Chik Marina day 7

The place where we are now I would go as far as to say is magical - (Despite the distant road noise I hear in the background). I am unsure why it is so magical, perhaps its the countryside views, the sunny weather today with not a cloud in the sky, the herd of deer in the woods, the fact that we all (including Matilta) sleep soundly until 9am, the fresh alp like air or the ability to sit in my favourite spot at the marina watching a few boats along the canal, ducks swimming and birds flying over head in the evening sun without a care in the world, perhaps only now have I finally learnt to relax just under 3 months of leaving home.

Today, we walked to Llangollen. Not intentionally. We decided to explore a little lane near the marina and as we walked further up the hill the views got better and better. Before we knew it we were looking high over the fields below and across the horizon. Unfortunately my camera battery died, but a few photos were taken with the iphone. The walk took over 3 hours and when we finally got to Llagollen, we were tired and achey feet so we treated ourselves to lunch.

We decided to take the 5A bus back, somehow the 4.30 bus did not arrive so we had to wait an hour for the next one. The driver of the bus was unsure what had happened to the 4.30 bus however, it seems time is not a factor for us here, I did not mind at all sitting and waiting for the next bus, it was such as lovely day. I know we have another month here, but I am going to find it very hard to leave when October comes, to continue our inland watnerways adventure. Oh, I have just found something to worry about..

Chirk day 6 - walk to Chirk Village

We took a walk to the village today, in fact, only half a walk as someone from the Marina saw us and offered a lift into the village. We wondered around and looked at the church before finding a hotel to have a coffee. I realised as I was sipping my coffee, slowly to make it last, that I was very scruffy in jogging bottoms and t-shirt whilst next to us was a wedding party all dressed up.

Whilst we were in the church a lady doing the flowers (yes very "Jam and Jerusalem") suggested a walk just a bit further along the canal from the Marina. We followed her instructions and came to hill with cows. I really wanted to walk across the field. I was not scared of the cows, but it was the one with horns which stopped us in our quest to see what was over the hill.

In the afternoon, we sat with our Times newspaper and watched the hire boaters pick up their boats for their weekly holiday. My word, I have have never seen so many MPV's all with new registration numbers in the same place at the same time. All very middle class. I was surprised at the about of stuff they had, from ikea bags full of food, to boxes of donuts, from deck chairs to scarf's. I think most of them had more packed for a week than we had for a year!

Chirk day 5 - Walk to Chirk Castle

Today we went for a long walk to Chirk Castle. The sun was shining and the air was very fresh, it reminded me of the air in the alps. The Castle was up a hill so once we reached the top we were rewarded with a fantastic view across the countryside.

This evening Scott was 'playing' with his radio control car whilst I was enjoying the evening sun. This marina even though is very basic is in a fantastic spot, I found a bench and watched Scott's car go back and forth surrounded by trees and fields. I was fascinated how he was so engrossed with his hobby and whilst I am a tad jealous that I do not have a hobby, sitting in the evening sun with no stress or worries of work reminded me how lucky I am.

Chirk Marina day 4 - trip to the launderette

I woke up this morning very disappointed as I heard background noise of cars, something that I wanted to escape from, it was like being back at Packet Boat Marina. I had not noticed it before, however I think that the noise was because the roads were wetter than normal.

We decided to take the bus to Llangollen to the launderette. I got the bus times wrong and it seems that the service on Sunday is better than a week day, so we had to wait another 20 minutes which was very lucky as normally the buses are every 2 hours. I was getting very despondent whilst waiting for the bus as at home the local 222 despite sometimes being unreliable at times is about every 10-15 minutes, unlike every 2 hours here. But when the bus went through the countryside I remembered why we are here.

The launderette was good cheaper than normal and we found a café which was away from the tourist area which made a good cup of tea.

The weather today has also been miserable, not raining but it the air was damp and it was very misty.

Chirk Marina day 2 and 3

Yesterday we walked into Chirk and the ‘local’ shop. Took us 50 minutes to get there, down country lanes and a shortcut through 2 fields. After walking back we decided to visit the golf club bar which is next to the marina. It has a lovely terrace overlooking the golf course and the fields beyond. You can also see the Cadbury’s factory with its smoke, (its not all fields and cows in the country) however you can sit with your back to is so it does not spoil the view (photo 2)

In the afternoon we invited a neighbour from the marina for a cup of tea. Our first visitor into the since our friends came to visit in Brauston about 2 months ago! We were a bit in a mess with clutter everywhere, so today was tidy up day. It is amazing, even though with so much time on our hands, I really don’t have the urge to tidy.

Chirk Marina

We have arrived in Chirk Marina early, our home for a month. The Marina is basic, but everyone is very friendly. The man in the boat next to us took us shopping for food which was good as we could purchase heavy stuff.

The time here will be spent exploring the area (with visitors) before we decide what to do for the winter months.

Llagollen and Wrexham

Yesterday we moved the boat away from the nightmare of the basin to a mile down the canal. After the boat was moved we took a walk and saw a bus to LLagollen,. It was a nice journey through countryside and up little lanes. Llagollen is worth a visit. A smallish town with a few shops, the canal for boat trips and a steam train.

Today we went to Wrexham, again on the bus but the journey was not as good. We are currently in the library where we can get internet access for the laptop. Quite happy that I bought a light little netbook as I have been carrying it around all day.

This morning there were many day boat hirers going along the canal. I saw someone wearing ‘Captain Sparrow’ wig because they are of course the ‘captain’ of their hire boat all was missing was an eye patch and a stuffed bird

And now the photos…

1) Chirk Aqueduct which has a train running alongside.
2) The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct before we travelled along it,
3 & 4) Two picutresof the side of the boat where you can see how high we are
5) and finally the view from the Aqueduct looking towards another Aqueduck

I have realised I do not have any picures of the pontcysyllte Aqueduct from afar, I will try and get one to upload.