Communicator (communicator) wrote,
Communicator
communicator

What I did on my holidays

We took a barge down the Llangollen and Shropshire Union canals for a week. We loved this part of the holiday so much that H and I are thinking of buying a canal boat, perhaps when the kids are both through college. Canals give you a different perspective on the countryside. And they must be the most beautiful industrial artefacts ever made. In the soft sumer sunshine everywhere was quite lovely. I would recommend the holiday to anyone - for visitors to the country it gives you a different more rural perspective. We met two New Zealanders who had walked along the canal side, and liked it so much they dashed into a nearby boatyard and hired a barge for a week.

I took a lot of books with me, but I hardly read anything that week. Part of each day I walked on the towpath, because the barge goes at walking speed. I also steered the boat, made tea for the tillerman, and worked the locks and other stuff. The main disadvantage - apart from the slow pace if you don't like that kind of thing - is that the barge is kind of narrow and basic inside. A bit like Das Boot.

We were sorry to leave, but the Brecons were also very nice, and our apartment was very comfy, with its own sauna and gymn and stuff. It wasn't a farmhouse (I misunderstood), but part of the complex at Dan-Yr-Ogof caves. These were once thought to be the entrance to the world of the dead, and they are surrounded by standing stones, burial mounds, and ritual avenues. The atmosphere is slightly spoiled these days by the Plastic Dinosaur exhibition. We adopted the resident tomcat, who lived in the laundry and ate the wicked mice, assuring us that they thoroughly deserved it.
Subscribe

  • Phew what a scorcher

    I see Gove has backed down on climate change and it's back in the curriculum again.

  • GCSE Computer Science

    My book is now for sale

  • LJ Settings

    At the moment I have set up this journal so that only friends can comment. I hate doing this, but I was just getting too much Russian spam.

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    Comments allowed for friends only

    Anonymous comments are disabled in this journal

    default userpic
  • 31 comments

  • Phew what a scorcher

    I see Gove has backed down on climate change and it's back in the curriculum again.

  • GCSE Computer Science

    My book is now for sale

  • LJ Settings

    At the moment I have set up this journal so that only friends can comment. I hate doing this, but I was just getting too much Russian spam.