Shoemaking in the Midlands

Cheese!

In between the various stages of my pilgrimage, parkruns are still on the menu for us; the latest also serving as a get together in Daventry of some of the athletic members of Vicky's family. This photo is of us, three of Vicky's sisters, a sister in law, four nieces plus one husband and a small boy, plus Skip, all of whom completed the course! Having just had a 'significant' birthday at the end of January I gave it hell for leather and managed to break the over 70 record with a time of 21:48. It was a cold damp day but there was singing all the way as the rest of the gang followed round the attractive route through a country park circling the Daventry Reservoir. This fairly large body of water was built in 1805 to feed the Grand Union Canal. At the north end of the reservoir we ran over the dam below which are the Balancing Ponds - no time to find out how they work but we did manage breakfast in the Reservoir Cafe, an old building that was presumably something to do with the management of the reservoir. The girls then got on with the real business of the day - a hen party down in Buckingham. I found alternative amusement and walked some dogs.

Who said anything about a dog?

The night before the run we stayed just up the road in Southam, Warwickshire. I'd never heard of Southam but it's a pleasant little town with a bit of history. First off we thought we'd try to find a dog-friendly pub so - here's the Black Dog, a down to earth local with lovely beer but, shame, no dogs please. So Skip had to be content with a snooze back at the AirBnb for an hour or so. We sat in the darts room enjoying our Butty Bach not realising that ten-times world champion darts player Trina Gulliver must have played here many a time. Not that I'm particularly a darts fan but I did spot a bench round the corner the following morning dedicated to the lovely Trina who was brought up in the town. 

Slips off the tongue doesn't it!

The pleasant town itself was originally just one main highway running north to south with odd little alleyways running off to the side - here's one called Chickabiddy Lane! The town's north side was also bisected by an old drover's road called Welsh Road, this was one of the long distance routes along which livestock were driven from North Wales to the markets of London. In years gone by Southam was home to an Eye and Ear Infirmary founded by the 'mad doctor of Southam' Henry Lillee-Smith in 1818, apparently the patients were successfully treated using water from a nearby holy well. What is particularly notable about this establishment was that treatment was free! A forerunner of the NHS perhaps!

The Crown - a cosy pub with interesting ales!

A second evening in Southam found us in the 400 year old Crown Inn which was comfortable and welcoming. We headed straight for the bar stools opposite the front door and were gently sipping our first ales when a burst of mellifluous Italian caused me to turn around to see a young man chatting to his small children - I responded with some suitable Italian phrases which prompted him to chat to us also. He was giving his wife a break from the children in a most sensible manner which involved a visit to the pub and he was delighted to have a conversation with us. He left and, after saying our ciaos and arrivedercis, we finished our drinks and ordered another. To our surprise the barmaid said we didn't owe anything as our new friend had bought us the round. What a nice man!

Final morning in the Midlands - Skip needed a good walk so I set about trying to find the Holy Well. We tramped through some muddy fields and there it was a very nicely laid out well with a nicely carved bench and handy steps down to the healing spring to assist those seeking a cure for their opthalmic problems. Skip took a look and decided to slug back some of the ice cold water - hopefully this will improve his sight as nowadays he seems to want to chase after any tall runner that he sees assuming it's me. On our return for breakfast I thought I'd try that shortcut that I'd spotted a couple of days previously - yes it's that very handy thoroughfare Chickabiddy Lane home to the town cobblers!

Cobblers!

North Wales Pilgrims' Way - Stage 6 (Llanfairfechan to Bangor)

Let's try again Skip!

Well what a disaster, so I thought; I got out of the car at Llanfairfechan to set off on our latest leg of the Pilgrims' Way and realised that we'd left Skip's lead at home. The only thing for it was for me to set off solo up and over the tops and down to Abergwyngregyn (fortunately this was part of the prescribed route). Vicky managed to nip into Bangor and buy a new collar and lead for the boy. This she did with aplomb and thus, an hour later, I set off again with Skip in tow (or was he towing me?) It had been curiously lonely running without Skip for the first time on our trek.

Where's the whisky>

Off we trundled up to the Aber Falls, which in the rainy season (much of the year up here I think) is quite spectacular and my photo of the main drop doesn't really do it justice. A torrent of water hurtles down the steep cliff - where were the thousands of visitors come to watch this force of nature?We did however come across a lady at the foot of the waterfall who seemed to be simultaneously taking a video and chatting in an Asian language; she was apparently unaware that she was missing the chance to interview a champion international mountain runner and his dog. Gosh we could have been featured on Japanese prime time TV! We didn't see the Aber Falls Whisky Distillery which according to the website "sits at the foot of the famous waterfalls" - it's actually back in the village on the north side of the A55, after being a slate works the distillery was a margarine factory for many years! It all adds to the taste. That's a slightly unfair comment because we haven't tasted Aber Falls whisky yet - but if anyone wants to buy us a bottle...!

I'm not jumping over one of those!

Much of today's route was into a fierce wind, at some points I seemed to be running on the spot against a howling gale. But we gradually made progress and the going was good - much of it was on what was clearly an ancient track on the mountain running parallel to the A55 which we could see far below us. Puffin Island was off in the far distance! There wasn't much else to see up here but as we headed down on the last leg there was more to entertain us. Having been a part time dry stone waller in several locations over the years, I'm always interested in the different techniques that wallers use from place to place. This is generally dependent on the materials at hand, I've built walls with limestone and gritstone in the Derbyshire Dales and I've marvelled at wonderful durable walls made of stone but no mortar in various parts of the UK, Ireland, Tasmania and the North East US. Snowdonia wallers over the years have come up with innovative fencing solutions using local slate - this photo taken a couple of miles above Bangor says it all!

Nice pick-up, didn't have those in 1465!

On the tracks heading downhill to our end of run rendezvous, I spotted what appeared to be an ancient converted church. Having not seen much in the way of churches today I thought I'd take a photo and investigate when we got home. It turns out that this wasn't a church at all but a medieval manor house dating from the 15th century called Llys Hynafol Cochwillan. It's recorded that this was originally the home of the sheriff of Caernarfonshire and was subsequently owned by a number of notables including the Duke of York! It then fell into decay and was being used as a hay barn in the 1960's before being restored - it now looks to be quite a nifty upmarket dwelling!

So that's another stage completed - in an ideal world we'd have finished at Bangor Cathedral to round things off nicely. But it was after lunch, I'd not made any butties to pack in my rucksack and I was glad to finish at Llandegai just short of Bangor to meet Vicky who very kindly met me with a  tasty sausage sandwich. Very prosaically she had parked by a good sized industrial estate and she'd guessed that she might find a reliable cafe; and indeed she found one staffed by a couple of middle aged local ladies who, just after 2 pm, owned up to still being open for her.