ABC Tour – Clocks, Church, Craft Shops, Canal Boats

We arrived in Stratford-upon-Avon  just before a rain storm.  As there aren’t any verandahs on their shops we went for a trip in a tour bus (not on the open top) in the rain and once the rain cleared we went for a walk.

Shakespeare’s birthplace.

We are enjoying finding ancient old pubs for dinner.

 

And Mick is enjoying the odd pint.

After dinner we had a stroll along the first working canal we have come across.

The boats are really colourful.

On Tuesday we just headed north with no particular destination in mind.  We ended up at Whitchurch, which is where many tower clocks have been made since the 1600s.  They are still made here now.

There are lots of black and white buildings.  When we were walking along the High Street I recognised this building from our 2007 trip.  We had lunch there and I’d taken a photo of the building.  We had travelled from the north that time and I had completely forgotten being here.

We

We couldn’t believe it when we arrived at our B & B yesterday, as Dave is a motorcyclist with BMW GS1200, similar to Mick’s and Lelsey does beautiful contemporary quilting.  She kindly pointed me in the direction of this little shop, which I would not have found otherwise.  Lots of Australian magazines, fabrics and patterns.  A little souvenir came out with me.

We are staying two nights at Whitchurch so we could have a day ride into the north of Wales today.  There are lots of tractors on the road carrying grass for silage.

We ended up at the pretty town on Llangollen, which is the home of the Eisteddfod.  There is a canal running through the town and we took a horse drawn canal boat ride.

Stan the horse and his handler just plodded along beside the canal.

It was very relaxing.  One horsepower.

Then, on the advice of Dave we headed up Horseshoe Pass, a popular motorcycling road. The scenery today was absolutely gorgeous.

At the top we had lunch at the Ponderosa Cafe – lots of motorcyclists coming and going.

Then on the way home we came across the Pontcysyllte Aquaduct.  There are eighteen spans and is 126 feet high.  It took ten years to build and was completed in 1805.It is a World Heritage Listed site.

The canal runs across it.  There is a narrow path and handrail on one side and nothing at all on the other.  It is only just wide enough for the boats.  We walked out onto it a bit, but the wind picked up, so we went back.

Tomorrow we head to Liverpool ready to sail to the Isle of Man on Friday morning.