We decided not to hurry past Ellesmere. We took our time getting around this morning. Four of us headed out around 10 am with plans to join back up for lunch in town. Linda and Kara wanted a little bit more time to get ready.
Shelly, Sara, Tom and I headed towards the Mere (the lake for which Ellesmere is named). On the way there was a church (St. Mary’s the Blessed Virgin) and, of course, some kind of gravitational pull made me walk towards it.
We made our way around a very dark sanctuary.
We headed for the toilet. Every time we use the toilets on the boat we use up precious water and add more to the tank we have to pump out. So every available “public” restroom we find we utilize. We are also running out of toilet paper so Sara and Shelly both came out of the restroom with some extra toilet paper stuffed in their pockets. The four of us had plans to walk along the Mere on a path called the Sculpture Trail. The lake is lovely with swans…
…and other birds.
Shelly is a bit of a bird whisperer.
There are several sections of this trail and we began on the part dedicated to the Jebb sisters, Eglantyne and Dorothy. They founded Save the Children Fund in 1919 to help children who were starving at the end of World War I. Their efforts were not greeted with accolades. In fact, Eglantyne was arrested in Trafalgar Square and fined for campaigning to help starving “enemy” children in Germany and Austria-Hungary. Eglantyne drafted a Declaration of Children’s Rights, which is now enshrined in a United Nations agreement adopted by every UN country except the US. The sculptures in this section of the trail are part of the “Children Displaced by Conflict” display. This sculpture is called the “Sisters” and represents Eglantyne and Dorothy.
Sara walked the labyrinth around the sculpture entitled “The Refugee”.
Then we moved onto a different section of the sculpture trail. This one is made out of a portion of a narrow boat.
The bee sculpture was very impressive.
We enjoyed this one as we looked back towards Ellesmere and St. Mary’s Church.
We kept walking until we came to the “Sshhh” sculpture.
We turned around and headed back in order to meet Linda and Kara at the Red Lion Pub for lunch. I had looked up images of the Sculpture Trail so I knew there was one more sculpture that we hadn’t seen. We found it on the way back. I think we were expecting something a tad bit larger.
We stopped at the owl sighting telescope and put in 20 pence. Sara claimed she saw owls but you can’t believe everything she tells you.
Lunch was lovely. The burgers were even branded with the pub’s logo.
The woman running the bar was fun. She brought over the dessert menu on a chalkboard and held Tom’s hand while going over the possibilities. We asked her if a dessert called spotted dick didn’t seem a bit naughty in England. She said, “Yes. It is naughty here also. Some days when we tired of dealing with the public we just write “dick” on their check when they order it. That is naughty also.” We decided we had to try it. It was good. It deserves a better name.
We returned to the boat by a different path. It included a hike…
…which took us through Plantation Wood.
We ended up close to the Ellesmere Marina so we stopped in their store for some 1 ply toilet paper. The pilfering can now stop.
Back on the boat by 3 p.m. we got going quickly. Our goal tonight is Whixall. We stopped to top off water which is one of the few jobs (outside of the boat’s galley) that I feel competent to perform. So I topped us off. The canal is much wider here so Linda took the opportunity to do some steering.
Tomorrow Kara and Tom will leave us and head home. We will be down to four people to get us back to Chirk Marina by Monday morning. We came to a lift bridge and the plan was for Linda and I to get off. We learned that no one should jump off a moving boat. Linda went down hard. The boat will stop for us in the future. I was so excited to use the windlass to lift the bridge.
Linda lowered it.
It was a quiet afternoon of traveling down the canal. We didn’t meet much oncoming traffic. We lost all internet connection and had to just enjoy each other and the beauty around us. We moored on the side of the canal without another boat in sight. For dinner we had a spaghetti dinner and wore our vests in honor of it being the last night with Tom and Kara. We talked about what had surprised us on this trip; what were the most impressive experiences, etc. Then we played Phase 10. We ended the night by handing out more merit badges before we headed to bed.
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