Because Nigel does on-calls on certain weekends he gets certain Fridays off so that we have a long weekend more often than most. We decide to get out of London on these 3 day breaks.
On this occassion we get in contact with British friends who were living in Malawi at the same time we were. Rob and Nigel both worked at the hospital in Blantyre. While Gill was a creative type into graphic design, publishing, editing, and writing.
I really took to Gill as she was one of the most energetic people I had ever met and didn't let having kids stop her from doing all sorts of things. She also liked to rock the boat and found some loud African fabric with a giant Catholic image of the Madonna and Child which she had made into a dress and wore especially when around the conservative protestant missionaries. It actually looked really cool too. I went out and bought some of the same fabric.
Thier two boys would strip off all their clothes and run around naked in their Malawian yard pulling up carrot sticks from the garden and eating them fresh, dirt and all.
I only heard from them again when I recently got a baby announcement saying they had just had a girl.
They were living just inside the Welsh border in a tiny village near the slightly larger village of Oswestry.
We arrange to drive up and visit for a couple of days.
They take us walking near their house the first day. Sometimes up sheer slopes.
The view is amazing and as it is lambing season there are little lambs everywhere in the herds of sheep we pass.
Through a forest at the top of a hill.
And down the hill again.
The big tree is pointed out to me. It is amazing and just doesn't seem to capture as well in a photograph.
We wander into their village to the local pub (on the right), kids and all, for drinks, crisps and peanuts.
Then back to the large house they are renting. The only address is "The Old Vicarage" as it used to belong to the village church.
Again, I am not sure what Welsh town I am in. But this one has an impressive river running right through it (the ruins sit above the town).
If you look closely at the small building you will discover the handy shop called "Riverside Taxidermy". I wish I had taken a picture of the display window!
The town also impresses me with its fudge shop.
We are taken to see an unusual canal feature. Canals were built centuries ago all across Europe to use as transport and trade routes. There are thousands of miles of them in the UK including locks so that the canals can travel uphill. Canal boats are unique and can be day tours, owned and lived on, or hired for a holiday. The great thing about them is you stop at pubs along the canals for meals and a pint.
This canal bridge is over 200 years old. I have never heard of one before. In 200 years it has not leaked.
To explain...you have two canals on two hills and a huge valley in between too steep to build locks on. So instead you build a canal bridge to bridge the canal over to the opposite side.
Now what looks like just a casual sidewalk and a small canal beside it is actually a towering bridge hovering hundreds of metres over a valley.
The valley.
Looking over the edge of the canal at the valley below.
This side walk is very narrow. So narrow that you sort of have to hug it to let someone going the opposite way by. Not only that, but the bars are almost a foot wide between each rung. I could fit through and a child could definitely fall through. Not only that, but the railing isn't that high. So combine all of that: water trough on one side and sheer drop on other...and I am very nervous crossing the thing.
The view from the crossing.
Then out of nowhere, paddling-surf-board-man makes his way down the cannal...STANDING...NEXT TO THE GIANT OPEN DROP...WITH NO RAILS.
I make it to the other side and know I have to walk back over it. It is quite amazing and the return journey is less harrowing.
