Canal Dreams

 

Not exactly spaghetti junction!

Criss crossing England, and to a lesser extent the rest of the UK, is a huge network of canals unseen by the vast majority of the population. The bulk of the main cross country links are still in good condition but many are disused and abandoned, built over by housing estates or grazed by farm animals. In some cases there are heroic restoration projects underway and long forgotten routes are being reopened. The grandaddy of British canals is undoubtedly the Grand Union Canal which stretches from London northwards to Birmingham in the West Midlands and Leicester in the East Midlands. With a total length of nearly 300 miles this is a lot of canal! Here's a photo I took of the junction of the Grand Union with the Oxford Canal in Northamptonshire whilst enjoying an early morning jog along the towpath. Yes it looks very peaceful and idyllic but just around the corner is a hive of activity with dozens of canal boats laid up for the winter or under repair in the marinas. Other boats have paused for a while on their journey across the country. The vast majority of traffic consists of pleasure barges in contrast to the industrial cargos transported in vast quantities two and three hundred years ago. canal side 

One thing common to all canal boats is that they're narrow and many of the locks and tunnels on the older canals can only accommodate barges up to seven feet wide. In fact many of the 30,000 plus boats on the canal network have been converted from commercial barges. The canal side industry today consists of boat hire and boat repair companies but also enterprises, such as tea rooms and ancient pubs now catering for the touring folk - here's the Gongoozler's Rest Cafe near Braunston at the junction of the Oxford and Grand Union. So what's a Gongoozler you might ask! You'll just have to look it up as I'm not saying.

We were in Northamptonshire for a big family wedding and, as our AirBnb accommodation was close to the canal system we were able to show our overseas visitors some of the very photogenic sights to be seen during a canalside walk. Here's the Admiral Nelson pub where we had a fine meal and the next couple of photos are from our very pleasant walk home in the gathering dusk.

Looking for buns!

The final snapshot for this blog post is from Abingdon-on-Thames. This is where ten of us wedding guests joined up post wedding to clear heads and enjoy a jolly jaunt on the riverbank by running in the Saturday morning parkrun. We explored the town on the previous evening and found ourselves by the Abingdon Country Hall a rather grand building in baroque style built in 1683. It looks fairly sedate here (8 pm on a Friday evening here) but on special days once every few years (e.g. Royal Jubilees) a throng of local townsfolk gather outside the hall hoping to catch one of the several thousand fruit buns thrown down by the town officials - a tradition that dates back to the coronation of George III in 1761!

 

..........to another Half!

Three jolly runners!

 So fast forward a couple of weeks to  Cardiff. And it was a good 10 degrees  warmer than Cyprus for the four times postponed Cardiff University Half  Marathon, the biggest race in Wales; this year it was designated the Welsh Half Marathon Championships, so everything to run for, at least for an aged runner from North Wales! Ruby, Isaac  and myself  finally located each other in a huge crowd milling around near the start on a fine sunny morning.  Ruby was very well  prepared, I thought I was well  prepared and Isaac knew he wasn't, especially as he was hunting for safety pins to fix his number on his shirt.  We found the Welsh Athletics tent where our friend Eva kindly took this photo and she directed us to a reliable source of safety pins for Isaac. 'Comms' problems left us hanging around on the start line for over twenty minutes, an enthusiastic announcer ran out of encouraging things to say but eventually, like coiled springs, we reacted to the gun and charged off. And we all finished which was the  principal objective, Ruby had a  wonderful run finishing well under two  hours, Martin struggled towards the  end (Recovering from a cold? A poor  excuse though! But I was surprised to  finish in 1:40:00 - first V70 and Welsh  Champion.) And Isaac thoroughly  enjoyed his trot round - sore legs for a week but he's now aiming for the Newport Marathon - star man.

Bracing!

Just four days later and that brief window of warm weather was gone. On the very last day of March a bitter wind accompanied by snow had banished the' Fool's Spring' and we were well wrapped up again for our weekly Nordic Walking session on the Clwydian Hills.  This reversal of the seasons happens so often at this time of year - maybe this is the original April Fool that the weather provides us with on a regular basis. It's not just a North Wales phenomenon as all over Europe it's chillier than usual - for the second year running the vineyards of Bordeaux are seeing fires lit alongside the vines to save the new growth from being nipped in the bud by frost. It's not helping me with my attempts at spring gardening with my spinach, lettuce and rocket showing no signs of sprouting so far. I'm just glad I have a  greenhouse and my tomato plants are developing just fine. I am growing Roma tomatoes for the first time - these are Italian style tomatoes used for paste and other culinary purposes. I didn't know until after planted them that they are 'determinate' (I've read up on this!), in other words the tomatoes all ripen at the same time - just as well we have a big freezer. And just as well I'm growing Alicante tomatoes which are a more regular salad style variety which keep on producing through the summer - so I've determined that Alicante are 'indeterminate' tomatoes!

Roma at home-a! Don't they look good.

From one Half..............

Custard perhaps!

Red pillar boxes for posting mail are all over the place in Britain. But they are not confined to the UK and there are many parts of the world that were part    of the British Commonwealth which are now independent, and they too had these iconic pillars where you could    post your letters. In countries where they have been retained and are still in use, some are coated in classic pillar box red, e.g. Malta and Gibraltar; elsewhere they've been repainted other colours. In Ireland they all went green   in 1922 and in Cyprus we saw plenty of yellow ones - here you can still see the crown and the letters GR indicating that this was erected in the reign of King George VI. They're not exclusively red 

in the UK though - following the 2012 Olympics pillar boxes in the home towns of the various British gold medal winners were painted gold; we have one near us in Flint to commemorate our local hero Jade Jones who won a Taekwondo gold medal.

I'm still standing!

Some more Roman ruins, this time in central Paphos where successive stages of occupation have been gradually peeled away by archaeologists, this is the place where in the first century AD, St Paul the apostle was tied to a pillar and whipped - a very white marble pillar still stands among these ruins and apparently this is the one he was chained to. The church in the centre of the photo was built in the 13th century on the site of a much larger basilica. All very impressive and only a stone's throw away from the nightclubs and bars.

Every little helps!

I love wandering round supermarkets on our travels. Looking at what the locals buy provides a good indication as to what kinds of produce feature in their diet. Papantoniou's wasn't especially big but their fruit and veg section was rather amazing featuring a wide range of exotic fruit and veg many of which were unfamiliar to me, lots of different types of aubergine too. The fish counter was pretty impressive with lots of octopi (that is the plural isn't it?) and fancy shellfish. On the way out I spotted this sign which puzzled me a bit - I went back in and looked around and found some Sainsbury's tea for sale but that was about it. I guess the signage represents some sort of agreement that benefits the Cypriot shop in terms of attracting British visitors to do their shopping here.

Everyone's a winner!

And here we are, the real reason we came to Cyprus. A bit of a running festival, Vicky did the 5K and I trundled round the half marathon. Don't let the clear sky in the background (behind Paphos Castle) fool you - it was desperately cold, we'd run in sleet and rain and a stiff wind and by the time of the presentation I was well wrapped up, thankful that I'd brought a bag of clothes. 1:41:56 was my time and I was happy with that especially as I was able to stand at the top of the podium with an oversize trophy to wave around. Vicky was 40:19, she would have liked to have broken the 40 minute mark but, as I've said, the conditions were against us.

Vicky's quilted jacket

Roamin' around the ruins.

Having spent the last two years grounded we managed to get away on  a little trip to Cyprus. The warm weather of the eastern Mediterranean was calling us and we took a flight from Manchester to Paphos where holiday hotels stretch along the coast to the north and the south east. We found ourselves in pleasant accommodation about a mile out of town looking out to sea and began to explore.  Cyprus is an archaeologist's dream, grand civilisations of the past have left their mark here and Paphos is home to an extensive archaeological park where remains of several Roman Villas and other significant buildings were uncovered in the 1960's. On our first morning we had to take a look and here's Vicky sashaying past some fine pillars. Note the quilted jacket - the sun was sunny but the air was cold. In fact the weather was even colder than where we'd left it in North Wales. Still it was a holiday - abroad - our first in a long while, so we dug in (not literally!) and enjoyed ourselves.

Into a chapel to pray!

The major archaeological sites in Cyprus that have been discovered are well known and are on the tourist circuit but many other potential excavations have actually been scuppered by the tourist trade - a number of hotels were built before proper historical investigations were allowed to take place. On the outskirts of Paphos, to the south east, we decided to take a peek at a location where a controversial new development is planned. Here's a picture of St Nicholas's Church at Yeroskipou; despite appearing to be an old Greek-style building it was built in 2013 - it's a lovely building though, full of icons and it stands at the gateway to a promontory where an extensive dig is currently taking place. A large hotel complex is due to be built here but it's been put on hold owing to the discovery of the remains of what is reputed to be the site of Aphrodite's Garden. We could see a huge network of old walls and piles of stone but soo far there's nothing to indicate what might have been there. 

Tickled pink!

In the heart of Paphos by the marina lies a promenade thronged with competing restaurants - it had been suggested to us that we look out for the Pink Pelican, a popular seafood restaurant. It was a bit early in the day for us but already fine assortments of fish were on display and passers-by were being exhorted to come in and eat. Some restaurants have their own unique selling points (or sales personnel!) We've seen white pelicans in Australia but never a pink one! This chappie waddled around the open air tables seeming perfectly at home. Maybe he gets a colourist treatment at the local hair salon. This was our third day in town - you can see Vicky's still wearing her jacket as the air was still cool - frankly it was quite surprising that the pelican decided to venture outdoors at all!!

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. 

North Wales Pilgrims' Way - Stage 5 (Eglwysbach to Llanfairfechan)

I'm waiting!

So the forecast was for a dry bright morning. As we drove along the A55 the rain intensified, our windscreen wipers flashing across the window at top speed. We revised the day's plan, from Eglwysbach I would run as far as Rowen and have a rain check there! At least we would have crossed the Afon Conwy which would feel like a significant achievement. Skip didn't seem worried one way or the other as we set off down a watery track spotting a large piece of slate perched on some rocks with an interesting handrail. What could this have been? A bus stop? On our return to Eglwysbach sometime this summer - to go and have a pint in the Bee Inn of course - we must ask if any of the locals know what this was for. We slogged onwards towards Rowen, the rain showing no sign of abating.

But there's no one here!

The sky seemed a little less grey by now and descending into Rowen village things looked slightly more positive. At the rendezvous with our wonderful driver Vicky, we decided to press on. Of course half a mile out of the village the heavens reopened, there was nothing to it but to crack on upwards onto the hills. At the top of a particularly steep climb (about 200m in 1.5K) we came across the remarkable ancient church of St Celynnin. Apart from one property a few hundred yards away there's not much else around here as far as human habitation goes so there's no regular worship taking place. However the church is still in use, what's more a female priest was ordained here fairly recently by the Bishop of Bangor. Apparently Bangor Cathedral was unavailable due to COVID restrictions so Bishop and novitiate together with one or two guests hiked up the mountain to perform the relevant ceremony. I nipped inside to say a prayer and sign the visitor book on behalf of Skip and myself and returned outside to find that the rain had disappeared!

Wind and rain outside - peace and quiet inside.

Where are they all going?

We started to make good headway across the tops, I knew some of these tracks from the various fell races that take place over these hills. The Tal y Fan race from Rowen and the Penmaenmawr Fell Race in particular are known for runners misdirecting themselves, in the low mists that are common up here it's easy to go wrong and I have been slightly guilty of this myself in the past. With map and compass at the ready I was well prepared - but the air was clear, the sky was blue by now and we found our way. The photo is evidence of the criss crossing pathways up here, several of which converge near the Penmaenmawr Stone Circle one of many prehistoric ceremonial and burial sites which litter the hillside. (Why did so many folk live up here at that time? Perhaps it was warmer back then!) So on this way-marker post we can see advertised the North Wales Pilgrims' Way, the North Wales Way, a Conwy Trail and the Wales Coastal Path, although we are well away from the coast right here. I won't ask any more questions.

Our day's ramble finished with a steep descent to the Nant y Coed Nature Reserve at Llanfairfechan. Closed at the moment due to fallen trees blocking access it nevertheless looks a pretty spot and has been appreciated by visitors for over a century with its waterfalls and stepping stones and varied wildlife. It's known in particular for its population of sessile oak trees. This are just like regular oaks but the acorns are not on stalks, rather they are attached directly to twigs - this picture shows how it's done (it's not my photo, wrong time of year!) At the entrance to the nature reserve was an informative signboard in Welsh and English, I was puzzled however by the comment that overhead "you may hear the mewing of the vulture-like buzzard"! I suppose that this means that most of today's visitors are more familiar with vultures rather than buzzards - too much TV perhaps?