Tom, Shelly, Sara and I were up hanging out in the galley in search of coffee this morning. The boat comes with a cafetière (French Press). I tried my best at making the coffee but succeeded only at brewing up some brown water. Luckily, Sara and Shelly had brought some Starbucks’ instant. Sara and Shelly for the win. Kara enjoyed her breakfast of Diet Coke. Since we couldn’t get the broiler to work for toast the rest of us enjoyed a cold breakfast of yogurt and fruit. 
Our plan was not to hurry away today but to enjoy Llangollen for the morning and then take off. Kara stayed behind to sew our Wales’ merit badges on our vests and the rest of us headed out to hike to Horseshoe Falls. We left from our mooring at Llangollen Basin.
We strolled along the towpath next to the canal for two miles. At one time the canals were used to transport goods. Horses towed the barges. You can pay a little over 10 pounds to have a horse tow you on a passenger “barge” down the canal. We stopped to greet the horse but went on by foot.
When we had one of our group pre-meetings for this trip, Kara shared with us photos of the Llangollen Motor Museum — a small building stuffed with cars and motorcycles. As we walked along the canal we saw the museum and wondered if we should poke our heads in. The hours posted said, “Open the 1st through the 7th of every month.” An old car by the building had a sign pointing to the trunk lid that said, “Parcels please.”
There are so many mallard families along the canal. It is so much fun to watch the little ducklings.
Horseshoe Falls is a human-made weir shaped like a horseshoe.
A zodiac boat filled with tourists came to the falls attempting a slow roll over the falls. They got stuck half way across. The guide had them all move towards the front of the boat. When that didn’t accomplish any movement, he stood up and pulled the back of the boat up into the air. They finally got over.
Just a 1/4 mile climb up from Horseshoe Falls is the Llantysilio Church, built in the 15th century and dedicated to St. Tysilio. Wales 6 knows that I like to visit churches so they all just started up the hill. The church is surrounded with old gravestones.
Old gravestones that had fallen over from age and erosion were moved to form a wall around the church.
The sanctuary has a plaque in memory of the poet Robert Browning who worshiped for 10 weeks at this church in the autumn of 1886.
Our plan had been to leave Llangollen around noon today but it is so beautiful here we decided to slow our roll and not leave until tomorrow. So after the hike we met up with Kara at the Dee Side Cafe and Bistro. I had my first fish and chips on this UK trip. Shelly, who also had fish and chips, said they might be the “best fish and chips”. Take that Fat Boar restaurant. After lunch we poked our heads into different shops and then four of us made our way up to Plas Newydd, the home of the “Llangollen Ladies.”
In preparation for this trip I had read a book by Elizabeth Mavor about these two women of aristocracy, Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby. The two had escaped their families pressures to marry or become nuns. They eloped, their words not mine, and fled Ireland for Llangollen, Wales to spend their days in “retirement”. They lived together for over 50 years. They bought a sandstone home and made it into a Gothic mansion, having the walls covered in very interesting oak carvings. When the style changed from Gothic to Tudor they changed the whole outside of the house.
We climbed the stairs up to their shared bedroom. During their lifetimes and ever since there has been much conjecture about the nature of their relationship. They considered it a “romantic friendship” and referred to each other as “my beloved”. However they were highly offended when called lesbians, even threatening to sue a newspaper for making inferences about a sexual relationship and referring to Eleanor as the “masculine” one. Who knows but we do know they shared a bed.
They entertained many, many guests in the 50 years they lived together, including the Duke of Wellington, Ann Seward, Lord Byron and Charles Darwin. They were known for their beautiful gardens and so we took a quick look around.
The four of us were tired by then and we headed back to the boat. My feet were done in. My phone said I did 20,000 steps. This is a joke among my friends. I have what they call “pony steps” so I always have considerably more steps than anyone else. Back at the boat we spent time recovering. Tomorrow promises to be a full day of rain. I sat on the front of the boat and watched the clouds roll in.
Sara and Shelly picked up pizza for dinner. The rain began and we stayed inside. We all brought games to play. We played the game Kara brought — marble cards. Only once did the marbles end up rolling all over the floor. Then the game turned into finding the marbles on the floor. To cap off the evening each person gave out two merit badges to someone they felt was deserving. I received “Boat Hair, Don’t Care” and a merit badge for working in the galley. Today Kara purchased Llangollen Canal badges for each of us and Sara bought us each an anchor pin. We tried on our scout vests and chose where we want our badges placed. I had purchased a red vest and was told I look like I work at Target.
Tomorrow we leave Llangollen and head back across the aqueduct. I am glad we get to experience it again.
Our plan was not to hurry away today but to enjoy Llangollen for the morning and then take off. Kara stayed behind to sew our Wales’ merit badges on our vests and the rest of us headed out to hike to Horseshoe Falls. We left from our mooring at Llangollen Basin.
We strolled along the towpath next to the canal for two miles. At one time the canals were used to transport goods. Horses towed the barges. You can pay a little over 10 pounds to have a horse tow you on a passenger “barge” down the canal. We stopped to greet the horse but went on by foot.
When we had one of our group pre-meetings for this trip, Kara shared with us photos of the Llangollen Motor Museum — a small building stuffed with cars and motorcycles. As we walked along the canal we saw the museum and wondered if we should poke our heads in. The hours posted said, “Open the 1st through the 7th of every month.” An old car by the building had a sign pointing to the trunk lid that said, “Parcels please.”
There are so many mallard families along the canal. It is so much fun to watch the little ducklings.
Horseshoe Falls is a human-made weir shaped like a horseshoe.
A zodiac boat filled with tourists came to the falls attempting a slow roll over the falls. They got stuck half way across. The guide had them all move towards the front of the boat. When that didn’t accomplish any movement, he stood up and pulled the back of the boat up into the air. They finally got over.
Just a 1/4 mile climb up from Horseshoe Falls is the Llantysilio Church, built in the 15th century and dedicated to St. Tysilio. Wales 6 knows that I like to visit churches so they all just started up the hill. The church is surrounded with old gravestones.
Old gravestones that had fallen over from age and erosion were moved to form a wall around the church.
The sanctuary has a plaque in memory of the poet Robert Browning who worshiped for 10 weeks at this church in the autumn of 1886.
Our plan had been to leave Llangollen around noon today but it is so beautiful here we decided to slow our roll and not leave until tomorrow. So after the hike we met up with Kara at the Dee Side Cafe and Bistro. I had my first fish and chips on this UK trip. Shelly, who also had fish and chips, said they might be the “best fish and chips”. Take that Fat Boar restaurant. After lunch we poked our heads into different shops and then four of us made our way up to Plas Newydd, the home of the “Llangollen Ladies.”
In preparation for this trip I had read a book by Elizabeth Mavor about these two women of aristocracy, Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby. The two had escaped their families pressures to marry or become nuns. They eloped, their words not mine, and fled Ireland for Llangollen, Wales to spend their days in “retirement”. They lived together for over 50 years. They bought a sandstone home and made it into a Gothic mansion, having the walls covered in very interesting oak carvings. When the style changed from Gothic to Tudor they changed the whole outside of the house.
We climbed the stairs up to their shared bedroom. During their lifetimes and ever since there has been much conjecture about the nature of their relationship. They considered it a “romantic friendship” and referred to each other as “my beloved”. However they were highly offended when called lesbians, even threatening to sue a newspaper for making inferences about a sexual relationship and referring to Eleanor as the “masculine” one. Who knows but we do know they shared a bed.
They entertained many, many guests in the 50 years they lived together, including the Duke of Wellington, Ann Seward, Lord Byron and Charles Darwin. They were known for their beautiful gardens and so we took a quick look around.
The four of us were tired by then and we headed back to the boat. My feet were done in. My phone said I did 20,000 steps. This is a joke among my friends. I have what they call “pony steps” so I always have considerably more steps than anyone else. Back at the boat we spent time recovering. Tomorrow promises to be a full day of rain. I sat on the front of the boat and watched the clouds roll in.
Sara and Shelly picked up pizza for dinner. The rain began and we stayed inside. We all brought games to play. We played the game Kara brought — marble cards. Only once did the marbles end up rolling all over the floor. Then the game turned into finding the marbles on the floor. To cap off the evening each person gave out two merit badges to someone they felt was deserving. I received “Boat Hair, Don’t Care” and a merit badge for working in the galley. Today Kara purchased Llangollen Canal badges for each of us and Sara bought us each an anchor pin. We tried on our scout vests and chose where we want our badges placed. I had purchased a red vest and was told I look like I work at Target.
Tomorrow we leave Llangollen and head back across the aqueduct. I am glad we get to experience it again.
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