Woolly says – We’d spent Jo’s first day off of the week wandering along the Montgomery Canal on a rather pleasant walk which had included rather a lot of signets as we waited for news on the car’s service and MOT to keep it on the road. My carer was not looking forward to the bill and the possibility that the car is old and therefore not long for its retirement. As we padded back into town the call came to say that work was still ongoing and that it wasn’t going to cost quite as much as expected but not far off.

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At least it meant that tomorrow would be able to go ahead even if Jo looked slightly green at the bill.

The next day dawned bright without a cloud in the sky, having packed the rucksack with water and snacks for my small friend and constantly panting dog we headed to the car to set off for a small adventure.

Woolly says – Sadly the car wasn’t having any of it and had developed a flat tyre overnight, I sighed in frustration as Jo found someone to pump it up sufficiently to get us back into town for the fitting of a new tyre. The delay to our start meant arriving several hours later than expected at a hill on the outskirts of Welshpool.

Breidden Hill is an extinct volcanic which was a first for all of us, as we set off on the upwards path to reach the 367 metres (1,204 ft) summit, I considered how this might have once looked with pterodactyls flying around overhead, molten lava gushing from the crater and mammoths grazing on the long grasses that lined the pathway.

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Sadly, there was little to denote it as a volcano and being my first I was slightly disappointed to realise that even the crater had long since been taken over by the undergrowth and trees. It was a pleasant if hot walk and small gaps in the trees gave us an idea of how high we were as we climbed higher and higher.

I kept my eyes open for the remains of an Iron Age hillfort which may have been the site of the last stand of Caractacus, but it wasn’t until we were nearly at the top that I was able to see the lines in the ground where it had once stood.

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As we scaled the last 100 feet or so my lungs struggled to keep up and the sweat ran down my carers face only Alfie the Dog seemed to have any energy left as we flopped onto the grass under a shady tree and gulped down the majority of our water supply. We sat getting our breathe back and admiring the views over Shropshire and Mid Wales, miles and miles of fields and woodland looked tiny under the blazing sunshine.

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But even better was to come as we climbed the last few feet and arrived at Rodney’s Pillar.

Admiral Rodney’s Pillar is a monument built between 1781–82 to commemorate the naval victories of Sir George Brydges Rodney, Admiral of the White during the American War of Independence, it is said that it was erected in thanks of the timber that Admiral Rodney had bought from the area. The pillar is made of local stone and stands at 54 feet (16 m) high, and is topped with a drum and finial, which replaced the original gilded ball after a lightning strike in 1847.

It was a most impassive sight and as I prepared to pose for a shot a gentleman appeared from nowhere and sat down right next to me. He turned to Jo as she pointed the camera in my direction and asked ‘Is this your dog’s toy?’ No, she replied and I prepared to aim my tusks in his direction for the insult, ‘Oh’ he continued ‘It must be your stuffed toy then’, I puffed out my chest and declared that I was a travel blogger and not a toy for anyone before jumping off the base of the pillar and moving round to the other side.

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The man was undeterred and followed in my wake as Jo once again aimed the camera in my direction. ‘Where are you from?’ he asked, I sighed and looked at my friend who answered with a smile before picking me up and setting off on the downwards path.

He seemed a pleasant gent but all we wanted to do was to admire the pillar and the view and not have to give out our life stories. As we found another tree to sit under, we plonked ourselves down.

Woolly says – Jo handed some grapes over and we could finally just sit and enjoy our surroundings as we discussed the restoration work that was needed for Rodney’s legacy. By late 2019, cracks had appeared in the monument and a copper lightning conductor had been stolen from its top. Restoration work was valued at £160,000 and the money was still to be raised to save the pillar for future generations.

As we set off once more, I considered the need to have a column erected in my honour and the fact that this land had changed so much since it’s prehistoric times with its helicopters and biplanes now flying overhead instead of the huge dinosaurs of the past, it would be wonderful to actually see a live volcano and wondered when that might actually become a possibility.