Europe 2008 Part 59

 Shrewsbury

 

Here is a view of the Castle from the grounds the next morning: 

 

 

Then we walked across the street to the Public Library, where we caught up on our emails.

This is an historic building. For years it was the school for the city of Shrewsbury.

Most famous of all the pupils is Charles Darwin, who lived in Shrewsbury for many years.

So the city has erected a statue of him out side the front entrance.

Margaret thought there was a faint resemblance:

 

 

Then we explored the market area, which was not very active that day, and we went on our way past Birmingham to Stratford-on-Avon.

We very soon found a Bed and Breakfast place which suited us (below) in a rural area a kilometre or two out of the town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Europe 2008 Part 58

 Pontcysyllte

Just down the valley from Llangollen is this historic aqueduct. As you can see it is still in frequent use. Imagine being on a barge, on this canal, looking down!!

Built at the time of the canal boom in the late eighteenth century, it is an important part of the barging network in that part of the country.

Tourists come from everywhere to spend a week on a canal barge, travelling slowly through beautiful countryside, and stopping at rural villages. 

Below you can see general shot of one of these stops, right next to the end of the aqueduct.

 

 

 

 

Travelling away towards the English border, we caught a glimpse of the aqueduct from the valley floor.

Then we carried on eastwards as far as Shrewsbury (below).

Shrewsbury is situated on what is almost an island in a great loop of the Severn River. Consequently the traffic is heavily concentrated in the city centre.

We arrived just on rush hour, and wound our way slowly around the choked streets looking for accommodation.

We eventually found an adequate hotel.

 

 

This view of the suburbs is taken from the grounds of the castle. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Europe 2008 Part 57

Llangollen 

 On our way eastwards across Wales, we saw many farmhouses similar to this one:

 

 

 

 

 And lots of countryside as beautiful as the scene below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We reached the village of Llangollen and stopped to explore it.

 

 

A tourist railway runs a few kilometres up the valley from this station.

But Lllangollen is famous not only for beautiful Welsh scenery and tourism.

It is the meeting-place for an annual Eistedfodd, or traditional Welsh celebration of song and poetry.

Choirs from around the world regularly compete at this event, and the New Zealand National Male Choir was  planning to attend in 2010. Several friends from New Plymouth were keen singers in the choir and were heavily involved.

We walked around the village and found the Eistedfodd venue on the railway station side of the river. Here it is in its off-season format.  But when the festivals are happening, the huge tent is extended to accommodate the choirs and the audiences.

 

 Our New Plymouth friends, Ian and Jocelyn Gabites, were in the UK reconnoitering for the choir's tour, and we had caught up with them in London and shared a cruise on the Thames.

Here we are on the Embankment that day, before we boarded our launch for the trip.  

 

 

 

 

  

 

Europe 2008 Part 56

More of Portmeirion

This is another shot of the central plaza:

 

 

 

 And here are some of the accommodation buildings in the village:

 

 

 Another general shot of buildings and open space:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below is one of the cafes, this one is in a higher part of Portmeirion.

 

 

 

 

We also looked at some of the famous Portmeirion china on sale, but had no room to carry it home.

 

So we reluctantly drove on towards the east, across the green hills of Central Wales.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Europe 2008 Part 55

Portmeirion

 From Llanfair................goch we turned back across the Menai Bridge and carried on round the coastal highway until we found the tourist attraction of Portmeirion.

This village was built in Italian style, vaguely inspired by Portofino, by Clough Williams-Ellis in the middle of the Twentieth Century. It formed the setting for the TV series "The Prisoner" starring Patrick McGoohan, and also for episodes of Danger Man, and Doctor Who.

We found a café, and sampled their eccles cakes for morning tea; we enjoyed them so much we have since baked eccles cakes ourselves several times at home.

 

 

 The village runs down the slope of the hill to the estuary, as can be seen from this general shot.

 

At the bottom of the hill, right on the shore, is a hotel:

 

 

And here is a view of the main central open space of the village halfway down the hillside.

 

 

 

 

Red Puppy Appeal 3

One of the most successful sites was the City Warehouse store. Here is

Margaret getting ready to do the 9 am shift outside the doors.

   And nearby is volunteer Karalyn, with her dog Jinx, sorting out her shift for the same time

   on Saturday.

Meanwhile the crowds were coming and going at Bell Block Warehouse, where customers flock from all over North Taranaki. Bev Hall is here greeting donors at that site on Saturday morning.

Another popular shopping place is Countdown at the Valley Shopping Centre at Waiwhakaiho. Here are Sopihe and Julia doing their shift at the end of a busy two days helping Grandad.

And last but not least of our ten sites, PacknSave in the city, with Dina waiting for her friend Kath, who is in her mid nineties and still helping. They did the first two hours Friday morning.

In a few weeks we will post a final blog, giving you the final results, and our comments for future teams.

 

Thanks especially to all those who helped, by working shifts at the sites, or lending furniture, or transporting other volunteers, or assisting our folk at the sites, or filling in gaps at the last minute.

You are all amazing!

 

Red Puppy Appeal 2

Peter O'Donnell at Spotswood Countdown needed a break during the day on Friday and the Lioness Club provided folk to fill the gaps for him.

At Cantre City Shopping Centre our desk was looked after most of Friday by teams from the Pakeke Lions Club. Here Les is getting everything ready there at the start of the day.

Meanwhile at Countdown City the Egmont Lions Club provided cover for all shifts both days -- a massive effort!

The contributions of all three clubs was greatly appreciated.

It would be great if more clubs, community organisations and business staff groups could get involved; if you have an idea who could help please contact me!

There were two sites we operated only on Friday: at the Centre Branch of the TSB Bank, in the foyer of its Head Office Building in Devon Street, and at Huatoki Plaza as we have already shown.

Here at TSB Bank are Minna and Nancy ready to start, with Julia and Sophie who helped them get set up.