Bartimaeus

Yesterday we snaked in and out of Wales. Shane was brought up in Wales, though the South rather than the North. I haven't been looking at the map but as long as notices are only in one language I assume I am not in Wales. Mostly we were in rural areas and the signs are few and the towpath grassy.

We had a lovely view of a red kite scanning above us for a while, its tail pivoting to steer, like a rudder when it turned. The sky continues to be wall to wall blue and the fresh leaves emerging on the trees are very bright green. Some trees have plenty blossom but very little foliage.

There weren't many houses but one had a surprising family group seated on a bench on the grass beside their home. I know there are Easter eggs in the shops and we met a woman with a Spring themed bonnet in Whitchurch, but it isn't Halloween for a long time.

We ended the cruising of the day by going through a tunnel but it wasn't cold or drippy and was short enough that we can see not just the light but the greenery at the other end. We had to wait to go in as another boat was coming the other way. We reminded the driver as he passed that his tunnel light was still on. It is so easy to accidentally leave it on. 

I assume we are in England and not Wales, from the signage at the tunnel. There was one language but when I walked back along today I  saw there was a second sign in another format, for the visually impaired. The waterways signs are blue but this one was green, even the Braille one.

It was just as well it wasn't a drippy tunnel since we hadn't finished our Pimm's yet. It might be Spring, not summer but it was as warm as a Scottish summer day. 

We moored up just after the tunnel. After mooring up, Shane noticed lambs and we went along to look. They were on the other side of the water but unusually close to the fence. They couldn't reach the water, but one black lamb looked like it was going to try to get its head through at one point.

We enjoyed watching them, especially as they were prone to sudden leaps and prances. I was very happy to have landed beside them. We had owls hooting after dark, a lovely pastoral spot. The next morning I went to look but they had a large field to roam in and none were anywhere near in the morning. It would have been a disappointment except that I was in luck to see a tree creeper on the way back.

We headed off into the town of Ellesmere. There was a sculpture trail , some by the canal and some in the hills. This one was entitled "Fender" so was canal boat themed and had the names of places the Llangollen canal travels through.

After shopping, Shane was planning a circular route back home and our path crossed the green mound that remained of a motte and bailey proving the Ellesmere area has been home to people long before the current town which dated back at least as long as the 16th century. There were more statues here. I don't think the chains were canal related as the title was The Prisoner. 

Further along, though still in the grassy field the next statue had a water theme. There was another language, not Welsh, but Spanish, as the artist was Argentinian. Whether Puerta de Agua, meant water port, gateway to water or sluice, or all three was not clear to me. We could see water through it, not the canal but the Mere of Ellesmere.

Shane was ready for some liquid refreshment and this route swung us past a cafe with a view to over the water so we ensconced ourselves on a sunny seat on their terrace after checking the array of cakes. Shane wasn't going to have a cake but now he had seem them he selected a chocolate croissant. Shane kept the table while I went in to order, but was told they didn't have chocolate croissant. I had not noticed the flecks were not brown on the pastry that I had assumed was a chocolate croissant, but green. I blame the adjustment from the brightness outside, and my unfamiliarity with pistachio croissant. I was further wrong footed when I requested gingerbread only to be told they didn't have that either. What I thought was gingerbread was apple and miso cake. Again, I have never seen that, so no surprise I hadn't guessed. I decided to give it a go (and it was very good, very moist) then I hurried out to check with Shane and offer alternatives. Bara brith was available, even if we were not quite in Wales, but he stuck with the croissant, The filling was a bit greener than any croissant interior I have met at home or abroad.

There was a map at the car park and I noticed a convent marked on it. I didn't know that Shane's route back was going to take us past it and that it was in fact very near the canal. It wasn't an ancient ruin of an abbey, but an active convent home to present day nuns, with a relatively modern building. I doubt none are actually called Clare, though in a way they are all Clares. 

I was sure I could smell incense burning as I walked round. Shane wondered, since he knew that we were about to emerge on to the canal, if it might be smoke from a boat stove. As we came in to the towpath, the boat ahead did have a chimney but it wasn't smoking. Getting nearer, we smelt fresh paint. A man was on the roof with his brush in his hand. When we had passed earlier, in the way into Ellesmere, he had been washing the roof. Shane complimented his handiwork. The boat is called Willow so being green is apt. I thought it was more the colour of the more mature foliage, thatn the willows I had seen lately.

Shane again felt that there was better mooring with improved light on the solar panels round the corner, so we moved along a little, past Willow, to another open aspect. The mooring was even easier as there were rings here.

Shane noticed that a creature had been walking around on our home. We think a cat, but we are not experts in footprints. I climbed on the roof to get a good look. Shane got. a cloth and wiped the muddy pawprints away. It had walked the full length of the roof. The panels had been doing a cracking job as our washing machine had run while we were out and the batteries were still at 100% when it finished.

I had a couple of strolls in the afternoon along towards the field by the tunnel. The lambs were still nowhere to be seen. There were geese though, enjoying the grass near the water and mallard drakes squabbling and splashing and brilliant green trees, so it was still a lovely place to be.