A stream in the sky

We reached our holiday half-way mark on the last Sunday of June, when we were able to look back at a week full of adventure, with still a whole week of unknown pleasures in front of us.

Initially, the sun was playing hooky, but there was a gap in the clouds by late morning, leaving us with a warm and humid day. Too warm, in any case, for all the layers I was wearing.

We were off to Dudmaston near Bridgnorth again, the estate we visited during our blogger meet-up the week before. As we'd only had time to visit the house that day, we'd scheduled a return visit to explore the gardens, perhaps including a walk around the estate.

Setting off on the winding, single-track country lane which would take us to the nearest A road, little did we know that our journey would be a complicated one. Upon reaching the main road, there were signs warning us of a road closure but, stubborn as we are, we ignored the diversion signs, as this would take us into the opposite direction.

Obviously, upon reaching the actual road closure, we had to admit defeat and make a U-turn. Still persisting in being stubborn, we decided to make our own diversion with the help of our silly Satnav which, as anyone could have told us, didn't end well and made us drive around in circles.

Finally, with the aid of a good old road map - and a little help from my phone's GPS - we were set on the right track, arriving at Dudmaston about 45 minutes later than planned.

As it was lunch time by then, we took the picnic we'd brought with us and, while Jos secured a table under an apple tree in the orchard, I joined the queue for drinks.

After exploring the stables and courtyard, and a circuit of the walled garden, we walked down the sweeping lawns towards the water garden and the lake beyond, which is aptly called Big Pool.

As the weather didn't look too promising when we set out, I decided to wear another pair of trousers, which makes three in just under a week. The pair I'm wearing here was charity shopped on our short break to Bruges back in April. I don't remember where I bought the top, which I've had for absolutely ages, but the cardigan, another King Louie piece, was a charity shop find as well.

As it was a Sunday, there were lots of families visiting the estate, so in order to get away from the hordes of screaming children, we followed a trail downhill to The Dingle for a walk of just under a mile.

The Dingle is a rare and important landscape, a feature typical of the Picturesque movement in garden design that first became fashionable in the late 18th century. The idea was to create an artificial landcape that looked natural, with paths, seats and bridges, to encourage walkers to pause and take in the views.

After leaving the shade of The Dingle, we passed Mill Pond, which was all but obscured by reeds, before reaching Big Pool Dam. The trail then continued along the banks of Big Pool, eventually passing a boathouse, then crossing a meadow leading back towards the garden and hall.

I've included a close-up of my trousers, as Jos kept insisting there was a wilted dandelion on my bum!

Properly restored by afternoon tea, in our case substituted by coffee, we rejoined our car for the return journey, map at the ready to tackle any road closures. 

I guess I don't have to tell you that once again we got a bit lost. At one point, we followed a diversion which took us to the town of Church Stretton where we stopped to get our bearings. As some of the charity shops were open for business, we went for a little browse, leading to the purchase of this rather fabulous raincoat.

Back on the road again, we kept ignoring the silly Satnav as it kept nudging us into the direction of The Burway, a steep and scary road which would take us straight over the Long Mynd. We accidentally took this road last year and weren't all too keen on repeating the experience!

So we kept on driving on the busy main road until the silly Satnav finally proposed a safer alternative.

We still had to tackle a few narrow up and down roads, which rewarded us with some spectacular views, but finally made it home in one piece, if pretty frazzled.

On Monday, we had something quite different in mind. The day's itinerary took us to the Northern reaches of Shropshire, eventually crossing the border into North Wales.

Our aim was to go on a boat trip. Not just an oridinary boat trip, mind you, but one which would take us across a stream in the sky. I can see a few raised eyebrows here, but bear with me, as all will soon be revealed.

Once off the main road, we followed directions to a wharf along the LLangollen Canal belonging to Jones the Boats, who offers boat trips on their tradional, brightly decorated narrowboat, the Eirlys.

Here, we booked tickets for the 11 am departure.

They said to remember to bring your camera and a head for heights. No wonder I'm looking just a wee bit apprehensive here!

I was wearing a jade green vintage frock with a floral print featuring white, light green, yellow and pink, the latter prompting me to wear a pink cardigan on top, while choosing various shades of green for my accessories. I admit I was a bit green around the gills as well!

Once on board, we settled ourselves in our seats for the trip which would take us across the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, which takes the Llangollen Canal across the River Dee in the scenic Vale of Llangollen.

After leaving the wharf, we made our way at a walking pace towards Trevor Basin, which is located next to the aqueduct, where we had to wait our turn, as there's only space for one narrowboat at a time. The system is that the closest boat enters and the others wait.

Pontcysyllte is the longest aqueduct in the UK and, at 38 meters high, it is the highest canal aqueduct in the world. And now that we're talking measurements, it is 307 meters long, 3.7 meters wide and just 1,6 meters deep.

Designed and built by Thomas Telford and Williams Jessop, Pontcysyllte means 'the bridge that connects'. The 18-arched stone and cast iron structure was completed in 1805 having taken ten years to design and build.

Even though there's only a railing next to the towpath and there's quite a steep drop next to the canal itself, crossing the aqueduct by narrowboat wasn't nearly as scary as I'd imagined it would be.

At our turning point, I even swapped places with one of the people who originally sat outside in the front before recrossing the aqueduct.

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and 11 miles of the Llangollen canal is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its name is Welsh, obviously, and quite a tongue breaker - it is pronounced Pont–ker-sulth-teh - so no wonder that it's called 'Ponty' for short.

Back at the wharf after our 45-minute trip, we had a picnic before returning to Trevor Basin, where there is a Visitor Centre and where you can watch the coming and going of the busy canal traffic.

And look, here's our boat again. I stopped to wave at Ruth, our wonderful and knowledgeable captain's mate and guide.

From Trevor Basin, there's a woodland path descending all the way to the River Dee, which we took, catching several glimpses of the aqueduct along the way.

After negotiating a rather steep flight of steps, we finally arrived at the river bed, from where the aqueduct was revealed in its full glory.

Look at those toy narrowboat and Lilliput people crossing it!

Once we'd climbed all the way up to Trevor Basin again, Jos took a breather while I was feeling brave and foolhardy enough to venture onto the aqueduct's canal towpath.

I must admit that, in spite of the high railing, I didn't walk very far, as my legs turned into jelly almost instantly. There was no way I would have crossed and recrossed it on foot!

But I did manage a couple of photographs before turning back to safety. The view is really quite breathtaking from up there!

We finished our day with a short visit to tourist honeypot Llangollen, but we've promised ourselves a full day to explore the town and its surrounding scenery next year.

We did manage a browse in a charity shop though, where I found this gorgeous peacock feather brooch.

And that's all for today's episode. We'll be safely back onto ground level next time!