grass (by the wind), tree lined gorges, low lying plains, water falls, steep cliffs and the sea. Snowdonia - visiting the peak was on our agenda and the first fine day - incidentally our first day (and probably one of the best) we caught the little train to the top of the mountain - not quite to the top of the track as it was closed for maintenance. But the top was only 45 minutes away - after scrambling up lose shingle paths against the wind for a few minutes I decided to leave Harry to the high road, while I walked down the hill on the low road. Harry continued upward with energy equalling those of the most enthusiastic climbers and Jan took the middle road on the train. The comment from the train driver was that this was a typical mountain, subject to changing weather conditions which Harry discovered one moment a photo opportunity the next it is gone - and the local saying is 'if you stop it is dangerous, if you move it is fatal' - an inspiring message for those wishing to venture to the top. I think that Jan was the wisest as both Harry and I suffered from sore thighs and calf muscles for days after the 2.5 hour downhill walk. We did enjoy the scenery and felt quite righteous hobbling along the streets as we visited other attractions. I was surprised at the number of families walking up hill (a good 3-4 hours I reckon) with young children saying 'are we there yet' - they weren't too impressed when I said less than half way!! Anyway, time to marvel at the engineering feat of the train builders. 2 viaducts (one with 14 arches) spanned the gulleys, and the train used a rack and pinion system to pull the steam engine and its one carriage up the hillside (there were about 4 engines with a carriage each and they had also recently invested in some diesel engines as well - just not the same).
Betwys Coed is a little village in a gorge - and it reminded me of a ski village - lots of outdoor sports and clothes shops and pubs, on either side of a pretty little river. It was cold and wet but still quite pretty. We wandered the village each night to find a pub (they don't do food well in the town I am sorry to say), and up through the gorge and visited waterfalls (Conwy and Swallow) and a little stone house built not far away. The Welsh for this house is Ty Hyll which could mean either ugly or rugged house, and it was so cute with chimneys and walls made of uncut stones of various sizes I decided it wasn't 'ugly'. The garden was damp with moss and lichen growing everywhere reflecting I think the highish altitude and the wet weather. (It rains 6 months of the year a blackboard outside a cafe said which welcomed 'muddy boots' and provided 'free towels' for customers). Along the rivers you can white water raft or canoe or swim. One night the shop across the road was broken into - and the alarm woke us all. Jan had been awake and looked out to see the getaway car - the police wanted to interview her but were on holiday when she was in the town and back to work when we had left so we didn't have to arrange police protection for her. The shop was selling wet weather jackets for £140 on sale but the one I liked was still sitting the window when we left.
South Stack (an unusual name until we learnt that Stack is Norse for barren and it lived up to its name) is one of the most furtherest West locations in Wales and home to wonderful cliffs and wild seas. Rock climbers enjoyed the sheer cliffs while we enjoyed the scottish heather and decided to take the safer route down a steep and stony path of 400 steps which wound down to a light house.
We did drive to Caernarfon one day, but the wet day probably didn't endear us to getting out of the car. It too had a castle and some gallant actors were putting on a show in the stormy conditions and we sat in the car overlooking the town having yet another picnic in the rain. I can remember wondering at the council for fencing and locking the gate to a grass area that housed a modern Stonehenge with little other areas around for people to sit and at the timeliness of royal mail who collected from the post box mail at 15.01 every day except Sunday. Oh I do like to be beside the seaside (have you noticed?) and we did wander around the bays at Porthmadog and Borth-y-gest one wet and windy afternoon. Over the estuary and around the corner was Portmerion where we had been before with Anne and the little beaches and coves with golden sand were similar to what we had seen before. Another picnic in the car.
Nature at its best
While lunching at Amlwch one day (on the North Irish Sea) we saw porpoises playing happily in the sea. They were a little distance away, but we could see them jump and follow boats into the harbour. At South Stack they said they would probably have been porpoises and so Harry and I looked at each other and said 'what is the difference?' Back onto the net I discovered porpoises are 'certain toothed cetaceans having a blunt or rounded snout; derived from sea hog or hog fish' while dolphins are 'marine mammals - forty species. They vary in size from 1.2 metres (4 ft) and 40 kilograms (88 lb) (Maui's Dolphin), up to 9.5 m (30 ft) and ten tonnes (the Orca or Killer Whale)'. I am really going to have to join that quiz team. While working the loch on the canal we saw a cow lick her new born baby calf and then saw it stumble and take its first steps to find its milk supply. We saw ducklings on the canal, foals lying in paddocks. Why were they all born in Autumn rather than spring time? While feeding the ducks we noticed one had a broken wing while another an aggressive nature. We fed the broken wing duck and others but not the aggressive one. Did this action of ours teach the duck to be less aggressive or contribute to his aggression - the latter we thought.
While lunching at Amlwch one day (on the North Irish Sea) we saw porpoises playing happily in the sea. They were a little distance away, but we could see them jump and follow boats into the harbour. At South Stack they said they would probably have been porpoises and so Harry and I looked at each other and said 'what is the difference?' Back onto the net I discovered porpoises are 'certain toothed cetaceans having a blunt or rounded snout; derived from sea hog or hog fish' while dolphins are 'marine mammals - forty species. They vary in size from 1.2 metres (4 ft) and 40 kilograms (88 lb) (Maui's Dolphin), up to 9.5 m (30 ft) and ten tonnes (the Orca or Killer Whale)'. I am really going to have to join that quiz team. While working the loch on the canal we saw a cow lick her new born baby calf and then saw it stumble and take its first steps to find its milk supply. We saw ducklings on the canal, foals lying in paddocks. Why were they all born in Autumn rather than spring time? While feeding the ducks we noticed one had a broken wing while another an aggressive nature. We fed the broken wing duck and others but not the aggressive one. Did this action of ours teach the duck to be less aggressive or contribute to his aggression - the latter we thought.
Castles, Churches and Cathedrals
We visited a number of castles (well only went into the one in Shrewsbury), but walked around a number. Our favourite was probably the one in Conwy where we walked the wall around the city built by King Edward I - 22 gates most of them still standing but some in better condition than others. We enjoyed the town from a height, looking over roofs to train tracks, the harbour and marina and the castle. Rather slippery so we took our time in late afternoon dull skies. Shrewsbury also boasted a castle - rather picturesque in its surroundings of brightly coloured begonias, petunias and fuschias - and now a home to the regimental museum - where the biggest surprise to me was a pack of playing cards used by Americans - on each card was a different Iraqi - the most wanted list - designed to embed their faces in the Americans memories). We had a quick look through the castle - where an elderly gentleman showed us a room renovated by Telford in the 1800's - all character of the original castle lost in these rooms - the mayoral suite and a room used for wedding ceremonies. When asked how old the castle was we were answered 'oh its a few years now' and when we asked how big Shrewsbury was we were answered 'oh there is a few people living here now'. (Did you know you can't get married anywhere here - only in places that have been deemed a 'marriage' place so it isn't just the weather that puts the English off garden weddings). Shrewsbury also boasted a city wall - most of it now demolished (due to the construction of the new St Chad's church) except for a few metres along the side of the park leading to the quarry. St Chads had a lovely old church and at one stage Telford had warned the parishioners it would collapse. It did, and now only a small part is left on the grounds. The old St Chad had collapsed earlier on - Telford had told the parishioners it would and it did. We saw the oldest gravestone we could read in the cemetery - for John Benbow who died in 1651. Back on to the net - he was the son of Roger Benbow and Margaret Leckyn of the Newport Benbow line. During the English Civil War, he served in the Roundhead or Parliamentary army, and later crossed over to the Royalist Army. The King at the time awarded him for bravery. He was captured at the battle of Worcester, 1651, court martialled and executed (loyalty was a risky thing in those days). Coming a bit closer to the 2000's the new St Chad's had a roll of honour. It was sad to see that on the opened page the town had lost 5 Private T Williams, 5 Private J Williams and a number of other men from the Williams families. Beaumaris also had a castle but we chose to wander around the little village with its quaint shops, old gaol and courthouse, and tudor houses and lovely gardens rather than visiting another one.
Jan said that in England a city is defined by whether it has a Cathedral or not - quite different to our population based system. Betwys Coed didn't have a cathedral but there were 2 churches - one beside our bed a breakfast built in the 1700's and one further down the road that hosted summertime concerts. We were in luck and heard a wonderful Welsh male choir (Cor Meibion Betws Yn Rhos - was their name) singing one night in English and welsh, together with a soloist and a harmonicist (did a duet with 2 harmonicas - rather amazing). Chirk church also had a lovely atmosphere - founded by Myddleton Family and was unique as it has 2 aisles. One part was burnt down one christmas day sometime in the 1800's and was built in the then current design - so one church two very different roof lines and design but still with character. To get to Chirk castle we took the pedestrian route (thank goodness none of us were wearing stilettos as we marched through paddocks, with sheep and cows to a castle which looked like a mish mash of architecture - but the iron gates were amazing. 
Towns, Villages and Cities
On the way up we stopped for lunch at a little village called Penbridge. It boasted a number of buildings built between the 1200 and 1500's. They had been aged by a process called dendochronology which ages the wood used in the beams in the houses. All the houses were on a lean, looked about to fall over and I did wonder about the future investment of retaining its value. We also visited a little market in Llangollen to purchase food supplies for our canal trip and discovered that one market stall had NZ teeshirts, Irish teeshirts and Australian ones but no Welsh ones. We bought some dish washing brushes as we can't seem to find them in Bristol you know the ones with a handle and bristles). But Shrewsbury was the town for us. Tudor buildings galore, wonderful gardens. Home to Charles Darwin for 27 years and proud of it - it boasted shopping malls alongside the narrow streets with names like Fish Street, Butcher Street and Dog Pole.
Funny sayings
'A man is not complete until he is married and then he is finished'.
'In March 1830 the following tale was told 'was catched in bed with another man's wife at Worcester by the woman's husband, and the husband stuck a pickel in his backside which caused him to run away without his cloths and after that he offered 15 shillings to make it up'.
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