Month: June 2013

Brisbane, Australia
As we were flying out at 9pm Monday we spent our last day visiting the nearby town of Shrewsbury.

It was a beautiful day and warmer than it had been since London 4 weeks before. We visited the museum, wandered the streets and the gardens.

Jane dropped us at the airport in plenty of time which was just as well as there were more problems with our tickets. 2 bookings each this time which is better than none but still caused dramas. After half an hour they had sorted it out and our bags were booked through to Brisbane.

Flying east we had 2 nights on the plane and we got little sleep. We landed in Brisbane at 0730 to a grey day.

It was a great trip and and my knowledge of the history of the Romans in Britain and the British monarchy is greatly expanded. It was especially nice to have time with Jane – a great friend and wonderful host.

On Sunday Warren was still suffering with a cold, so decided to stay home while Jane and I went to Wales for the day. We headed first to the Pontcysyllte Canal for a trip over the famous Aqueduct.

This is the longest and highest aqueduct in Britain and sits 38m above the River Dee.

The trough, which is made of cast iron, is over 300m long, 3.4m wide and 1.6m deep and is supported by 18 stone piers. Completed in 1805, it is now a World Heritage listed site.

As you can see from the photos, there is not much room either side of the narrow boat as it crosses the canal. It was a long way down and not a ride for those afraid of heights.

We then drove to Llangollen for a ride on the Llangollen steam train up the River Dee Valley to the small town of Carrog 7 miles away. Unfortunately the special event “Day out with Thomas” was on and I think Jane and I were the only passengers without several toddlers in tow.

The kids enjoyed the ride and the scenery in this part of the world is beautiful.

By the way the, the title of this post is the comment a Pommy colleague made when I said we were thinking about visiting Wales 27 years ago. No love lost between the Welsh and English (or Scots for that matter).

On Friday we drove back to Jane in Newport via Leicester where we went to the Richard III exhibition. This was interesting as they explained how they discovered his remains under a car park in town. He had been buried without much ceremony in a medieval friary after his defeat by Henry VII at the Battle of Bosworth. Our knowledge of English history has grown and it is interesting to see the same characters reappearing at different sites with different stories.

Saturday Warren’s cold he had been fighting had worsened so I wandered around the pretty village of Newport in the morning. Jane is lucky to have such a beautiful small village with all the amenities she needs just 5 minutes from her work. Jane had just returned from London where she had attended a garden party with the Queen for people involved with the London 2012 Olympics.

In the afternoon Jane and I drove to the nearby market town of Ludlow. First stop was Stokesay Castle, which English Heritage describes as “quite simply the finest and best preserved fortified medieval manor house in England”.

On then to Ludlow Castle, a ruined medieval castle in the centre of this picturesque town. A quick walk around the markets finished the day for us.