Woolly says – Well it’s been a while since my paws have hit the keyboard but then there has been little to say. Lockdown had become our norm and walking has taken over our lives which seems to please the panting beast but doesn’t sit so well with me as there isn’t much to see other than trees.
Jo seems really happy with some of the walks we have discovered from the muddy delights of Ffrid Mathrafal which is a short drive away and allows us to lose Alfie the Dog in huge amounts of bracken, sadly he keeps finding us and arriving back looking like something from a swamp and spreading his mud over everything.
Dolanog, a very small village possibly even a hamlet a mere two miles away lies in an exceedingly pretty stretch of the Vyrnwy valley and allows Jo to carry me up and down the hills as we follow the river and the mad dog races in and out of the water. One of the highlights of this walk is that we have yet to meet anyone else on it and it gives me the feeling of having a little chunk of beauty to myself.
Alfie the Dogs favourite is defiantly the woods at Llanfair Caereinion which is a small town on the River Banwy (also known as the River Einion), around 8 miles west of Welshpool. The town is built upon the site of an old Roman fort and Llanfair is most famous for being a terminus of the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway which is yet to open due to restrictions. With lots of benches for rest and some interesting stones and statues it’s become a well-trodden path for us.
My personal favourite is on shopping days when we head into town and park up at the small area known as Buttingham Wharf on the Montgomery Canal, known colloquially as “The Monty. The canal runs for 33 miles (53 km) from the Llangollen Canal at Frankton Junction to Newtown via Llanymynech and Welshpool and crosses the English–Wales border. Although officially abandoned in 1944 work is now underway to reopen the canal to bring further tourism into the town centre. It’s a beautiful place with willows overhanging the water and a lovely wooden bridge which is hand lifted to allow boats through, as we walk, I like nothing more than to imagine the navvies who would have dug the foundations for the waterway and the work they must have undertaken to enable the area to become connected to the rest of the canal network, a hard life but one that has left us with a never forgotten legacy.
Other than that life seems to have been stagnant, unless you count the sorting and sizing of pistachios as work. Jo has had a non-travel book released but like everything else a book tour is currently out of the question and bookshops are only just opening to allow signings to take place, so I await with interest to see where that might take us.
The farm where we currently live has seen all sorts of new life arriving with the cutest of lambs and some dog chasing chickens which I think is hilarious but Alfie the Dog seems to find a trifle tricky on his walks.
As lockdown now starts to ease and travel restrictions within the UK are lifted….not much chance of leaving the UK currently but we live in hope for the future…at least we can start to meet up for outdoor adventures with family and friends and I have to say I’m looking forward to that along with some castles and other places of interest in the not to distant future.